OutdoorAudio Plan my system

From sketch to sound

Planned like a room. Built for outdoors.

Good outdoor sound is not one loud speaker on the deck. It is many small voices placed around the space, a subwoofer tucked into the ground and one amplifier running the lot. Here is how we put it together.

The process

Five steps to a garden that plays

  1. Show us the space

    A few phone photos or a rough sketch is plenty. We want to know the size of the area, where people sit, what is lawn, garden bed or paving, and where the amplifier can live indoors.

    • Photos or a hand sketch
    • Where you sit and gather
    • Where the amp and Wi-Fi are

  2. We map every speaker

    Satellites go around the places you actually use, roughly 1.5 to 1.8 metres apart, each head aimed at the seating. The subwoofer goes somewhere central, two-thirds in the ground, where its cap disappears into the planting.

    • Up to 8 satellites with one subwoofer
    • Heads aimed at the listening area, not the neighbours

  3. We match the power

    Because each LS-400 is a 32 ohm design, one stereo amplifier can drive the whole garden. Three satellites and one subwoofer voice coil share each channel at about 4.6 ohms, well inside what the Denon Home Amp is built for.

    • One 100 W stereo amplifier
    • About 4.6 Ω per channel for an LS-6.1

  4. Cable in, stakes down

    Direct-burial four-conductor speaker cable runs under the beds to each speaker, joined with the silicone-filled wire nuts supplied. Satellites press in on their ground stakes; the subwoofer sits in a hole about 390 mm deep.

    • 16 AWG for runs up to about 45 m, 14 AWG up to about 80 m
    • Leave 35 to 40 cm of slack at every speaker

  5. Press play

    Open the HEOS app and the garden is just another room: group it with the kitchen, send it a different playlist, or pipe the TV out through HDMI eARC for the big game. AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect work straight from your phone.

    • HEOS multi-room
    • AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Roon Ready
LS-80 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 HOME AMP LEFT · 3 × LS-400 + sub coil A · ≈4.6 Ω RIGHT · 3 × LS-400 + sub coil B · ≈4.6 Ω
Satellites sit roughly 1.5 to 1.8 m apart. Shaded circles show each speaker's coverage overlapping into one even field.

Outdoor audio, answered

Do outdoor speakers really survive Australian weather?

The LS-400 satellites are rated IP56, dust protected and able to withstand powerful jets of water, and the LS-80 subwoofer is rated IP54. Both use rigid, mineral-filled enclosures made to stay outside all year.

Why a buried subwoofer instead of bigger speakers?

Outdoors there are no walls to reinforce bass, so small speakers sound thin. A dedicated 8-inch subwoofer fills in the low end, and burying two-thirds of it keeps it out of sight with only a low domed cap above the mulch.

Where does the amplifier go?

Indoors or under cover, near your Wi-Fi or network point and ideally the TV if you want TV sound outside. The speaker cable then runs out to the garden.

Can I start small and add speakers later?

Yes. LS-400s are sold in pairs and match the satellites in the LS-6.1 exactly. With the subwoofer in place, one stereo amplifier can run up to eight satellites.

Will my neighbours hear it?

Less than with a pair of big speakers. Many small speakers at a moderate level, each aimed at the seating, put the sound where you are instead of throwing it over the fence.

Your garden, mapped

Send the photos. We will come back with the speaker layout, the cable plan and a single price for everything.

Plan my system See the LS-6.1