When I purchased my home a few years ago one of the things I really wanted to do was install some speakers outside on my deck. I started purchasing Sonos speakers and components and really loved their platform so my hope was that Sonos had plans to add a wireless outdoor speaker to their lineup. Unfortunately as I did more research I came to the realization that Sonos has no plans to add an outdoor wireless speaker. I think the components inside a Sonos speaker are just to sensitive for outdoor use. As a workaround we have been bringing one of our Sonos Play:1 speakers outside or putting it in the window to get our music outside. This has been an Ok temporary workaround but not a great long-term solution.
Sonos' solution to outdoor speakers is their Connect Amp product and aftermarket outdoor speakers. The Connect Amp has been around for a while. It allows you to connect a turntable or CD player and you connect to any speakers you have. The Amp, obviously is not meant for outdoor use but if you connect it to a good pair of outdoor speakers you are good to go. The reason most people buy Sonos speakers is because it is so easy to setup and is wireless. So putting wired speakers on a Sonos product seems a bit silly but if it gets my music outside it works for me.
When I was researching options for my outdoor music solution I was really unaware of who made good outdoor speakers and was really not interested in some of the rock speakers that were popular a few years back. Eventually I cam across the Sonos / Sonance outdoor music streaming system. The system is comprised of:
- Sonos Connect Amp
- 2 Sonos MAG06 Outdoor speakers
- Xpress Audio Keypad
The system is sold on Amazon and BestBuy and retails for $1,200. It does frequently go on sale and I have seen it sell for as low as $600 which is what I paid. The Amp and speakers will run you well over $1,000 separately so if you can get in on sale it is a great deal. Speaker wire is not included by the way. When reading reviews some people were complaining that speaker wire was not installed but I think it makes sense not to include speaker wire as some installations will need longer runs and different wire gauges.
Sonos recently released a new Amp product that has twice the power as the Connect Amp as well as HDMI ARC inputs. I was considering this new product but it is quite a bit more expensive and the HDMI ARC would be useless as I am using the speakers outside. The new Sonos Amp is rated at 250 watts versus the old Connect Amp at 110 watts. Based on reviews I have read the power is sufficient for driving a pair of speakers. If you are planning to drive more than a pair the new Amp is probably a better choice.
My electrician was out last week and snaked the speaker wire through the wall and I am now up and running with the new system. I am pretty happy for the price I paid. The speakers are pretty large and seem to be high quality. I am a little concerned about how they are going to hold up through a new England winter but we will see how it goes. The sound is good and they work like just another pair of Sonos speakers. They are not going to blow my neighbors away but get sufficiently loud. The only odd thing I notices is that I need to have the volume in the Sonos app up to at least 50% to hear anything from the speakers. Once over 50% the volume gets exponentially louder and there is no need to turn it up to 100%. I was thinking the issue may be some setting in the app but I couldn't find anything. I searched through the Sonos community forums and found quite a few people reporting the same issue. It appears to be just how the amp performs with these speakers. As I mentioned before they get pretty load so it is not really an issue for me.
The only other thing worth mentioning is the Xpress Audio Keypad Remote that came with the system. It is kind of a redundant piece of hardware as I usually have my phone with me when I am outside listening to music, this keypad does less than the app does. I initially thought I would just sell it on Craigslist but it is kind of an obscure product and figured it would not get a whole lot of interest. So installed it and will use it going forward to see if it adds any value. It does provide the following functionality.
- play/pause
- track skip
- favorites
- volume up/down
The back is magnetic and you can mount it to your wall with provided double sided tape or in a Decora faceplate. It sets up as a wireless device, the process was a little convoluted but I was able to get through it in 10 or so minutes. The only issue I have had is if I put the keypad in my pocket I have accidentally turned the music on without knowing it only to find out hours later when I went outside. Unfortunately it only pairs to one Sonos/speaker device and there is no screen on it so you can't see which song or favorite station is playing. Might be more useful if I could toggle through all my Sonos speakers.
Overall I am really liking the system as a whole. Time will tell how well it hold up but I am going to really enjoy music on my deck for the rest of the season this year.
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