Sonos Outdoor Speaker Review
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Sonos Outdoor Speaker Review
Does Sonos Have Outdoor Speakers?
Yes, Sonos just launched their new lineup of outdoor speakers in collaboration with Sonance a long trusted name in built in and outdoor speakers.
The new Sonos outdoor speakers are called Sonos Outdoor by Sonance and are precision engineered to work with the Sonos Amp to optimize the sound quality of the Sonos Speakers with streaming music.
Outdoor sound has always been a challenge, because unlike speakers inside a home in an outdoor setting there is nothing for the sound to reflect off of like floors or walls inside a home, so with outdoor sound the speakers must be capable of delivering crisp sounds at longer distances.
The Sonos Outdoor Speakers are up to the task and can provide exceptional sound in a wide variety of outdoor settings. You can power up to 6 Sonos Outdoor Speakers with one Sonos Amp, providing you streaming music throughout your outdoor space.
Sonos Outdoor Speaker Review: Features
These speakers are built tough and can withstand humidity, water, salt spray, heat, UV rays, and freezing temperatures and are designed to placed outside and remain outside.
6-1/2" woofer and 1" tweeter
8-ohm nominal impedance
max power handling: 130 watts
sensitivity: 89 dB
frequency response: 55-20,000 Hz (±3dB)
mounting brackets and paintable grilles included
1/2"W x 12-1/4 x 8-13/16"D
weight: 8.8 lbs.
Sonos Outdoor Speaker Review: Outdoor Speakers Compatible With Sonos
If you already have indoor Sonos Speakers you know that they have great sound and the easy to use app interfaces makes Sonos the sound system of choice in many homes. Sonos also works with Alexa so you can make music play from your sound system by saying “Alexa, play music on outdoor speakers.”
The Sonos Outdoor by Sonance Speakers provide the same high level listening experience that Sonos speakers are known for with the ease of providing streaming music to your outdoor space.
I have indoor Sonos speakers throughout my home and love the beautiful sound that it provides throughout my home. However I always wanted to have streaming music on our outdoor patio but there wasn’t any standalone outdoor speaker solutions I could pair with the Sonos system. So on nice days when I was spending a lot of time outside on our patio I would bring a Sonos One out and listen to music while I was working outside or grilling, this was a good solution but I always worried about leaving my Sonos One out in the rain after a long day in the sun.
The Sonos One is also designed for indoor space where the sound will reflect of the walls so it wasn’t the ideal solution for an outdoor environment with essentially limitless boundaries.
The new Sonos Outdoor Speakers solve this problem. They are engineered for the outdoor environment to withstand the elements and engineered to provide sound in open outdoor spaces. The new Sonos Outdoor by Sonance Speakers are engineered to be fully compatible with the Sonos sound system and will deliver premium sound when paired with a Sonos Amp.
You can wire 3 party speakers to the Sonos Amp but determining what speakers will work well with the Sonos Amp can be overwhelming. There are literally thousands of choices and you don’t know how they will sound until you have them installed which can sometimes lead to disappointment after hours of work or hundreds of dollars spent on speakers that don’t deliver rich sound.
The Sonos Outdoor by Sonance speakers take all of the guess work out of the equation and you know when you connect them to the Sonos Amp you’re going to get amazing sound.
Outdoor Speakers for Sonos : A collaborative Effort
Sonos created a collaborative partnership with Sonance known as one of the best built in and outdoor speaker manufacturers in the world.
Sonance has been around a long time and was one of the higher quality speakers manufacturers that we ended up gravitating too for built in installations prior to the announcement of their partnership with Sonos, so it’s a great thing these two companies teamed up to create an amazing sounding product.
We love that these two companies took their collective knowledge about sound systems and sound engineering and purpose built product to solve the challenge of selecting the right speakers, sound system and amplifier to maximize outdoor home sound quality.
No more complex speaker calculations or worries that the built in speakers you selected will sound good with your amp or sound system, just pair the Sonos Outdoor speakers with a Sonos Amp and you will have high quality sound streaming throughout your Outdoor Space.
Sonos Amp designed to power Sonos Outdoor by Sonance Speakers
How Sonos Outdoor Sonance Speakers Work
The Sonos Outdoor speakers are designed to work with the Sonos Amp to power the speakers and stream music from your phone and are paired with outdoor speakers. The pair of Sonos Outdoor of speakers is then hardwired with low voltage speaker wiring to the Sonos Amp that will then provide power, volume control and streaming music directly to the built in sonos speakers.
