I have a decent size backyard and am always dragging a bluetooth speaker out there whenever friends come over, or whenever I’m out doing yardwork. The Sonance outdoor speakers are a great addition to my yard as they sound terrific. They are borderline too loud. At full volume with the right receiver they can rock your neighbors. The main consideration when looking to purchase these is placement and how to power them. These aren’t “smart” speakers, so on the one hand, they don’t require an AC outlet (they’re powered by speaker wires), but that can complicate the installation depending on your setup. Luckily for me, someone who lived in my house before me installed speaker posts outside, so other than extending the speaker wires, I was all set. If that type of install is outside your wheelhouse, I do have some suggestions.
IN THE BOX
The box is gigantic and heavy. This is a testament to the quality and durability of the speakers. What’s inside are the two satellite speakers, the subwoofer, instruction manual and a plate that you screw onto the bottom of the subwoofer after you install the speaker wires to provide more protection from the environment.
THE LOOK AND BUILD QUALITY
These rock speakers look pretty good. I don’t think they’re going to fool anyone into thinking they’re actually rocks, but in terms of outdoor aesthetic, they can easily blend into your yard.
I haven’t had them long enough to go through a major rain or snow/ice storm, but they seem like they’ll hold up. The material is extremely durable and at virtually every seam where water might get in, Sonance has a thick layer of clear adhesive that acts as a sealant. So I can say for certain how well they’ll hold up, they look pretty promising based on looks/weight, etc. alone.
SETUP
Just speaking generally, the set up is easy. There are speaker wires coming out of each of the satellite speakers. They plug into the bottom of the sub (similar to plugging speaker wires into a receiver) in the output (either speaker can be the L or R channel). From there, you plug in the corresponding speaker wire from your receiver into the input channels underneath the sub.
What gets complicated, as I alluded to earlier, is the running wires from your receiver or other powered amp to the location of your speakers in your yard. You also have to keep in mind the length of speaker wires coming from each satellite speaker. My big knock on these speakers is that I think the speaker wires built into the satellite speakers aren’t long enough, essentially forcing you to keep the satellites close to the sub. Now, you can easily extend the length of the wires by buying outdoor rated speaker wires and splicing them together, but it would have been nice if the wires were longer out of the box.
So to have the cleanest look possible, you either need to have a covered porch with a receiver protected from the elements, or install what I have, and that is speaker binding posts on the outside wall. So I have a receiver in my living room and there are speaker binding posts on the wall. That binding post connects to the binding posts that is outside, installed in the outside wall of my house. I then have wires running from the receiver to the speaker binding posts on the inside of my house, and then have wires running from the outside posts to the Sonance subwoofer (and the speaker wires from the satellite speakers plug into the sub).
Obviously, if the speakers are further away from your house, and say, directing sound towards your house, you will need to make some modifications like using more outdoor speaker wires to get to the satellite speakers from your sub. If you have enough space in your yard to keep the satellite speakers and sub relatively close together, it’s not a problem.
SUGGESTED SETUP
One thing I came up with while first testing these speakers was using a smaller amp. You can see it in one of my pictures. If I kept this setup, I would still have to bring the amp in and out from the house when I wanted to use my speakers. I would simply plug the little amp into the outside power outlet, connect the speaker wires, and then plug in my input (I use Google Chromecast to cast music, and this plugs directly into my little amp). It’s not ideal, as you still have to carry something in and out of the house like I did with my bluetooth speaker, but the rock speakers stay stationary and the sound quality is much better (i.e. louder) than the bluetooth speaker). But you could also get a waterproof housing for the little amp and attach it to the exterior wall or hide it in a bush. Just a suggestion.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Whether you take the mini amp approach or connect it to a receiver inside your house or in a covered porch, you still have to think about how you play music. The easiest way to get started, is the old fashioned, plug an audio source into the receiver and then when you want to change the song or adjust the volume, walk up to the receiver and make the changes. This for me wasn’t ideal. I have Google Chromecasts and Nest speakers throughout my house, so I wanted to incorporate multi-room audio with the rock speakers. As I said earlier, these aren’t smart speakers so you cannot simply connect your phone to them. What I recommend is plugging in some sort of smart device into your receiver (i.e. Chromecast, Fire TV, etc) and then set the receiver to that input, make sure the receiver is outputting to the correct speakers (my receiver has Zones, so Zone 1 is the indoor speakers for TV watching, Zone 2 are the outdoor speakers) and then I case to the Chromecast which outputs music through the receiver to my outdoor speakers.
