I don’t often dig deep into the sausage-making process in my editorials, since I think most of the decisions we make behind the scenes at the SoundStage! Network are quite a bit more boring than many people would suspect. Each of the SoundStage! editors has a lane, it’s not difficult to figure out what is and isn’t our beat, and we rarely have to worry much about which product categories are right for each of us. But when KEF reached out to me with an offer to review its new outdoor speakers, it prompted a lot of editorial discussions about whether outdoor audio—typically the domain of expensive custom installers—had any place in a publication focused on home theater and affordable hi-fi.
After a bit of back and forth, we agreed that I’d take on a review of a pair of the new Ventura 6 CI Series speakers (US$599.99, CA$749.99, £459, €599 per pair), and while the ball was in the air, the goal was for me to figure out a way to make the Access angle work. Thankfully, fortune struck in the form of what seemed like a mishap at first, and a workable solution just sort of fell into my lap.
My original intention was to use my old outdoor Crown amp, driven by a zone from my Control4 EA-3 three-zone controller in my media room. But when I pulled the Crown out of storage and went to fire it up, I learned the hard way that being in a dusty, non-climate-controlled storage building for a few years did it no favors. It wouldn’t even turn on.
Which turned out to be the perfect opportunity to do this review right, in a way that would better fit the values of this publication, not the custom-integration world in which I spent the better part of two decades. But how? How was I going to make outdoor audio work on the cheap?
If I didn’t have passive KEF speakers to review, of course, the answer would be easy. There are any number of great little portable Bluetooth speakers designed to be used out of doors, like this little Bose SoundLink speaker my friend Brent Butterworth, former SoundStage! Solo editor and co-host of the Audio Unleashed podcast, photographed for me. Pair a couple of these puppies in stereo mode, and you’ve got the makings of an excellent little pool- or patio-side audio system that can even be pitched into a carry-on for your next beachside vacation.
Photo by Brent Butterworth
It’s the sort of outdoor audio I’m actually more used to these days, as I typically carry a BT speaker outside with me when I’m working on my bonsai trees, or clear-coating D&D minis, or just reading on the swing on one of the four evenings in any given year when it’s actually pleasant to sit outside and read in Montgomery, Alabama.
But none of that would help me get this review done, would it? Nor could it really be called a proper outdoor audio system. It was around this time when I remembered that I’d picked up a Fosi Audio BT20A stereo amp on sale last Black Friday, just to have a cheap product in my back pocket in case I had trouble getting in review gear one rainy day. It was $50-ish when I bought it, but it sells for $80-ish most days (for now, at least). And while it’s a little short on inputs, that wouldn’t really matter for its intended purposes.
But how to keep it safe from the elements in the brutal hellscape that is Alabama in the summer, which starts at the beginning of March and sometimes mercifully ends around Thanksgiving?
The answer to that involved a trip to my local Grainger Supply, where I found a cheap little IP65-rated ABS junction box that fit the BT20A and its power supply perfectly.
And I do mean perfectly. With both components in the junction box, there’s no room to breathe. That did complicate things a little when it came time to mount the box, since it had to be mounted upside down, with the screws passing through the ABS into the soffit under my patio cover.
A bit of 3M double-sided tape definitely helped, especially with regard to getting the power supply in place but also by leaving enough room to snake the power cord from there to where I wanted to stick the amp.
A bit more double-sided tape on the bottom of the BT20A, along with some outdoor-rated speaker cables stuck through the knockouts on the front, helped keep the amp in place long enough for me to get everything situated, pair my phone with the amp, and ready it all for the closing of the lid—from the bottom.
Is this setup going to win awards for clean design and unobtrusiveness?
No.
Although if the KEF speakers didn’t have to go back to the manufacturer, I might spend some time installing the amp and wiring inside the soffits instead.
Does it give me everything I would get from a good outdoor amp connected to the multi-zone distributed audio system inside my house, though?
Also no.
What it does, though, is give me a proper outdoor audio setup without the limitations of small Bluetooth speakers, with more space-filling sound, better coverage across my patio and well into my yard.
And, perhaps most importantly, it’s always there, always on, and always ready to bring my tunes outdoors. I can’t tell you the number of times inspiration has struck after a cooling storm and I’ve gone out back to repot a tree or shape some branches on a pre-bonsai, or propagate some cork-bark Portulacaria afra cuttings, only to forget my Bluetooth speaker on the way out the door. And more often than not, once I’m out there and working (or playing), inertia keeps me from ducking back inside to grab said Bluetooth speaker.
But maybe a permanent outdoor audio installation of any sort isn’t your jam. Maybe you rent, or don’t have a patio cover or another logical place to install outdoor speakers. Maybe you live in an apartment complex, and your only outdoor space is your building’s roof.
The point is, there’s a way to make outdoor audio work for your particulars, and it’s no longer the domain of expensive custom-integration firms, extensive architectural modifications, or what have you.
It may be heresy to say this in a hi-fi publication, but when have I ever shied away from heresy? The point isn’t perfect sound—that’s nearly impossible in an outdoor environment on anything resembling a budget. The point is to make music more accessible no matter where you are in and around the home, and the higher the fidelity, the better. A well-built Bluetooth speaker with reasonably neutral frequency response and decent bass is better than a crappy handheld portable that burps like a bog and tries to shove vocals out front whether they want to be or not. Two reasonably neutral Bluetooth speakers that can be stereo-paired to provide more even coverage over your entire listening area are better still.
But if you have the space and the means to power a good pair of passive outdoor speakers, you might find yourself staying outside longer just to enjoy the music. And, as I’ve demonstrated with this setup, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to make it work. In this system, the speakers are—by an order of magnitude—the greatest expense. And given how relatively affordable they are, that’s saying something.
. . . Dennis Burger
dennisb@soundstagenetwork.com
