Sonos & Sonance - Outdoor Speaker Streaming Audio Bundle with xPress Audio Keypad - White/Gray

This is the simplest interface to use to play music. I have had Sonos in my home for years, but was frustrated there wasn't a great outdoor solution. Even though this is wired (to the speakers,) the set up was simple and was completed in a day. That included burying the speaker wire all the way around my pool because I set the system up to play music toward the house from the far side of the pool to mitigate noise blasting toward the neighbors house. Sound great, looks great and was exactly what I wanted for my outdoor speaker system.

Bought 3 sets for my 3 tiered deck. I can use just one to watch my TV shows or a movie, another when I’m on the lower deck to listen to music while in my hot tub, or all three when I throw a party! I’m located on a golf course and get compliments on the sound all the time. Definite plus to have controls on my phone! Great sound quality and volume!

We were looking to get our music outdoors without having to take our Sonos Play-5’s outdoors and this was exactly what we needed. Great sounding and fairly easy to connect and install! Sonos Rock!!

This is an amazing set for an outdoor area. They were purchased to put poolside for kids to stream music from their phones through our existing Sonos and they rock our pool area!!! Highly recommended, these sound amazing!!!

Love these speakers. Volume & sound quality are great. And excited they are weather-resistant as well.

A few years back, we invested a lot of time and energy in sprucing up our back patio area. We added a pergola, some inviting furniture, and a shiny new grill. Over the summer months, we usually have at least one get together with family and friends and we wanted a comfortable place for everyone to enjoy. As nice as our patio has become, we have been missing one valuable piece of technology — a speaker system. In the past, we would take single Bluetooth speakers outdoors for entertainment, but as our gatherings have grown, those just aren’t a viable option because the crowd overpowers the single speaker. So, we decided to add in a streaming system from Sonos and Sonance. WHAT’S IN THE BOX This was my first experience with being a Sonos system owner and prior to this system, I had not been aware of Sonance as a brand. But, as I researched them and discovered that the entire system is part of the premium Magnolia brand family from Best Buy, I knew I was going to be happy with the quality that the system added to our home. The first overall impression of the system was good. The Sonos/Sonance Outdoor System comes well packaged in a single box with each part individually boxed inside. The system consists of the Sonos Connect: Amp, Two (2) Sonance Mag O6 Outdoor Speakers, xPress Audio Keypad, mounting equipment for the speakers, a power cord for amp, and a flat ethernet cable should you want to directly connect your Connect:Amp to your internet modem, router, or switch. If you read carefully through that list, one thing you will notice is the absence of speaker wire, which is required to connect the speakers to the Sonos amp. You will have to provide that outside of this packaged kit. SET-UP Overall, the system is not difficult to set-up. Getting started, you will want to select the places you want to mount the speakers paying close attention to their proximity to the amp and your selected length of speaker wire. You want to keep in mind that while the speakers are weather resistant, the Sonos Connect:Amp is not. It will need to be placed somewhere out of harm’s way. Once you’ve selected the proper location for your speakers and amp, you can mount the brackets provided with the speakers. For me, I mounted them into our wooden siding with little problems. After they are secured, you can snap the speakers into place, but you will want to make sure to run the speaker wire through the speaker first. The speakers have a spring clamp located on the front of the speaker. You attached the wire to the clamps and then run it through a channel at the bottom of the speaker and out the back through a rubber grommet. This seal keeps the speakers weather resistant. Hanging the speakers isn’t difficult, but they aren’t particularly light so it can be a bit awkward. I was able to use my shoulder to brace the speaker while I slid it into the bracket. When I heard the ‘click’, I knew they were locked in. At this point, you will run the speaker wire to your amp. You may