We took a break from our project to fix the deck yesterday and decided to work on running some speaker wire and ethernet cable to it instead.

We usually have an old boom box with us when we’re out on the deck so we can have the radio on in the background.  Since it’s not water-proof, though, it’s kind of a pain to have to haul it out every time we want to use it.  We did some research last summer on wireless outdoor speakers, but the stability of any of the wireless products we’ve ever used is always questionable, so we decided it probably wasn’t worth the money.  Since we have the deck all torn up anyway, though, we were able to get access to the conduit that runs from the house, under the sidewalk and to the deck.  The junction box is in a place that would be impossible to get to with all of the deck boards back in place, so we decided to run some speaker wire while we had everything opened up so we can add some wired outdoor speakers later.

Existing conduit for power and coax runs from the house, under the sidewalk, to a junction box under the deck.

Existing conduit for power and coax runs from the house, under the sidewalk, to a junction box under the deck.

The conduit had power and coax running through it when we started, but we’ve never used the coax on the deck and don’t think we’ll ever really have a need for it, so we unhooked it in the basement, tied some string to it, and pulled it through to the junction box under the deck.  We then tied (and taped) the string onto a 4-conductor speaker wire and an ethernet cable and pulled them back through to the basement.  We were worried the conduit wouldn’t be big enough or we would have problems with the cables getting all tangled with the electrical wire, but it fished a lot easier than we expected.

The service entrance to the house.  Contains electrical wires, speaker wires, and an ethernet cable.

The service entrance to the house. Contains electrical wires, speaker wires, and an ethernet cable.

Once we got the wires fished to the junction box, we then installed a separate run of plastic conduit under the deck that takes the speaker wire and ethernet cable almost all the way to the far side of the deck where we’d be most likely to mount jacks and controls for the speakers.

Water-proof junction box under the deck.  Electrical wires continue straight, into the 1/2“ conduit; speaker wire & ethernet cable go left into the 3/4” conduit.

Water-proof junction box under the deck. Electrical wires continue straight, into the 1/2“ conduit; speaker wire & ethernet cable go left into the 3/4” conduit.

Our plan right now is to hook up an outdoor volume control to the 4-conductor speaker wire and mount it on one of the deck posts.  Then, we’ll use 2-conductor speaker wire to wire the volume control to speakers mounted just under the deck on either end of it.  Inside the house, we’ll run the speaker wire to the other side of the basement where we’ll set up an old stereo that powers the speakers.  The original plan for the ethernet cable was to provide a reliable internet connection to the deck so we could connect to our MythTV backend for projecting TV/movies on the side of the house, but we’re reading now that it can also be used for more advanced audio controls (that enable source selection, skipping tracks, etc.) in conjunction with a multi-room receiver like what would be used for whole-house audio systems.  We aren’t sure yet how far we want to take this project, but setting up a whole-house system is something that we think would be pretty cool.  I guess we’ll have to do more research to see what meets our needs the best.  For now, though, we have the wiring in place to hopefully support whatever we decide to do.

Filed Under: Home Improvement,Home Technology,Landscaping

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