Discrete outdoor audio

Want to jump ahead to see and hear the system in action, there are videos at the end of the article.

When the client decided to have a pool built in their garden, they wanted it to be a great social space for themselves, their family and their friends. Therefore, they wanted to add audio so they could listen to music at both background levels and party levels. What was also critical to this was that they wanted to ensure the audio system was as discrete as possible and not distract from the landscaped garden. They certainly didn’t want any ‘big black boxes’. The system must also be easy to use via a mobile phone or tablet.

The first step was to create audio heatmaps for the client to provide a number of options showing provisional speaker and subwoofer locations. This gave the client options at different price points and therefore different levels of audio coverage, output and quality. We also provided supporting documentation and images to show how they’d look. Once confirmed by the clients, we then worked closely with the electrical contractors and provided a cable schematic and cable schedule for all cable runs including audio, network and power. We needed to add an external wireless access point to cover the pool area for reliable control of the audio system so the client could utilise the fibre broadband connection not only inside the house but also in the garden.

The chosen audio system was selected based on client experience. Therefore, we went with an audio system the client was familiar with so there was no learning curve and as a result, easy for the client to use.

In the picture above, there are 3 speakers and 1 subwoofer, all discretely installed between the newly planted lavender.

A wall-mounted, pivoting rack was fitted on the pool house wall at a high level to keep out of the way of the main pool equipment. This housed the PoE+ network switch, the audio player and the power amps to power the audio system.

A wireless access point was discretely mounted on the wall to give great Wi-Fi coverage throughout the pool area.

The icing on the cake was the amazing-sounding audio system. When configured, we ran a demo for the clients. Simply put, they couldn’t believe it! They were shocked by the quality and detail of the sound at all volume levels. They also commented on the consistency of coverage and quality as they walked around the pool area with no ‘hot spots’ where the volume is louder than in other areas.

The music choice and volume are controlled using mobile devices or tablets with an easy-to-use interface which the customer is familiar with.

In the following videos, you can see and hear the installation, although the video doesn’t represent the true audio quality.