HELP with outdoor speakers

I have a pair of Bose 101 indoor/outdoor speakers and I want to install them next to my swimming pool, but I don't know were I can hook them up.
Can I use them with a portable stereo (one of those little round ones with radio, cd and casette) that I'm using now ??? I also have a car stereo that I can install with a transformer..I don't really know anything about audio..

 

A portable radio will not put out enought power to make the speakers work. Can't say about the auto headunit though, I never considered that. I think it might work, but that sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Could you leave it outside?????

I went thru the same thing last year with my pool. I ended up running speaker wires from a stereo inside my house to the speakers. I used the Bose 151 speakers. It was more work than I wanted to do, but now, all I have to do is hit the power button on the stereo and I have music at the pool. Nothing to set up, or tear down each time.

 

... you can wire a car stereo to AC using a transformer but you don't know how to connect speakers? I just don't understand what's going on here.

 

I would refer to your owner's manual for proper installation and operating procedures. LOL.
portable stereo isn't going to have enough power to effectively run them, and a car unit runs a different ohm than house speakers. It would be like putting house speakers in your car. They'd play, but probably not real well. I don't think either of these are going to be an acceptable option.

 

I ran speaker wire through my attic, through a closet and down to a stereo receiver to run my Bose 251 speakers.

 

Stereo receiver is your best bet. If you have one hooked up inside your home, run some weather proof wiring outside to the speakers, and control said speakers from the unit inside. You can get all fancy and install remotes and what not, but unless you like to get in and out of your pool or stop what you're doing every five minutes to pick a new song, playlist + random works pretty well in that situation.

 

You just need a stereo reciever as some have said. For my garage speakers I got a stereo reciever from my neighbor he was selling at a yard sale. How accessible is your home for wiring? Do you live in a ranch (1 story)? 2 Story?

I wired outdoor speakers on my screened porch of my house and run them off of my onkyo reciever in my living room off the "B" channels. I did the same thing in my master bedroom running my master bath speakers off the "B" channels of that reciever. I also added a stereo reciever in my laundry room which powers speakers in my garage. Fortunately for the porch and bathroom speakers I had the convenience of running the wires before the drywall was put up while my house was being built.

However for my garage, I did that just recently. Since I have a ranch home I ran the speaker wires through the attic and snaked them down the wall to a junction box in my laundry room. Make sure you use some in-wall wire. you can purchase it at home depot or Lowes. I bought a 400 ft spool of 12AWG in-wall speaker wire at Lowes when I was bulding my house and have a bunch left over. You can purchase it in smaller lengths.

 

Here is a picture of my outdoor Bose speakers

 

Do you have a surround sound receiver for you TV? Mine has an A and B output. A is for the 5 channel surround sound from the TV and B is stereo for outdoor speakers. Just a thought.

 

Thanks for the ideas. I have a detached garage which is like 60 feet away from the house and then 10 feet more to the pool. I have a theater home center in the house, but I need something in the garage, so if I want to pur a cd or change de radio station I don;t have to walk all wet inside the house to do it. I want to attach the 2 speakers behind the garage and hook them to something, that something will be on a shelf inside the garage, next to the side door. My problem is that I don't know what to use , I have the speakers, but know I need a radio, cd player and maybe an Ipod base. I can get a sony receiver at best buy for $199, but I can't play a cd or a radio in the actual receiver right ?????.

"dolbytone" YES, I can get a 12v transformer and hook a car stereo to a couple of speakers, but I don't know what to use with these bose speakers.

 

Just look on craigslist and buy an older cheap stereo receiver. You should be able to play FM & AM radio on any standard stereo receiver. I'm sure you can find one for less than $50. I got the one I put in my garage from my neighbor for free for helping him put up some shelves. He was getting rid of it in a yard sale. Its a 90's model yamaha with a remote. For your ipod, buy a few of these



I have one of these on every receiver in my house so I can plug in my ipod or anything else that has a stereo headphone output jack. I actually have a really long one that I can plug into my desktop computer in my living room. Don't waste your money on an ipod dock when one of these cables costs about $1.99. It can be used on any reciever with RCA inputs.

 

Thank you everybody for the help.
I'll tell me neighbor to keep an eye on a receiver, I don't go to garages sales and he does. If not I'll just go buy a cheap one.

One more question: Do I have to buy one that matches the ohms ??? any special requirements ??

Thanks again.