Applications: Take it Outside!
June 1, 2007
Written by: Nancy Klosek
Custom Retailer
In custom installation, when you’re dealing with a “room” as big as all outdoors, the rules of the game go flying out the (non-existent) window. Refreshingly,
exterior installations aren’t a hard sell; they’re natural extensions, in most cases, of inside jobs. 
That’s where the easy part ends, however. The more complex the client’s desires, the more project planners must think outside the box to create element-proof but visually pleasing solutions that come as close as possible to meeting in-home
installation standards.
We discussed outdoor installations with four professionals who’ve been there and done that.
HiFi House Wilmington, Del.
www.hifihousegroup.com
Since he started in custom six years ago, Chief Custom Designer E.J. Feulner has encountered all manner of variables in “out-stalls,” but an early encounter with the dual proximity of sea air and other properties sticks with him as an object lesson. “It involved a beach house with outdoor box speakers installed on the porch wall,” he recalls. “We siliconed the connections to waterproof them, but I learned something: I should have known what salt air’s effect on the metal bracket would be. It rusted out. But the bigger issue with the job—which was on three levels of patio, each with a pair of speakers facing downward onto the porches—was that there were houses on either side and there was a noise issue with the neighbors. So the next time, I learned to put the speakers on the outside, aiming back toward the house.
“Since then, I’ve been involved in much larger systems and have learned that for control outside, you need a waterproof wireless access point, and you need to find the locations for waterproof remotes and for your RF antennas, which you can’t mount in metal boxes.” Typically, he says, his crew takes a cue from the electrical industry and avails itself of waterproof electrical enclosures that are rated in the electrical industry as “NEMA4” for their degree of weather resistance. To achieve optimal sound, he says, “99 percent of the time, we run everything mono.” For clients who are sticklers for very-high-quality outdoor sound, he adds outdoor subs made by reliable suppliers.
A current project involves a planter speaker on a pool deck and a waterproof remote with an RF antenna—but the client, an avid internet surfer, had to be accommodated. “The house is wireless-networked,” Feulner explains, “but to carry that outside, we arranged for a waterproof wireless access point outfitted with a heater and a temperature sensor, because if the circuits inside get frozen, it will affect performance.”
Feulner stresses follow-up with outdoor installs to ensure a satisfied client remains so for the long haul. “We feel it’s better not to learn the hard way,” he says. “You don’t want to leave a keypad outside, because it can conceivably bring down the whole system inside the house. What we do for the winter is we go over for a service call and bring all the outdoor stuff inside. People ‘winterize’ their patio furniture and their pool. It makes as much sense—and maybe more—to winterize your outdoor electronics.” CR