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spiderman0616

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
5,654
7,454
Hoping some audio geeks can help me out here. I'm looking for some outdoor speakers for our back patio. We have a Wireless N Airport Extreme and we get a good solid signal in that area of the yard. I have a Mac Mini on the same network that stores all of our media and I am also an iTunes Match subscriber.

In other words, I have all kinds of ways I can feed the content to the outdoor speakers, but what I'd really like to do is set this up without having to dock a phone or iPod to the speaker system. Are there any outdoor speaker setups out there that will use Home Sharing or Airplay to get audio? Ideally, I'd like to have it set up on Home Sharing, and then I could technically remote control what we're listening to by using Apple's Remote app on my iTunes library.

I'd love some suggestions on how some of you have hooked this up. Any ideas?
 

marzer

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,396
120
Colorado
Hoping some audio geeks can help me out here. I'm looking for some outdoor speakers for our back patio. We have a Wireless N Airport Extreme and we get a good solid signal in that area of the yard. I have a Mac Mini on the same network that stores all of our media and I am also an iTunes Match subscriber.

In other words, I have all kinds of ways I can feed the content to the outdoor speakers, but what I'd really like to do is set this up without having to dock a phone or iPod to the speaker system. Are there any outdoor speaker setups out there that will use Home Sharing or Airplay to get audio? Ideally, I'd like to have it set up on Home Sharing, and then I could technically remote control what we're listening to by using Apple's Remote app on my iTunes library.

I'd love some suggestions on how some of you have hooked this up. Any ideas?


I use one of these on my patio:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-vMNavIEhAMD/p_543AIRGO1/Russound-AirGo-Powered-Outdoor-Speaker.html

The sound and build quality is outstanding. And its portable, so when I'm working in the garage I can Take it with me. It uses the prev airport express which is available on the Apple refurb or Amazon stores. Its on steep discount as Russound no longer produces the Airgo. So you really get a spectacular discount over ther original price for such an excellent airplay speaker.
 

opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
Hoping some audio geeks can help me out here. I'm looking for some outdoor speakers for our back patio. We have a Wireless N Airport Extreme and we get a good solid signal in that area of the yard. I have a Mac Mini on the same network that stores all of our media and I am also an iTunes Match subscriber.

In other words, I have all kinds of ways I can feed the content to the outdoor speakers, but what I'd really like to do is set this up without having to dock a phone or iPod to the speaker system. Are there any outdoor speaker setups out there that will use Home Sharing or Airplay to get audio? Ideally, I'd like to have it set up on Home Sharing, and then I could technically remote control what we're listening to by using Apple's Remote app on my iTunes library.

I'd love some suggestions on how some of you have hooked this up. Any ideas?

Bluetooth moshi bassburger
 

wesk702

macrumors 68000
Jul 7, 2007
1,809
368
The hood
If you have a local Frys u might wanna check out the Tango Air airplay speaker under 70 bucks.

Sounds great, but unfortunately their airplay sucks on this particular model. Frequently have to hard reset after ending a connection to start a new one. Definitely not as solid as an airport express connection, but the price is still solid for a great sounding speaker. Crisp and bassy, super clean.
 

elvahsiao

macrumors newbie
Jun 23, 2013
4
0
I think this Microlab wireless speaker might be good for you.
8774967509_38da656e17_m.jpg

;)
 

Monster Sana

macrumors newbie
Sep 10, 2013
10
1
try bluetooth speaker sounddew

Hoping some audio geeks can help me out here. I'm looking for some outdoor speakers for our back patio. We have a Wireless N Airport Extreme and we get a good solid signal in that area of the yard. I have a Mac Mini on the same network that stores all of our media and I am also an iTunes Match subscriber.

In other words, I have all kinds of ways I can feed the content to the outdoor speakers, but what I'd really like to do is set this up without having to dock a phone or iPod to the speaker system. Are there any outdoor speaker setups out there that will use Home Sharing or Airplay to get audio? Ideally, I'd like to have it set up on Home Sharing, and then I could technically remote control what we're listening to by using Apple's Remote app on my iTunes library.

I'd love some suggestions on how some of you have hooked this up. Any ideas?

Hi,

I recommend you to try the sounddew outdoor bluetooth speaker.
It's water resistant (IPX4), very good for outdoor activities.
Also it can connect your iPhone wireless within 10 meters 33 feet

You can get it on Amazon-----http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E084XRO
 

spiderman0616

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
5,654
7,454
So I know this is kind of old, but I did end up getting a speaker--the iHome iBT4. Link here: http://www.ihomeaudio.com/iBT4GC/

Yes, it's kind of goofy looking, I'll admit. But it's great for inside and outside use. When I take it out on the back patio while I grill, I can connect it to my phone, but it can also get a signal from the Mac in the basement so I can either use my phone as the audio source or as a remote control to decide what plays from the computer.

It's slightly muddier sounding than our iHome dock in the kitchen, but in general it's made a great all purpose portable stereo. The only thing I'm not pleased with is that the battery life isn't quite as long as advertised. (It says 6 hours of playback, but it's really more like 5). But that's ok--you can always have it plugged in while you use it if needed.

We've had really good luck with iHome stuff in the past--I probably should have just gone this way in the first place.
 
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