NPA is not just about Perennials, maybe it's time to change their name... they established the original "perennial" border at Bellevue botanic gardens and even at the beginning there were lots of trees and shrubs and even more now that it is being renovated. I stay in that group mainly because of the garden tours, my neighborhood group, and the lectures, but also am in the breakaway group the Hardy Plant Soc of WA. (I stay out of the politics) So any speaker for our neighborhood group can talk about anything gardening. Personally I'm hoping to get back on more Hort/plant/soil topics for our local group as it seems we've been dominated by lots of artsy crafty garden decoration topics this year. We have some new members and they would appreciate some info on soil structure, correct planting methods, pruning, etc. Hint.. Hint.. Here is a link that might be useful: NPA

OR, you can put these; http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/speakon/ Into this; https://www.amazon.com/Arlington-DBHR1W-1-Electrical-Weatherproof-Construction/dp/B004K1G0PE And use in-wall wire inside, and outdoor wire outside. A junction box at the exterior wall is how most wiring is handled in this situation. I don't know why people using low voltage think it should be any different ;) http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/speakon_explained.htm

If you have existing speakers and the wires are running to a common point, then you just hook them up to an appropriate amplfier and your audio will play through the speakers. Many larger amps can drive multiple speakers (3-4 pairs), or there may have been a separate switching device to select which speakers are being used. However, technology has changed over the years and few people are buying the old conventional "receiver" that includes an AM/FM radio, amplifier and connections for a record player, tape player, CD player, etc. Leaving the speakers and wiring in place is fine, but you may never have anyone who wants to use them again. Making them functional may also be straightforward, but you need the right type of receiver to plug in where that "ton of plugs" comes together. If someone in the family wants to experiment, I have seen many high quality receivers at the local Salvation Army store and at estate sales, and they are not expensive. Bruce

The sound quality of a particular source is not something that's subjective in any way. There's nothing about a digital copy of a recording that compromises the sound source. In fact, it's the opposite, a high percentage of today's recorded music is done (at the studio level) ultimately in digital form. Though it may pass through analog equipment, thought to give warmth to the sound, along the way. The problem is with CDs and other formats. A CD has a limited amount of memory space. When the CD standard was set back at the dawn of time, it was decided to fix the bit and sampling rates at a point that would allow about 70 minutes of content. To get there requires "mastering" and down-sampling of that leaves more than half of the sound content behind. The bit rate standard is about 1400 bits per second, that's what's needed to fit within the capacity of the memory to reach 70 minutes. MP3s and MP4s (the Apple equivalent) take that already compromised sample and reduce it further with compression and further down-sampling - the top MP3 or equiv rate is about 320bps. Streaming music is usually at 128bps or less. Less than 25% of the original source content, if made from a CD, which itself is already a compromised source. . Analog sources have more capacity and so more of the master is present in a vinyl record. There a comparison with digital photography. A commercial photographer, or indeed even a photographer hired to take pictures at a wedding or other social function, will use one of several RAW formats for images. A typical image might be 50 million bits - 50 Mbs for each picture, or larger. For a family event, some of the RAWs I got approached 100Mb. Someone standing next to the photographer taking the same scene with a point and shoot camera or smartphone is going to have a file of 5-10Mbs, max. How could that be? Because the common jpg or gif formats sample, compress and downsize the image to produce a smaller file. Does it matter? Sure. You can produce large images/large print sizes with a RAW file. Any image from a RAW within a relevant range will be quite clear and sharp. With a jpg or gif, as images get much above a compact size, the image will become blurry because of the missing "data" from the image.