choose to tack the wire up against your house (this was my choice) or run it through a wall. Again, this step isn’t ‘hard’ per se, but it’s time-consuming. The Sonos Connect:Amp is the ‘brain’ of the entire system. To get started, you will connect the speaker wire to the back of the unit and plug it into power. You need to download the Sonos app and follow the in-app set-up steps provided. The amp should automatically connect to WiFi (if available) during the app set-up. Sonos includes connection to a variety of streaming services (Pandora, Slacker, Rhapsody, Spotify, SiriusXM, etc.) so that you don’t have to connect your mobile phone or computer in order to have those services. The final step in the set-up is connecting to the remote. The xPlay Audio Keypad is connected to the system through WiFi and will allow you to pause, play, and skip songs as well as adjust the volume remotely. The xPlay app for the keypad is separate from the Sonos app. So, you will be downloading two apps for one system. One thing to note here - the keypad that accompanies the system can only be controlled with an app that is only available for iOS devices. Since Apple is the main brand I use for mobile devices, this wasn’t a big problem for me. Both Android and iOS users can enjoy the Sonos app and control your music, but only iOS users can use the remote. SOUND QUALITY I’ve been incredibly impressed with the quality of the sound this system produces. It has a wonderful even tone for music that is rich with highs and lows and even those who are hard of hearing thought all the audio was crisp and clear coming from the speakers. Even though I don’t consider myself an ‘audiophile’, I do appreciate good quality sound and the Sonance speakers push it out well. While the bass was nice and smooth, the addition of a subwoofer to this set-up might provide extra depth, but if you are using them outside, that might be difficult to add in. I didn’t notice and distortion even when we cranked up the volume quite high. While we didn’t receive any complaints from the neighbors, the speakers are LOUD. Our backyard is about 25 yards deep and someone at the back of the yard had no problems hearing the music played on the patio. NOT A WIRELESS SYSTEM As I mentioned above, the kit is devoid of speaker wire. This is an essential part of this system as it’s NOT a wireless system. Even though the description of the product does not spell out ‘Bluetooth’ or ‘Wireless’ system, it does describe the set as “Sonos & Sonance - Outdoor Speaker Streaming Audio Bundle with xPress Audio Keypad”. The ‘streaming’ part is misleading somewhat to anyone who doesn’t pay close enough attention to the rest of the specs of the system. Even though I had done my research, I was surprised to find that speaker wire was required and not included. When you look over the description of the product, it does not state that speaker wire is included with the bundle and the word ‘wired’ is no where to be found. So, at first glance with the product name indicating a streaming system, I could see how someone might think it’s a wireless system. The only wireless part to this system is the WiFi connection from the Sonos Connect: Amp, but even then you could hard wire it to your internet using the provided ethernet cable. Honestly, I was disappointed to find that so much wiring was involved in a system like this. MISSING WIRING Another thing I didn’t like about this system is that speaker wire isn’t included. I feel that with any product if a part is essential to its operation, it should be included with the product. Without the speaker wire, this system doesn’t work. In addition to that, it’s an annoyance to bring home this system to find you have to go back to the store for a lot of wiring to run from outside to inside where the amp will be located. You do have the option of setting these up indoors, but since we specifically wanted them for our patio, it was a disappointment to find a part missing from the installation kit. CONCLUSION The quality of the pieces of this system is undeniable, I just question the missing speaker wire and product description. We are very happy with the ease of set-up (once we had all the essential parts) and how the system sounds. If you go into this system with the knowledge that you will have time and additional money invested, then you will be happy with it. Audiophiles won’t be disappointed with the quality of sound produced and it’s definitely an upgrade for home entertaining.

