Music in the garden: speakers for terrace, pool and seating area

On the terrace the walls that carry the sound in the living room are missing. What sounds full indoors evaporates outside. Add rain, sun and frost – and neighbours who also want to enjoy the summer evening. For every requirement there is a suitable solution.

Portable: for a start

Sonos Move and Roam, Bose SoundLink, JBL and Bang & Olufsen build battery speakers that tolerate rain and play over WiFi or Bluetooth. They stand on the table, come back in at night and are enough for the seating area. Limit: bass and volume over larger areas.

Fixed: terrace and pergola

Weatherproof speakers from Sonance, Bowers & Wilkins, Klipsch, Monitor Audio or Bose are mounted on the wall or pergola and fed by an amplifier in the house – a Sonos Amp or Bluesound Powernode, say, which runs the terrace as its own room in the multiroom system. Two speakers on the house wall, angled downwards, cover a terrace evenly.

In the garden: landscape speakers

For large gardens and pool areas there are systems you hardly see: small satellites in the beds that look like path lights, and a subwoofer buried in the ground with only an opening showing. Sonance, Bose and other manufacturers build them for permanent outdoor operation. The sound is spread evenly over the area and at moderate volume – exactly right for not blasting the neighbours.

The technology behind it

Cables in the ground belong in conduits, weatherproof connections are a must, and for long runs a 100-volt system, as restaurants and hotels use, pays off. The amplifier stays in the house, where it is dry; everything is controlled through the app that also runs in the living room.

Weather and protection

Watch the protection rating: IP65 or higher for permanent mounting, portable devices usually IP67. Direct sun bleaches enclosures, frost damages diaphragms – quality pays off twice here. And winter: fixed speakers stay outside, portable ones come in.

The neighbours

A speaker pointing at the property line is a dispute in the making. Aim speakers downwards and into your own garden, several quiet ones instead of one loud one, and respect the night-time quiet – in most municipalities from 10 p.m. Well-planned garden sound goes unnoticed by neighbours; that is the goal.

Planning

The terrace is best planned together with the landscaper and the electrician: conduits, power, network and the place for speakers, before the surface is laid. Much is possible afterwards, but at greater cost. We plan the outdoor area as part of the multiroom system, so that the music starts in the kitchen and carries on on the terrace.