Need help Audiophiles!!!!
 

OK, now I'm a complete iPod addict. I'm anticipating summer and I want some outdoor iTunes. I don't want to run speakers from my indoor receiver.

I'm looking for a simple receiver that I can keep on a covered deck outside. I only need to hook up an iPod to it and a set of indoor/outdoor speakers. Any ideas?

If its going outside anything 'cheap' would be fine.

I would not spend to much money on it. More than likely it will get water, burgers, ketchup and other projectiles on it. Take your current receiver outside and upgrade the indoor one. :D

P.S Have you seen the adapters that allow you to download images from your digital cams. ... Nothing like carrying a 40gb harddrive that doubles as storage for digital pics, music, files ....etc

Honestly, Moses (that sounds strange...) I use the Griffin iTrip and love it. Rather than hardwire 5 cars and all my other crap, just find a "dead" radio station, tune the iTrip to it, and you're done. Sound quality is about 90% -- and you're outdoors, so you won't get "audiophile" quality anyhoo.

It's about $40 IIRC.

JP

:rolleyes:

I'm not sure what word to use, but a real Audiophile could tell you more about their vinyl record cleaning proceedure than anything to do with an iPod.

Seems more like a computer geek question.:D

Yup. I'm using iTrip all over the place. I'm thrilled with the quality. I'll likely be using iTrip outside as well. Just looking for a good receiver/amp, speakers.

Kach -- I thought the same thing ... iPod and Audiophile are in tension w/ each other... but TEHO.

Moses -- try the Bose sound base thingy... it sounds good, and puts out a good deal of volume. If you're trying to fill the Rose Bowl with sound you'll be disappointed, but for general (backyard) use, it's great, and easily portable. About $300 IIRC, which is far less than any even marginal receiver/speaker combination would cost.

JP

Moses,

I put an old PC in my garage, then hooked it up to the LAN in the house (via Ethernet cable in a conduit underground) and I play my MP3's on the PC and I'm getting a set of Bose outdoor speakers for the garage next summer. Bose aren't the best, but I've had good luck with them and the outdoor speakers are very durable and withstand the elements.

We've got an "old-school" setup that works quite well. I picked up an old NAD amp on ebay that can run 4 speakers (A/B/AB) and has level controls on the front panel. Mirage outdoor speakers by the bbq/pool and some Definitive Technology speakers in the garage.

I'm not a big fan of MP3's unless I'm chained to the computer at work (even then I usually play streaming radio) so we usually play CD's or DirecTV audio channels. Yep I do have a couple hundred vinyl records too...but most of it is 70's and 80's crap.

Yeah, it sucks how people buy a reputable old brand name and then produce cheap plastic crap under that name.:rolleyes:

I have a pair of forty + year old Altec Lansing "voice of the theater" speakers in my garage that could blow the balls off a rhino at a hundred yards.

For my set up I have two amps. I have an Onkyo receiver. An output runs from the Onkyo to an inexpensive receiver sitting right next to it. From there I have speaker wires that run through the basement and out to the back deck. They are powering a set of JBL outdoor speakers.

When I want music outside I just turn on the second amp and adjust the volume. I debated getting a receiver with multiroom functionality but found them to be: (1) much more expensive; and (2) confusing for the wife to operate. One of these days I'll install a volume knob at the door to the back deck.

My next big project is to install a small LCD monitor outside. Right now I can turn on the amp powering the outdoor speakers and listen to the TV....and look through the window at the TV. I'd like to take a 5" monitor, enclose it in plexiglass (or something) and run video and power to it. I'm worried that the LCD screen would not like temperature/humidity variations.

Yeah, I have a cheap Radio Shack receiver (inside) and ran speaker wires thru the walls to 4 advent outdoor speakers (Costco) outside. The only issue is outdoor volume control-if you want that, you'll need an L pad or something from, say, Niles Audio, in a weatherproof box outdoors, or, in my case, set up the receiver where you can hit it w/ the infared from outside.