I have had the opportunity to play around with the Sonos and Sonance set for a couple of days. I have had a Sonos Playbar for over a year now (its awesome btw), so I was excited to see this kit come out. Overall my impression of the kit is positive, but I have run into a few obstacles. I want to run through each component in the system, and then speak on the kit as a whole. First up - The Speakers I have had some experience with Sonance products at a previous job, so I know how good of a brand they are. The speakers are Sonance Mag 06's (pretty similar to the Mariners). They have a very sleek, powder white finish that looks fantastic. The speakers come with the necessary mounting hardware (bracket and screws), but only if you are mounting to a flat wall/corner. Pole mount or stand mounting requires you to supply you own hardware. I was mounting my speakers to my siding, which required ordering universal siding mounting blocks. Its a bad idea to just screw these in through the siding for a number of reasons (siding needs to float being the main one). If you are mounting to siding - buy mounting blocks and 2.5-3" outdoor screws. Also, buy a siding removal tool ($5-6 at the hardware store), it will save you some headache and finger knicks. I used 2.5" stainless timber screws, and stainless finishing washers (for the countersink head). I passed my speaker wire through a hole in the wall, and sealed the hole with some foam sealant. Once installed I tested out the speakers while doing some gardening/yard work. They truly sounded fantastic! I used to have some nice Insignia outdoor speakers a few years ago, but the Sonance's blow those speakers away. I can fill my entire backyard (1/4 acre) with the sound from these two speakers, and without them clipping or distorting. The mids and highs are really well represented, and perfectly crisp. The lows are there - not overly punchy, but not muddy either. Without a sub in the mix, that is all you can really ask for, so I am still happy. This is such a huge upgrade over the my little bluetooth wireless speaker. I have my daughters 4th birthday in a few weeks, and I know these speakers will provide some great background music for the party. Overall the speakers I give a 5/5. Next up - The Sonos Connect:Amp My first impression taking the Connect:Amp out of the box was - Wow! It has such a sleek and modern look to it. The fit and finish is spot on, it has a hefty weight, and the connections in the rear appear to be nice quality. This really is an impressive looking piece of audio equipment. I own several high end pieces of equipment, but none of them look anywhere near as elegant or refined as the Connect:Amp. Initial setup was pretty easy. I chose to connect my unit via ethernet, since its home would be 6" away from a gigabit switch. The unit needs to be located inside (not weatherproof), and I would caution away from locating it in a garage (unless the garage is relatively climate controlled). Setting the unit up with the phone app (Android) was pretty straightforward, The unit needed an update straight away, but that only took a minute or 2. I connected my speaker wires to the spring posts in the rear. Unfortunately I ran into trouble here. I almost exclusively use banana plugs on all of my audio equipment. I tried to use them on the Connect:Amp, but the fit was so loose that the plugs would slide out when almost no force was applied. Instead I had do the old fashioned connection - sticking the wire into the hole while pushing in the spring. Not the end of the world, but still rather annoying. I went about setting up my Pandora through the app as well as a few local radio stations - no problems here. Setting them up was easy, and they sounded great. Not as good as local, uncompressed files, but still very good. Everything was going fine until I tried to play music from my library on my Windows 10 PC. I mapped my library share, and was able to browse and select my music. However, I only get a split second of sound and then 20 seconds later I get the error "Sonos unable to play [song title] network connection speed insufficient to maintain playback buffer." I have literally spent 4+ hours trying to get this to work to no avail. I reset the amp, and tried connecting it via WIFI. I hit a roadblock here because I couldn't get it to recognize my network, so I went back to wired (there is a work around for this issue, but I haven't tried it yet). I took my router out of the chain and had my computer and the amp on the same switch - no change. I have enabled SMB V1 (not the most secure protocol) - no change. I have tried using Windows Media Player as a server/UPnP - the app can't see any of the files this way, so no change, and technically worse. I could put all of the music on my phone. Then my phone would always have to be in WIFI range for that to work, and my WIFI strength outside is terrible - so not an option. The only way I have gotten my music library to play is to stream it to my AV receiver,and use analog (RCA) cables to go from my Zone 2 Out to the Line In on the Connect:Amp. This works, but its a bandaid solution because now I need to juggle 2 apps to listen to my library. This shouldn't be this hard. The fact that my AV receiver, Xbox, phone, and tablet can all access my library without any issues tells me this is a Sonos specific problem, and not necessarily my network or PC. I'm sure I will get this resolved, and it may require contacting support (a first for me). I try will update my review with a solution once I have it worked out. Overall I give the Connect:Amp a 3/5. The banana plug issue is an annoyance, but the local library issue is major for me. If I fix the local library issue it's a 5/5. Last component: iPort xPRESS keypad First of all you need to have an IOS device to set up the keypad. I had to have a friend come over to help me set this up, since I only have Android and Windows Phone (you read this correctly) devices. Keypad setup was pretty easy and I had it paired in a few minutes. I set up my favorite radio stations to flip through. Once I get my media library issue sorted, I can use it to skip tracks. I really liked the design of the remote and the base as well. The magnet mount is awesome, and it feels great to plop it back onto its base. I can't speak on the battery life - I have had it in place for 5 days now and still has a charge. I installed the adhesive base just inside my garage, and I plan to install the surface mount base somewhere inside my house - not sure where yet though. The Overall Kit All together this is a really great kit. I seem to be one of the small few to have issues with the music streaming, so I can't imagine it is a widespread issue that you would need to worry about. The pairing of the amp and speakers is fantastic, and the little remote was a pretty cool addition. You need to provide some of your own hardware (mentioned above for the speakers), as well as speaker wire (I used 16ga CL3 since my runs were under 50' and the speakers are 8 ohm). Overall I really like this solution, and I can see the potential in it. I don't think you will be disappointed with this collaboration from Sonos and Sonance.

