Outdoor Speaker Buyer's Guide

There are a lot of different models of quality outdoor speakers to choose from The Speaker Company. The only place to be!

That snarly prick Old Man Winter has finally headed back up north where he came from. It's time to head outside.

Nice weather feels good, and is what many of us Great White Northerners spend eight months of the year dreaming about. But while you're outside, what should you do about tunes?

Do you really want to lug your favourite home theatre speakers outside? After a long day of barbecue and beverage, you won't feel like carting them back inside. Oh, the horror of rained-on speakers.

Okay, pretend you're smarter (or more experienced) than that, and simply move them to a window or door. Crank up the volume, and force your neighbourhood to submit to your choice of music.

That method will work until the drivers wear out, blow, or an over-refreshed guest trips over the wires and sends your prized speaker cabinets tumbling.

Before you give up on the idea and go back to your parent's basement to dig out your old ghetto blaster; oops…uh…excuse me, 'boom box", consider outdoor speakers.

When done properly an outdoor speaker setup can be tastefully attractive and sound pretty good.

Done poorly, it can sound tinny, muddy, and look tacky.

The sonic challenge of outdoors

Any musician who has ever played an outside show knows one thing for sure: outside sucks up volume like nothing else.

You're not in your living room anymore, Dorothy, so don't expect sound to bounce off walls and come rocketing back at you. It's going to go out and not come back.

Acoustic technology has come a long way, but all things being equal, small speakers generally will not sound as good as a larger set that can move more air.

Now before you set your flamemail thrower on "disintegrate", I said, "generally". There are always exceptions that make a rule, and indoors there are small speaker cabinets that completely blow away larger ones.

However, small, unobtrusive speakers mounted outside don't really stand a chance. Try to maximize bass response with strategic speaker placement.

Choose them

In addition to all the usual indoor speaker aspects, when shopping for outdoor models look for those that have been tested and warranted for outdoor use.

There are too many different models of outdoor speakers to list here.

Basically five types exist: "regular" looking weatherproof speakers, cylinder-shaped, rock-shaped, and flowerpot-shaped. Garden shapes like rocks and frogs are available, and there are also wireless speakers.

In the "normal-looking" category, Athena makes the AS-06, which is tested for both warm and cold climes. Available in black or white, it has a 6.5-inch high power injection molded woofer and a 1-inch Teteron tweeter.

The Energy Tempest is an indoor-outdoor model with an equalizer circuit that Energy claims optimizes the speaker for outdoor use. Available in black or white, it contains a 5.25-inch injection molded cone, and a half-inch dual hyperdome tweeter.

Paradigm offers the Stylus Series of indoor-outdoor speakers. Available in various sizes, the cabinets house Pure Titanium Domes and Mineral-Filled Polypropylene Cones.

Camouflage speakers are supposed to blend visually and aurally into an outdoor setting. Most have one speaker, instead of the woofer/tweeter combo found in typical rectangular enclosures.

The first item in the garden category is the completely weatherproof Proficient, in the shape of a frog. Jeremiah was a bullfrog, indeed.

SpeakerCraft outdoor Rox look like real rocks, and lack any noticeable grill holes. They are available in pairs, and larger single models.

Peak Stone makes Canyon and Forest rock-shaped speakers, in red or slate.

For those who simply must have music which pounds bone and viscerals, the Stereostone Subwoofer is a 250-watt rock-shaped thumper.

The pool is one place where outdoor speakers may be hard to hear, and wearing your personal MP3 or CD player isn't possible. Listening while swimming is made easier with The Underwater Speaker; an eight-inch transducer that comes with its own 25-foot Euroflex jacketed 14-gauge underwater cable.

No speaker discussion would be complete without Bose. The Free Space 151 Environmental speakers deliver 360-degree sound coverage, on-or in-ground installation, and will stand up to snow, sun, rain, ice and saltwater spray.

The 251 Environmental is a wall-mounted speaker with a multi-chambered enclosure for improved bass response. The wall-mounted 151 SE sends sound over a wide listening area. The 131 is a flush mount model specifically intended for marine use.

Connect them

The wire you choose should be appropriate for the purpose. It should be tough enough for external use, smooth enough to be pulled through walls, and capable of delivering a quality signal.

Avoid bare wire connections when possible. Use proper connectors, like pins, plugs, or spades.

Run wires through walls, not through doors and windows. It looks neater, and avoids the possibility of breakage from being constantly crimped in a door.

The point where the wire exist the house should be as close as possible to the speaker location.

Measure the distances you need for speaker cables a few times, and add at least five feet more. You can always cut off the excess, but a splice in a wire cut too short can reduce sound quality.

Use the smallest drill bit you can get away with that still allows a wire to be pulled through easily. Use external silicone sealant to fill the holes after the wire has been pulled through.

If you're unfamiliar with the process, consider finding a qualified security system installer to do the actual drilling and pulling. The money you spend will be worth the time you save.

For those who can't stand the thought of drilling and running wires, Accoustic Research makes a ground-mounted wireless speaker that operates on the 900MHz band, the same frequency used by your cordless telephone. Range is claimed to be 300 feet.

Mount them

Use proper wood or masonry screws when attaching to solid surfaces.

If you must mount into siding, be it wood, vinyl, or aluminum, make sure to use screws that are long enough to grab into the wood behind the siding.

The same goes for mounting on sofitt and fascia. It would be very embarrassing and expensive if your outdoor home improvement pulled down some of your house covering. And good siding installers are tough to find during the summer when they're busiest.

Take advantage of walls, and corners to boost bass frequencies.

Generally, the higher they are the further sound will travel out of them.

If your outdoor speakers look like indoor models, tilt them slightly so water doesn't pool in the driver cones.

Control them

Before you run out to buy a batch of new outdoor speakers, make sure your amplifier is up to the job of driving them.

Modern receivers have a multizone output that allows a separate signal to be run into an external amplifier for powering additional speakers. Using this method lets you listen to say, the CD player outside, while someone inside can enjoy the tuner.

To control the separate music sources and volumes you must install an Infra-Red (IR) repeater and use a remote. Aim your remote at the repeater, and it will "repeat" the signal back to your receiver. Because it is light, IR doesn't work so great in sunlight.

Installing keypads to control your system certainly improves flexibility, and as might be expected, increases costs. Keypads also require the same type of cable used in computer networks; so drilled holes will be larger.

If you're going to go with the separate zone route, spend a lot of time planning, or better yet, hire a professional. You wouldn't want to drill holes into your house before realizing a door, window, or other item impedes access to your sound control, or that you'd really rather have it in another place altogether.

An easier way to control volume is to install a remote that works in line with the speakers. If you want to mount it outdoors, get an outdoor-approved model.

Provided you don't mind setting source and levels inside, and don't require the ability to change anything from outside, the easiest way for outside sound is to buy outside speakers and connect them to your present system.

Links to Outdoor Speaker Manufacturers