Sonos speakers are hardwired so if you don’t already have built in outdoor speaker wiring you will need to run outdoor rated speaker wire from your Sonos Amp which should be located inside to the location where you will place your outdoor speakers.
If you already have hardwired outdoor speakers and are looking to replace them or your house is prewired for outdoor speakers you can wire the Sonos Amp in where the speakers terminate on the inside of your house and then install the new Sonos Outdoor Speakers where your old speakers or wiring was located.
How to Wire Sonos by Sonance Outdoor Speakers
Each Sonos Amp can control up to 3 pairs of Sonos Outdoor by Sonance speakers which is a total of six individual speakers. Pairing Sonos Outdoor speakers with the Sonos Amp allows control of 2 more speakers per Sonos Amp than using 3rd party speakers that are not designed to work with the Sonos Amp, you are limited to connecting 4 speakers to the Sonos Amp when using 3rd party speakers not designed for use with the Sonos Amp.
Sonos Amp Connection View. The Sonos Amp can power up to 6 Sonos Outdoor Speakers
Sonos Outdoor Speaker Installation: No Existing Wiring
if you already have wiring for you Sonos Outdoor speakers by Sonance you can skip ahead. If you are running new wiring for you Sonos Outdoor speakers we have some tips below that will help you wire the Sonos Outdoor speakers.
If you are running new speaker wiring to the exterior it’s ideal to place your Sonos Amp on an exterior wall so that you can easily run new wiring from the amp to the exterior. You could locate the amp in a garage that has easy access to the exterior or on top of a kitchen cabinet or book shelf along an exterior wall.
You will then need to drill through from the exterior where you are placing your Sonos Amp to connect the wiring. If you have wood, vinyl or aluminum siding it is typically not hard drill a hole to the exterior. You can use a 16” long drill bit and it should get your through any normal exterior wall.
If you have a brick wall you can still drill through it but there might be a couple easier options to install your speakers. You could place the Sonos Amp in a closet and run the speaker wiring up though your attic and then back out the soffit and then place the speakers on your soffit. This setup is ideal for ranches and split levels where the speakers wouldn’t be more than 12-15 FT from the ground or your deck. If you place the Sonos Outdoor Speakers on the soffit on two story home you would begin to compromise listening quality because the speakers are so high up.
If you can’t wire the speakers though a soffit you and plan to drill through the wall you will need a long masonry bit at ideally 18” long like this one from Dewalt to get through the wall and hammer drill. I’ve used a Milwaukee 18V hammer drill to drill through masonry walls and works great it just takes a little more time and effort. You should plan on drilling between the grout lines to make going through the wall as easy as possible.
If you have vinyl siding it's easy to conceal the speaker wiring under the existing vinyl siding by prying the bottom edge of a piece of siding and sliding the wires underneath. Or you can typically push the wire behind the siding and it slide it along backside of the siding and drill a hole where you want it to come out.
It's also easy to place the wiring behind vinyl siding corners as they are just clipped in and easy to place wires behind.
If you don’t have vinyl siding or you don’t have a good way to route the wiring on the side of your house you can also use underground rated speaker cable and bury it so that it can't be seen. If you choose to use underground cable you should make sure you place it deep enough per your local regulations. With underground speaker cable it's best to place your Sonos Amps along your basement wall the drill through the wall 16" above ground to route the cable through your basement wall.
With the underground speaker cable you can route it wherever you need it in your outdoor space as long as you bury it deep enough. The cable is small so you can typically make a very small cut in your yard if you use a shovel with a deep blade.
Sonos Outdoor Speaker Review: Wiring Diagram
The Sonos Outdoor Sonance speakers are designed to work specifically with the Sonos Amp and come with a left and right channel for full stereo sound. The diagrams below show the typical wiring that would be required for for exterior audio. The examples below shows how you would connect 2 or 4 Sonos Outdoor speakers to a Sonos Amp. If you want to connect 6 built in Sonos by Sonance speakers you wire in another speaker on the left channel and another speaker on the right channel, using two wires for each of the additional speakers connected directly to the back of the Sonos Amp as shown.
If you have 6 speakers in one area of your home you want to control, you could install 6 Sonos by Sonance speakers including the in ceiling or in wall speakers and they can be all controlled on one Sonos Amp even if it is a mix of outdoor, in wall and in ceiling Sonos speakers.
