Re: Outdoor Speakers (WAS: whole house component suggestions)

[Nigel Orr <Nigel.Orr@xxxxxxx>]

At 09:30 20/06/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Yes, this is of more interest! - got any details/URL's/contacts?

http://www.canford.co.uk Tel 0191
415 0205.  They are traditionally a pro=20
audio trade only dealer, but they're helpful folk, and will probably be=20
happy to sell to anyone with a credit card... order code for ADS
Nautilus=20
Loudspeaker (Pair) is 76-761, the price I gave is from the 97-98
catalogue,=
=20
so all may have changed!

They also do one in an IP56 enclosure, with 100V line transformer (the Ice=
=20
Dragon), for =A343 +VAT each (NOT for a pair).  The Nautilus looks like it
=
is=20
designed for mounting in a ceiling or wall but seems to have some sort
of=20
cover on the back.  The Farnell one I used was just a driver fixed to a=20
round plastic plate, no protection for the terminals.

>Likewise - I could also do with something for in the bathroom...

From my experience, the Farnell marine ones are OK, if you can't find=20
anything better.  A bathroom isn't the ideal environment for sound or=20
electronics, so it's bound to be a compromise- and if it doesn't sound a=20
bit harsh you can't hear it over the shower to sing along!

>Judging by some of the ******'s that drive past my house with their
>mega-bass tubes rattling my house windows, perhaps it might actually
sound
>better outside!!!!

That's not really a guide- as the car is effectively part of the speaker=20
enclosure too...

>enclosed in concrete!! - obviously there has to be somewhere for the
sound
>to "come out", but water can't run upwards!

You haven't done this kind of thing before, have you? :-) ... water runs=20
anywhere it wants to, assisted by wind, pressure differences, capillary=20
action, evaporation and condensation, gravity doesn't seem to present much=
=20
of a challenge... even solid barriers don't help, with changing=20
temperatures on each side of the barrier affecting the relative humidity=20
and causing condensation if there's the slightest trace of water in the=20
inside air.

>Agreed - I'm kinda thinking that gravity may be of some assistance here
-
>water can't run uphill,

Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!  ROTFL at the innocence of the uninitiated... sorry, I=20
don't mean to be unkind, the day job is underwater acoustics, which=20
involves quite a lot of keeping water out of enclosures (not just at
depth,=
=20
even splashes or humid air)... and the previous job was in pro audio in=20
Scotland, which often involves keeping water out of large and expensive=20
speaker systems.  And it isn't trivial... a plastic 'raincoat' is
usually=20
the easiest.  I used to try to keep the water out, IP65 rated boxes etc=20
etc, but if it's possible, it's much easier to just make sure the air
can=20
get round it and any water which will inevitably appear can drain away.

I wonder if Canon ever made outdoor verions of the odd looking=20
wide-dispersion speakers that they made a few years ago?  They had a
driver=
=20
pointing down at a curved reflective surface, and sounded OK, so might
be=20
good for outdoor use.

>my garden. At worst perhaps a moisure barrier aroung the entire car
speake=
r
>before fixing into the "rock"?

Not a permanent one, or you will definitely get condensation inside. 
You=20
could use mylar cone speakers, which last a bit longer outside, I think
the=
=20
Farnell one was mylar.

>  - in the past I have put bin-liners over my
>hi-fi speakers to protect them from being filled with beer/fag-butts
durin=
g
>wild parties! - I never noticed any degradation with that
arrangement...

That's fine then- make some plastic 'coats', open at the bottom to let the=
=20
water out, and put them over the speakers.

>"correct" environment - the rear shelf of a car gets LOADS of
UV... these
>would be better protected than in normal use!

I've always heard that glass blocks a lot of UV (does that apply to car=20
window glass too?), and car speakers (and parcel shelves) do react (go=20
brown, and paper cones get brittle) after a couple of years if they are
sat=
=20
in the sun all the time.

> I would envisage that whichever construction technique I employed, the
>enclosure would not be totally sealed - I'd have to leave somewhere for
th=
e
>sound to radiate from, so there would be an opening somewhere.

And for the water to get out... You could wrap the whole thing in cling=20
film and the sound would probably be relatively unaffected, but the
water=20
would appear.

>Finally, I do remember seeing a review in What Hi-Fi several years ago
for
>some "proper" indoor HiFi speakers that were constructed of
concrete -
>mightily expensive and quite well rated IIRC...

AIUI, and I've only dabbled in speaker design, concrete is acoustically=20
quite a good material, but ISTR it is quite resonant.  If you're going
to=20
'roll your own', buy a speaker design book or get some software- it's easy=
=20
to make very odd sounding ones, and something of an art to make good ones.

HTH,

Nigel


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