| From Residential Systems Online Cover Story
Outdoor installs heated up before the recent downturn, observed Alan Rottner, VP of sales and marketing for outdoor speaker company StereoStone, a trend he hopes will continue as the weather improves. “Up until recently, with a huge downturn in the economy that I think affects everybody, we’ve noticed a pronounced trend in people—not just in the warm-weather coastal areas, but throughout the United States—doing more and more entertainment outdoors,” he said. The increased interest in outdoor sound seems to reflect an even larger trend toward greater investment by homeowners on the outside of their homes. “We’re seeing more outdoor home theater, more outdoor kitchens, and generally more outdoor lifestyle. The category is definitely growing,” said Frank Sterns, president of Niles Audio.
Examining the Trend Al Baron, product line manager for Polk Audio, said that his firm conducted a “significant” research effort in the outdoor audio market last year to better understand the opportunity, figure out what the trends were, talk directly to consumers about what they’re looking for, and talk to integrators about what their ideal products might be.
This puts the onus on dealers and integrators to “plant the seed” of outdoor sound when talking to their clients and prospects about custom integration projects. “Outdoor sound has to be a part of every single presentation, if it’s not already,” Baron argued. “The close rate is extremely high.” Wanted: Not Sight, but Sound
Another trend involves mounting traditional ceiling speakers flush under eaves, leading manufacturers such as Niles to design new in-ceiling speakers that are waterproof. Sonance is also going this route, with the Symphony Extreme—an in-ceiling speaker that is mounted under the eaves, as well as aboard yachts. Manufacturers are responding to the interest in outdoor sound with a dizzying array of products, ranging from the traditional under-the-eaves, box-type enclosures, to speakers disguised as rocks, tree stumps, planters, and even coconuts (in the case of Rockustics).
TruAudio fields a traditional outdoor speaker line, called the OPx.1 series, and several rock speakers. The OP x.1 series is available in a 5.25-inch two-way (OP5.1) and a 6.5-inch two-way (OP6.1), as well as a “single-stereo” dual-tweeter/dual-voice coil 6.5-inch woofer model (OPD6.1), have improved cosmetics, including cabinet end-covers that hide the screws holding the speaker cabinet to the U-bracket mount. The speakers are ported, for increased bass, but when used in more-exposed situations, plugs can be put into place. Polk Audio also takes this approach on the Atrium65SDI, with what it calls its Power Port bass vent. This model also features a clever electrical/mechanical switching arrangement, so it can quickly hop between a dual-input mode—for single-speaker stereo applications—and being a conventional single-input speaker. Phoenix Gold is taking a good/better/best approach to its outdoor speaker offerings, according to director of engineering Stewart Millager, with the ATO Series, ATO2, and IHS lines filling those respective positions.
Klipsch has offered a line of outdoor speakers that—true to Klipsch form—utilize ported enclosures and horn high-frequency drivers, to maximize efficiency. There are also a couple of sealed-enclosure models. For the horns, said Jim Garrett, the company’s director of product development, “we’ve gone with symmetrical coverage patterns, so that they can be oriented either vertically or horizontally, without affecting the coverage pattern of the overall system.” The most recent addition to Klipsch’s outdoor lineup is the AWR-650-SM rock speaker, which utilizes a 6.5-inch two-way “single-stereo” system with dual 0.75-inch dome tweeters and a dual-voice-coil woofer. Installation Insights
Cichowski finds that using too few and too small of a speaker is a frequent mistake in outdoor applications. “People often want little speakers, because that’s all they want to see, and yet they have a huge backyard,” he said. “And, of course, they crank them up, and something distorts. That’s very common.” When planning the speaker complement and layout, coverage is key. “It’s better to have multiple speakers, spread evenly throughout the environment than it is to have just a few that have to be over-driven,” Francisco agreed. “I think the rule of really even coverage in multiple locations is always a good one.” Sound follows the inverse-square law, which means that levels drop off rapidly with distance. This is why it’s best to have more speakers, placed closer to the areas they need to serve. Dotting the coverage area with speakers means that no listener is far from a speaker, which not only means more uniform sound levels over the area of interest, but no one speaker is forced to play at high levels. That, in turn, reduces distortion and minimizes the chance of speaker damage. Many speakers, playing at low levels, are also sonically much less obtrusive than just a few, playing at high levels. “Architectural” speakers, such as rock speakers, tree stumps, and planters fit in well with this strategy, and can be used in place of under-the-eaves speakers, or as a complement to the eaves-mounted type. Speakers placed out on the lawn, facing toward the client’s home, are also less likely to get complaints from the neighbors.
While some planter speakers use fake flowers for their disguise, many of the newer models are designed for real plants, with attention paid to providing adequate drainage for the soil. The sealed speaker portion keeps water away from this critical area.
Another speaker designed for placement flexibility is Boston Acoustics’ SoundWare speaker, a compact cube measuring little more than six inches on a side that has several of its corners truncated to allow the system to be perched or mounted at a variety of angles, and in corners, on walls, etc. Available in seven different colors, it’s also paintable, for custom color matching. On the subject of color, StereoStone now offers custom color-matching in addition to the seven different standard colors it offers in its rock speaker lineup. Customers needing a better match to specific rocks, for example, can send a rock sample to the company. Speakers will be finished to match. It’s always a challenge getting ample bass outdoors, so an outdoor subwoofer or two may be in order. Manufacturers have plenty to offer, ranging from Boston Acoustics’ Voyager Sub12 (which can be mounted under a deck or half-buried in the ground, standing vertically) to SpeakerCraft’s SubRox8 to Rockustics’ 15-inch system, WhereWoof, which the company bills as “the world’s largest purpose-built outdoor subwoofer for the residential market.” Go For Hardiness There are other key considerations to remember when selecting or recommending outdoor speakers. Although sound quality is essential, reliability is just as important, especially when factoring in harsh environmental factors. Manufacturers agree that materials selection is critical to developing products with the ruggedness to stand up to outdoor exposure. Many models feature moisture-resistant plastic or aluminum diaphragm materials, butyl rubber surrounds, perforated aluminum grilles, and gold-plated or stainless steel binding posts. Extended warranties also go a long way toward assuring customers that the durability is there. Sonance offers a five-year warranty on outdoor speakers, while Niles, Rockustics, StereoStone, and TruAudio are among those offering lifetime warranties. Time to Plant
“Often, it’s good to design it by zones,” Francisco observed. “Maybe there are times when the client doesn’t really need all the speakers to be operating around the barbeque, but the pool area is the focus for the moment—or the patio or other entertainment area. It’s good to think about the outdoors area as not just as one giant zone, but to divide the areas up, as best makes sense.” A former loudspeaker designer, Alan R. Frank (alanfrank@embarqmail.com) is a networking consultant and freelance writer. Copyright © 2008 NewBay Media, LLC All Rights Reserved. |