Related Post: Sonos by Sonance Built In Speaker Review
Sonos Outdoor Zone Volume Control
If you want to have individual volume and music control of each area your are placing the Sonos speakers in you will need separate Sonos Amps for each zone you want to control. But if you want to group all the speakers in one zone you can use one amp to control six speakers in one zone and they will all be playing the same music at the same volume level from your control on the Sonos Amp.
If you have a back yard patio and a pool you might want to have one zone for your patio grilling area and another zone for your pool area. If you don’t mind having everything on one zone but want to control the volume of each zone independently you could also install an outdoor volume control like the one below in lieu of using a separate Sonos Amp.
Sonos Built In Speaker Review: Multiple Areas Per Zone vs One Zone Per Area
So how do you know if you should have individual zones for each area or if you it will be ok to control multiple areas with one Sonos zone?
The truth is you don’t until you’ve lived with an installed Sonos Amp and Sonance Outdoor speaker system and played around with how you use the system. Here’s the thing, if you follow our general guidelines for wiring below you could always add separate Sonos Zone or room control later by adding more Sonos Amps to your existing system without opening walls or adding wiring in the future.
With the Sonos app you can always group or ungroup multiple areas to sync music with the touch of a button but having multiple zone control is determined by how many Sonos Amps you have in your system. One Sonos Amp = one group with anywhere from 2-6 Sonos by Sonance Outdoor or Built in speakers.
To make your Sonos Outdoor speaker system future compatible you should do the following:
Wire each speaker independently with a minimum of 2 conductor outdoor rated 14 gauge speaker wiring if you wiring run is less than 80FT and if your wiring is more than 80FT you should use 12 gauge wiring which will work with speaker runs up to 120-150FT. If you have a wiring run further than that it’s probably best to just dedicate another space closer to the speakers to place the Sonos Amps. Below we have two recommended types of high quality outdoor speaker wire in both 12 gauge & 14 gauge wiring. We recommend these two outdoor speaker cables because they have 2 conductors but they also have an outer sheath on them that will protect the wire for direct burial installations, and from UV degradation when the wire is exposed. With the sheath the cables are easier to pull in wall and will be more resistant to damage which can often occur durring installation.
Wire all of your outdoor wiring to one common location like your basement, garage, or IT closet. This will allow you to pair up to 6 speakers on one Sonos Amp, and then upgrade with more Sonos Amps in the future to create more zones. If you have runs longer than 150FT then create two common closets for placing the Sonos Amp equipment and try to group the wiring by rooms that you would like in one zone.
When you or your contractor is doing the wiring they should individually label each 2 conductor speaker wire using easily identifiable names like (Pool Left, Pool Right, Patio Right, Patio Left) then they should use zip ties to group wires from the same room together. This will save you lots of headaches in the future and allow you to easily install and troubleshoot the built in speaker sound system.
If you are planning on creating lots of zones it’s a good idea to get a wall mounted power strip with surge protection like this one from trip lite that will make it easy to power the Sonos Amp or other electronics.
. With all of the wiring now run to common locations you can wire up each Sonos Amp with either, 2 , 4 or 6 Sonos by Sonance Outdoor Speakers. Remember each Sonos Amp is one “Zone” to add more zones you can add more Sonos Amps and connect the speakers you want in one zone to that amp.
The Sonos Amp is designed to fit nicely in AV Racks but can also be placed on a shelf or wall mounted with a wall Sonos Wall Mount Adapter like these. If you have less than 6 Sonos Amps in one location and you have the wall space, wall mounting the Sonos Amps is a good option because it allows for easy access to the wiring without needing to pull a rack out or fumble with cords on the back side of an AV cabinet. They look nice on the wall so as long as you use cord management like these self adhesive or screw in wire management clips
Sonos By Sonance Built In Speaker Review Sound Quality
If you already have Sonos speakers you know why people end up with a whole house of Sonos speakers. Sonos speakers are known for their high quality, ease of use and direct integration with streaming music services.
The Sonos by Sonance Outdoor Speakers have the same high quality build as other Sonos products with the outdoor speaker engineering provided by their partner Sonance. The first time I listened to Sonance outdoor speakers paired with a Sonos Amp and I was truly impressed by the sound quality.
What I have noticed with built in Sonance speakers paired with the Sonos Amp is that they have great low range and exceptional clarity and are up to the task of providing great sound in the open outdoor spaces. The Sonance Outdoors speakers seem to do an exceptional job of filling outdoor spaces with clean, balanced sound from streaming media sources.
