Theater Solutions OVCDG Outdoor Speaker Volume Control Gray Weatherproof Dial

So I originally purchased a volume controller made by a different manufacturer. It overheated to the point it had a burnt plastic smell when I took the cover off. This controller while looking similar on the outside, seemed more robust on the inside. The moisture sealing appears like it will be effective and there seems to be more room to hold the wiring. Keep in mind you will have (8) strands of wire, (14 gauge in my case) connecting to the controller. I recommend you leave plenty of wire to work with. This does not use any more wire than other applications it's just not worth cutting corners and finding out you've cut yourself short -so to speak. My speakers are about (30) feet from the power source. I notice no loss of power and no changes in volume or separation from right and left speakers. All in all, it's a well thought out product and I'm enjoying the music on my deck.

I mounted this outside near my hot tub for convenience and Its been a nice addition to my outdoor soundsystem. I no longer have to run inside to turn down the amp! The unit sticks out pretty far, so finding a good mounting place was a bit tricky. Installation isn't too bad, however it is pretty tight inside the unit, so connecting all the speaker wire, and then having to tuck it back in can be a little tricky. I used CS3 Rated in wall speaker wire, and they were too bulky for the housing, so I would recommend smaller wiring if you can get away with it. Once you get the wires in, you have to get the cover back on with the seal which can be difficult by yourself. My wiring ended up getting in the way, and the faceplate didn't bolt down all the way in one corner, so the knob kinda rubs against the faceplate. An inconvenience that I could fix, but something to look out for when installing yourself. Once installed, it works great, controlling the volume nice and steady with no sound distortion or fuzz. Highly recommended if your current volume control is away from the party.

I installed this guy out back of my house last week. Some simple 3/4 inch PVC and I have the speaker cables coming down from the soffit, into this, and back up into the soffit and down to the ends of the roof where the speakers are mounted (klipsch AW-650's). I tested this, and the speakers, with 250 watts per channel (measured 250, real time) from a Monster Power MPA 2250 amplifier, and this held up just fine. The overall volume of the speakers is dropped about 10 dB from what it would be had the audio not gone through the box, but given that the box supports such high wattage's this isn't a huge problem to have to compensate for. Excellent buy. Knob works great too. Easy to install (this was my first one).

These rating systems really do need a ZERO. Occasionally you need it. This is one of those. I could not connect the speaker wires for the left channel. The set screws are blocked by the sides of the front cover plate. The answer, of course, is to remove the cover. Easier said than done. I'm not a novice at this, and I was still unable to remove the knob to get at the nut securing the cover to the controller. The instructions made no mention of this need to remove the cover plate, so they don't tell you how the knob is secured. I tried several things, but when the force exerted got me worried about breaking something I backed off. The product ships in a plain white box. Just a part number/name on the label. There is no vendor name on the box or the very skimpy instruction sheet. No website, email, phone - nothing. So I had no way to ask a very simple question that might have save me time and hassle, and avoided completion delay. the good news is that Amazon is not charging me for the return. It appears Amazon just got this product. I suggested to the Customer Service rep that they pull the product, or they will be getting a lot more of them returned. Actually, this is unfortunate as the control seems to be otherwise well made. ********************* UPDATE I later learned that there is some disassembly required to get the wiring attached. It's not difficult, but there is ZERO documentation on that part and it is far from obvious. I still give it one star for poor docs.

UPDATE: original review below. Now, own two of these, one for deck and one for pool, one of them distorts horribly when turned below half volume... Unlistenable. To rectify, I have to go inside, lower volume on amp and raise volume in this product. Come summer, I will replace the noisy one with Niles. Installed nicely, modulates volume by pool fed by dedicated power amp. I also own a Niles indoor version that was much more expensive. The theater solutions one seems to work fine (only just installed though; we'll see if it holds up). The removable speaker wire binders work great and ease installation. Only complaint is that gasket to seal switch plate to included switch box is impossible to seat properly. After half an hour of trying I trashed that gasket and sealed with many layers of Teflon plumbers tape.

A reliable and reasonably priced volume control for installation outdoors. I purchased one over a year ago for the speakers out on my patio and it has worked flawlessly. I recently purchased a second unit for use below lakeside by the dock for the speakers down there. A bit tricky to connect depending on your wire gauge as there are a total of 8 conductors to deal with (4 conductors for Left and Right from the Amp coming in and another 4 going back out to the Left and Right speaker units); due to the distance I used underground cables between the house, volume control and speakers that had 14 AWG wires but I managed to connect them just fine.

Used this to combine with Sonos to limit the volume outdoors. Works as advertised. As others have noted, the connectors (which seem to fit 14 gauge wire -- I had to cut down my 12 gauge) as crammed in the box. I had to remove the entire unit from the face plate in order to get everything connected nicely. But hey, does what it advertises.

This is a solid product at a good Price ($35). As another reviewer had stated it was difficult to get the speaker wire in that was close to the wall plate. However if you remove the green terminal that the speaker wires go into, it is a lot easier(it just clips on). This will allow you to attach the wire without holding the controller. Also I suggest only using 16 guage wire if you are only installing a pairs of speaker. I has installed 2 pairs of speakers and the 16 guage wire was to very tight fit when you twisted both wires together and tried to install in the terminal. If you are hooking up more that one pair of speakers only use 18 or 22 guage wire it will make your install a lot easier. The only issue I have had is that the instructions do not tell you how to adjust the shorting bars to help match the speaker impedance. Right now i have to have my Onkyo reciver turned up very loud to get signal to the outdoor speakers. That is the only reason why it did not get 5 stars.

Very cheap product. Case broke in my hand just installing it. Plastic is old and cheap. Dried and cracked right away. Don’t buy!!!!

Excellent delivery time, however item is defective and not worth returning. I need to find another item to substitute and discard this non-functioning item.

Produit de piètre qualité qui fonctionne mal. Retourné quelque jours après réception.