Outdoor speaker - what to use to drive it that is HA compatible?

Hardware
1

I want to put something like these in my garden, what shall I drive them with that are HA compatible to play music? Sonos seems overkill:

image
image600Ă—600 14.4 KB

2

How is the speaker powered?
Does this have a line in, or does it expect amplified sound already?
We need to know more about it to be able to help…
Right now we only see a plastic cover…

3

I’d recommend a Volumio music player built with a Raspberry Pi and a HifiBerry audio amplifier hat. Because of the rampant inflation of Pi prices, I can recommend the Libre Computer Le Potato board, instead.

1 Like
4

This is the speaker (needs an amp), I’m assuming it just takes regular speaker wire

Happy to go with an alternative if there is a better combination, it’s for security dog sounds rather than music

5

The most cheap-out version: Any generic chinese amplifier, they are around $ 20 and VLC player addon on HA.

Golden middle way - what Fred says, Volumio. And any stereo amplifier, you can find. Volumio runs on Raspberry or any reasonable refurbished mini PC. The Hifiberry hat is an good option, but not necessary, if you have a stereo amplifier laying around.

Also to consider - make it a zone 2 on your receiver in the living room, if you have one, that already is HA compatible.

EDIT: well, not so easy. We all overlooked!

This speaker want’s 100V amplification.

so, two options:

get a 100V amplifier (used a lot for conference stuff, shopping malls, stadiums, schools. Option 1 the apply with VLC addon and amplifier connected to HA server, and option 2 then still apply, just Hifiberry or any standard amplifier is out of game.

Or, open the speaker and get rid of the 100V transformer inside, to make it compatible with standard equipment. Then all three options are valid.

6

Maybe choose a better, more compatible outdoor speaker then?

1 Like
7

Well, that’s questionable. 100V systems are very popular for outdoor for a reason. The wires are often long and with that voltage you have less chance of big power loss over a distance. Exactly, why football stadiums use it.

If the distances are reasonable, you can choose.

LD systems is a very good brand, I use their PA amplifiers for my side-job. I can’t complain about the quality.

If you do cheap-out too much, you will soon find a pile of rust in your garden… :slight_smile: