Spanier Pond Sound System
Chester, NJ
Extending Wi-Fi and Music Beyond the Home
Providing a rich outdoor sound system and Wi-Fi connectivity to a remote part of a large property
Overview
Richard Spanier of Chester, NJ enjoys his evening swims during the summer after long days in the office. Already having the ability to play music throughout his house and immediate surroundings he requested that we extend that capability to the swimming pond located about 100 yards from the main house so that he, his family, and guests could enjoy music while they swam and relaxed.
Challenge
The Wi-Fi signal from the main house was much too weak at the location of the pond to support their existing audio system.
The existing house audio uses SONOS as its source for streaming audio. SONOS is controlled by a cell phone application that allows the user to select music, control the volume and adjust other settings.
This app however requires that the user’s cell phone and all SONOS amplifiers be on the same Wi-Fi network. Additionally, speaker wire has distance limitations between the amplifier and speakers that made it impossible to connect speakers at the pond area to the main house.
Solution
Ashcor Technologies leveraged landscape power at an existing gazebo in the pond area and installed a wireless bridge using Unifi’s Building to Building bridge to link the pond and the main residence’s network.
Then Ashcor Technologies installed a dedicated SONOS amplifier and network equipment in weatherproof utility boxes to provide excellent Wi-Fi coverage and sound to the remote area.
Near the pond, a gazebo structure had power for lighting and a line of site to the main residence. This made it possible to create a network connection using Unifi’s Building to Building Bridge product. We then installed three weatherproof outdoor utility boxes behind the gazebo to house the network switch, SONOS amplifier, and subwoofer amplifier.
To enhance Wi-Fi in the pond area, we installed a Unifi Access Point U6 Mesh and connected it to the local POE network switch.
Speaker wires were then run from the gazebo to two Klipsch Reference Premier Series rock speakers and one Klipsch Reference Premier rock subwoofer positioned in the landscaping surrounding the small beach.
Result
The resulting system provides not only excellent sound coverage for the pond and beach area but extremely fast Wi-Fi for the entire area. This enables the owners and their guests to enjoy not only music but all their connected devices while away from the main residence.