I got an email asking for my ‘audiophile’
advice on setting up an outdoor system and spending less than the thousands I
have in mine.
I am surely not an audiophile, and much of
the stuff in my deck system was nearly stolen second hand off ebay. I must admit though, after years of changes,
I think I finally got everything incredibly right out here. I thought I was hearing THE SHIRELLES in the
60’s but they never sounded even close to what is playing out here tonight.
On a budget, great sound gets tougher.
Do this.
Buy a decent computer speaker system. Get one with a separate subwoofer. You can get a decent set up for $200 on
ebay. Buy a name brand like POLK or JBL. Don’t buy BOSE unless you understand what
they do. Get a two speaker system with a
sub, not the 4 or 7 stuff. Firmly mount
the speakers on the rear of the arms of your Adirondack chair, and put the sub underneath. This
is not going to rock your yard, just you.
You will need to pull a plastic bag over them if rain hits there. Since the amp is built in, all you have to do
is go out with your laptop, and plug in.
The first improvement to make to your $200 set
up is to pay $25 for SRS. You can try it
free for a couple of weeks – you will need this though for decent sound. Fiddle with it a little, and it will amaze
you.
Then re-rip your music into the
laptop. Go FLAC if you have room, if
not, at least rip max at 320. You could
just pick up a 500 gig external hard drive for under a $100. You can rip a lot of songs to FLAC then, and
just leave it under the chair with a USB cord to plug in when you go outside.
You will have amazing sound in the ‘sweet
spot’ of your chair for under $300.
Then get your wife a second job, and save
her paychecks. The set up above will
please you to no end for several months.
By then you should have enough saved to start bidding on ebay for a
classic CARVER amp. Email me again then.
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