When the bespoke Magnolia Outdoor Streaming Bundle arrived, I was surprised how large the packaging was. Inside the box were 4 items, all individually packaged, so this has been put together as a kit by Magnolia/Best Buy. You get the two Sonance MAG 06 Outdoor Speakers, the Sonos Connect:Amp and the iPort xPress remote. (Description says 'Audio Keypad' but lets face it, it's a remote!). I opened the Sonos Connect:Amp first, as it's the coolest looking piece of kit in the box. It's a nice, sleek designed box in aluminum and white. It has three buttons on the front, play, and volume up and down. That's it. On the back, you get four really nicely engineered, spring loaded speaker wire terminals. They push and grab the wire when you place it in the hole. Very secure connection. There is also a subwoofer connection and a voltage switcher, two ethernet ports and audio left and right connections. It's vented on top to let out the heat. This unit is NOT rated to be left outdoors. It is not waterproof or weatherproof at all. Next up was the iPort xPress remote. It is a relatively simple remote with play/pause, next track, favorite, volume up and down buttons. This remote is wifi enabled, so it will work anywhere that you have wifi signal in the house. So you don't have to worry about a signal not going through walls or glass to get to your Sonos Connect:Amp. It charges via an included USB adapter and charges within 3 hours. A little LED status indicator on there lets you know what state it's in and charge apparently lasts 6 months. Next I opened the Sonance MAG 06 Outdoor Speakers, which are IP66 Weatherproof rated. They were larger an slightly heavier than I was expecting, but their build quality is excellent. They feel really tactile, the included mounting hardware and brackets feel nice and solid. They have connection terminals on the front of the speakers in an IP rated and sealed area, making it easier to keep them water tight, but to also access them during installation. I mounted the brackets using the screws from my pre-wired speaker housings on my back patio. The holes in the mounting bracket match up perfectly with an electrical box outlet, and being as that was cemented into my wall, it was the perfect place to mount the bracket. Two screws and pulling the wires through the center of the bracket was a breeze. (Please note that no speaker wire is included in this kit at all). My house was pre-wired for outdoor speakers, so that is what I used. The speakers are a little heavy to hold in one hand and feed the speaker wire from the back to the front, so I ended up resting it on my shoulder as I did do. The clip into the speaker bracket with a satisfying and authoritative 'click'. They are adjustable up and down (or side to side depending on how you mount the bracket), with a locking mechanism as well. There is a black IP rated cover to go over the speaker connections, and then white vanity grills to go over the front of the speakers. With the outside part sorted, I headed back indoors and got to work setting up the Sonos Connect:Amp. Using the spring clamps in the back I hooked up the speaker wires into the back of the Sonos Connect:Amp and plugged it in. It turns on with a green light on the front and that is it. Downloaded the Sonos App and also the iPort app for the remote.Setting up the Sonos Connect:Amp was really simple, you find the product within the app and it walks you through setting it up. Took about 4 mins total to set up (assuming you have your wifi password to hand!). The iPort app is equally as easy to use and connect to your Sonos system. I then linked my Spotify family account and my Amazon Music account to the Sonos system and pressed play. First song I played was Disturbed's rendition of 'The Sound of Silence', which has amazing clarity, and depth of bass along with rising intensity throughout. It sounded good, but not amazing, like the Klipsch and Pioneer Elite setup I have in my living room. Delving a little deeper into the app, I found out why... you have control over EQ and Loudness settings as well under 'My Room'. Click on that in the app and you can adjust the settings there. The whole system 'woke up' then, filled the patio with strong, dynamic sound, enveloping me while I was grilling! Sounded a lot, lot better than I was expecting for an outdoor system. Very impressed with the sound. It's bright and loud without distortion. The bass is strong without being overbearing. I would highly recommend this package to anyone wanting to extend their music collection out into the back yard! Very impressed!