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Hey Sonos fam,

 

quick question about outdoor audio setup on my roof patio. I have two outdoor bose speakers connected to my Sonos:connect. One of the speakers crapped out on me and i was planning to replace it. The sound in general (from the working Bose speaker) has been underwhelming and sounds tinny and lacking any bass. I brought my Sonos move to the roof and got a taste of what good sound can be with the right amount of bass. I’be also been exploring the Sonos outdoor speakers from sonance but i can’t find a review that talks about quality of sound and bass level.  If the bass is good I’d rather move in that direction and not have to get a subwoofer for the roof (which would require more complicated wiring to hide it). So I’m down to these options and would love your opinion as to choose which one makes the most sense:

  • swap out both Bose speakers for the Sonos outdoor speakers by sonance and connect to the connect:amp (no sub).,,(this is preferred but want to make sure the sound quality is excellent with as good bass as move or play 1)
  • replace the one busted bose speaker with a new one and get a passive subwoofer to plug into the rca in the back of connect:amp
  • bail on both Bose outdoor speakers and buy a second move speaker and set up in stereo mode on the roof. 

would love to know what this esteemed group thinks. Thanks!

Ron

Note that BOSE speakers usually assume that you have a BOSE equalizer in the system and this is not practical with SONOS equipment. Also, is possible that the connectors on the BOSE speakers need to be cleaned. It is very common for connections on outdoor speakers to corrode and stop functioning.

You cannot connect a passive subwoofer to the output jack on CONNECT:AMP. You will need to first connect to an external amplifier, then to the passive subwoofer.

Proper amount of bass is a subjective, personal judgement call. I will note that the “room” outside is quite large and it is difficult to fill with lots of bass.

If a single MOVE or PLAY:1 satisfies your idea of “bass” a second MOVE will improve on that. The down side of MOVE is that they are not weatherproof and they need charging from time to time. Out of the box there is approximately ten hours of run time on the battery charge. As the batteries age, the run time will diminish (this is true of any battery operated product) and you’ll eventually want to replace the battery. Two big advantages of MOVE is that they can likely be placed better than fixed wired speakers and, assuming that you remember to bring them inside after use, they will not weather.

Thanks so much for this (and very helpful to know the limitations of the Bose outdoor passive speakers). All that said, do you have any thoughts about the sonance outdoor speakers? Would love to entertain that option before switching to MOVE. thanks!

r

I have no experience with the SONANCE outdoor speakers. I assume that they are good quality.

Goodness of sound is in the ear of the listener -- only you know what sounds “best” -- to you.

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