These Are Our 6 Favorite Weatherproof and Rugged Outdoor Speakers

There are a few specifics you should be looking for when buying a new speaker for your outdoor setup. These are the high-level bullet points.

Wired or Wireless: This is the big choice you have to make. Probably should be the first one too. If you opt for a wired setup, you are going to get more reliability out of your system. It will take more time to hook up (and you’ll need to find creative ways to run wiring unobtrusively), but you will not have to worry about batteries or your speaker dying. If you want to go wireless, you have the benefits of portability and ease of use, but you have to keep the speaker charged.

Sound: This is the reason we do the digging. Everything on here will sound good. When it comes to outdoor speakers, you want something that’s loud, clear, and not too crunchy.

Size and Placement: Where are you going to put your speaker, and will it fit? That’s one of the other first questions you should be asking. Determine exactly how much space you have and where you want to put your speaker. Then make sure the speaker you get has the proper equipment included (brackets, screws, etc.) to install it the way you need. Some outdoor speakers can only lie one way, while others (like the B&W AM-1) offer both portrait and landscape mounting options.

Look: You want something that will look nice on your patio, in your yard, or honestly wherever.