If I were building a new home, and wanted streaming music in my outdoor spaces or near my pool. Sonos Outdoor by Sonance speakers would be the choice for my outdoor sound system. You can’t go wrong with the Sonos Outdoor Speakers and you will be impressed the first time you turn them on.
Sonos Built in Speaker Review Ease of Installation
Th Sonos Outdoor speakers offer easy surface mount installation. Just screw in the mounting bracket to your wall, deck post or pergola and wire them up to your Sonos amp and you are ready to start streaming great sounding music in your outdoor space.
Sonos Outdoor Speaker Installed
Sonos by Sonance Built in Speaker Review Value
At first glance it might seem like the Sonos by Sonance built in speakers are pricey but in reality for the audio quality they provide they are an exceptional value. Both Sonos and Sonance have been in the premium audio space for years and the Sonos by Sonance speakers provide the age old adage of “you get what you pay for” and in the case of Sonos that’s exceptional quality, and rich sound.
My experience installing Sonos products has been that people don’t return Sonos products they just buy more of them to complement their system and with these built in speakers I imagine that will be the case.
One thing that should be noted is that you can connect 6 Sonos by Sonance built in speakers to a Sonos Amp vs you can only connect 4 Non-Sonos speakers to a Sonos Amp. So if you have a house with a lot of speakers in the long run you would be able to power 12 speakers with 2 Sonos Amps vs if you use non Sonos speakers you would need 3 Sonos Amps for 12 Speakers.
Sonos Built In Speaker Review Summary
The Outdoor in Sonos by Sonance speakers are among the most powerful and capable outdoor speakers on the market and when paired with a Sonos Amp offer smart features that are unmatched by any other sound system. The Sonos by Sonance speakers also offer a full line of speaker options with in ceiling speakers, in wall speakers and outdoor speakers to fit the needs of your home. Sonos has provided high quality sound for years and the Sonos Outdoor Speakers by Sonance are no different. I’m listening to a Sonos sound system as I’m writing this and couldn’t be happier with the amazing sound quality provided by their speakers.
With the Sonos by Sonance speakers you get the collective knowledge and engineering skill of two of the best companies in the audio market pooling their resources, to provide you with some of the most advanced technology in audio engineering to deliver superior sound. We wish more companies would collaborate like because the results of the Sonos by Sonance partnership are truly remarkable.
One Hour Smart Home Rating: Sonos Outdoor by Sonance Speakers 9.7/ 10.00
Sonos Outdoor by Sonance Speakers FAQ:
What Speaker Wire Should You Use For Installing Sonos Outdoor Speakers
If you leave this up to your builder or general contractor they will most likely use inexpensive 16GA speaker wire. It costs a little more but if you are doing a new build we recommend using stranded 14GA speaker wiring for runs up to 80FT and 12GA wiring for runs over 80FT in order to optimize the sound quality of your outdoor speakers.
Can You Use Sonos Outdoor Speakers With Other Receivers or Amplifiers?
Yes, the Sonos Outdoor Speakers by Sonance can be used with your existing receiver or amplifiers for crisp clean sound. It should be noted that the Sonos Outdoor speakers are specifically designed to have optimized sound when paired with a Sonos Amp but they will still work great with other high quality amplifiers or receivers.
Are Sonos Outdoor Speakers Waterproof?
Sonos Outdoor Speakers by Sonance are rated for outdoor use and can be installed in locations where they will be exposed to the elements.
Does Sonos Make Any Other Outdoor Speakers?
No, Sonos does not currently make any other outdoor speakers. These Sonos Outdoor hardwired speakers are specifically designed for outdoor use. However there is a company that will take your Sonos One speaker and waterproof it so you can leave it outside.
How Many Sonos Outdoor Speakers Can Be Connected To A Single Sonos Amp?
You can connect up to 6 Sonos Outdoor Speakers to a single Sonos Amp.
How Many Sonos Outdoor Speakers Do You Need?
It really depends on the geometry and size of the space you are trying to cover. For speakers placed on the back of a house pointing outwards to a back yard two Sonos Outdoor Speakers to provide sufficient volume for 30-60FT away from house when placed 15-35FT apart. If you are covering a larger area, or completely open area like you might have on a roof deck you might want to use 4 speakers and make a square or rectangular listening area with your speakers.
When placed on the back side of a house you get the benefit of sound reflecting off the structure and you only really need the sound to travel in one direction. With wide open spaces like a roof deck, with fewer surfaces for the sound to reflect off using more than two speakers will help create a better system with the Sonos Outdoor Speakers.
