How to Wire Outdoor Speakers (2024)

FAQs

How to wire up outdoor speakers? ›

Drill a hole low in the wall to run the speaker wire from the inside to the outside. Make sure to seal the hole with silicone to maintain your house's insulation. Run the speaker wire to the volume control box, and then run a second wire from the box to the speakers. Don't run speakers through windows or door jambs.

For most residential outdoor speaker setups, 16 or 14-gauge wires are commonly used.

You'll need a receiver or amp to power your speakers and connect music sources. Already have a home theater receiver with "Zone 2" or “ Zone B” speaker outputs? They can be called into service to power your outdoor speakers.

For speaker wire with connectors, the positive is often red and the negative is black. Once that's done, connect one positive end to the positive terminal on your speaker and the other positive end to your amp or receiver. Do the same for the negative (black) end, and repeat for however many speakers you're hooking up.

Stereo speakers need to be "in phase", ie the bass driver (black round paper thing inside) in each moves in and out at the same time. This is controlled by the two wires. If one has the wires reversed, the speakers are out of phase and the bass component of the sound disappears.

Much like On-Wall and In-Ceiling Speakers, most In-Garden Speakers are passive speakers and need an external amplifier and speaker cable to provide power. There are, however, some active models available which simply require a direct power supply.

For 6-ohm speakers 16AWG wire is recommended for runs up to 36 feet and 10 or 12AWG wire for runs up to 150 feet. If you are using 8-ohm speakers, 16 AWG wire is recommended for runs up to 48 feet and 10 or 12AWG wire for runs up to 200 feet.

The reality is that burying any wire or cable directly in the dirt is never recommended. Especially if you desire a long lasting installation! The truth is only a few cables are truly rated to be buried directly into the ground. And for sure direct burial speaker wire is not.

Speaker wires that are anywhere between 12 to 16 gauge are most commonly used for connecting speakers to an amplifier or an Audio/Video (A/V) receiver. A lower-gauge number indicates a thicker wire, while a higher-gauge number indicates a thinner wire.

Passive outdoor speakers are speakers designed for outdoor use that do not have a built-in amplifier. These speakers require an external amplifier to provide the necessary power and for audio streaming such as Bluetooth or WiFi.

How many watts are needed for outdoor speakers? ›

A pair of 60-watt patio speakers will give you great coverage in areas less than 300 square feet. For 300 to 500 square feet, look for 80 to 100-watt speakers; 150 watts to 175-watt speakers will cover 600 to 800 square feet with clear, sharp music sound at soft volumes.

How do you power passive speakers without an amp? Unless your source device has a built-in amplifier, you don't. Speakers need a certain level of power to operate and passive speakers need an amplifier.

Use 16-gauge wire for runs of 80 feet and less. For runs of 80 to 200 feet, step up a notch to 14-gauge wire. If you plan to go out more than 200 feet, opt for 12-gauge wire.

typically, the positive wire is red and the ground, or negative, is black. However, most speaker wires don't do colors. Good news is, with speakers it doesn't really matter which one you choose as your positive and which as your negative, just so long as you are consistent.

With a battery and one end of a speaker wire, lightly touch the wire to the battery. If you hear noise, that's a good sign. If you don't hear anything, make sure to verify everything is connected properly, and then try again with another wire.

Rubber Ducts: If you're going to be moving the music outside, extra-rugged Rubber Ducts are the perfect way to keep speaker wires and power cords neatly covered instead of snaking randomly through your yard, over your patio or across a walkway.

Power: Typically, wired speakers do not require a separate power supply. The power is instead generated by the amplifier and sent to the speaker through its cabling.

The most common way is to twist the Bare speaker wire around a metal post on the back of the receiver. Another way is to use a spring-loaded connector. Simply insert the Bare speaker wire into the hole and release the spring, which will clamp down on the wire and make a connection.