SOUND QUALITY
Sound quality is arguably the reason to get these speakers. They sound phenomenal. They can get extremely loud, but no matter the volume, I found the music to be balanced with enough bass and lots of clarity. I’m no audiophile, but they really do just sound good. Like virtually all Sonance products. They are also great for watching movies. We sometimes watch movies outdoors (I run a long HDMI cable through a window from my receiver to the projector) and use the rock speakers for my 2.1 sound. Again, the sound is terrific. It was nice setting up an outdoor movie night and having one less thing to worry about: the sound.
CONCLUSION
I’m not a whiz in the outdoor speaker market, and I’m sure there are smart outdoor speakers that could make for a more simplified setup, but I’m guessing they’re even more expensive than the Sonance rocks. And remember, with any smart speakers, they generally need to all be plugged into an AC outlet which can cause it’s own setup issues. It very much depends on your outdoor space, but if you have a place where you can “hide” some rock speakers and are willing to go through the setup (you only have to set it up once) you won’t be disappointed.

In my opinion, the Sonance Mag Rock speaker package are designed for audiophiles, like myself, who appreciate music so much they must incorporate their obsession into the outdoors to enjoy premium sound. Right off the bat, let me say the box these came in is HUGE as it contained all three rock speakers and is not exactly lightweight. However, the weight of the speakers show Sonance did not skimp on the material used to build these speakers not including the time it took to design them and add the finishing paint touches to attempt to blend them in with the outdoor environment. One issue I did notice that I would like to mention is on the underneath of the rock speakers, they appeared to just use clear caulk to seal the speakers together as you will see in the pictures I provided, and it was applied in a not so discreet way. This was surprising to me considering the attention to detail in the rest of the speaker design and aesthetics.
The speakers are a simple plug-and-play set up however you will need a receiver/amplifier to power the speakers as they are not a standalone and need a power source. Simply put, you connect a left and right set of speaker wires from your power and sound source to the bottom of the larger passive 10” subwoofer rock. You will then use the included wire from each of the other left and right rock speakers to plug into the bottom of the subwoofer rock… and voilà, you are done.
After I set up the speakers where I decided would be the best option in our yard which is where we would usually congregate when entertaining company or relaxing on our own, I tested a few genres of music. The speakers can handle a relatively good amount of power. I am using Zone 3 off my main entertainment center receiver, rated at 105 watts per channel, to power them. The right and left speakers were relatively crisp with a good balance of mid and high range sounds with no distortion. One drawback to sound I immediately noticed, and was aware of prior to acquiring the set, is the 10” subwoofer rock is not powered which means you are not going to get that dedicated power you might expect from a powered sub with an amplifier and crossover built in. One benefit to this in an outdoor set up is you do not need a power source in that area but, as an audiophile, you do sacrifice sound. The built-in crossover located in the subwoofer rock still allowed for some highs to pass through the subwoofer. This was not too much of a distraction since, with my set up, the right and left speaker were not too far away. However, music may sound odd if you extend the included six feet of cable for each speaker to further than that as one area of your yard will have no mid or high range sound while the other two area will have no low-end bass.
Overall, I am impressed with the quality build of the rock speakers except for the caulking on the bottoms which you cannot see when they are in place. However, keep in mind, a lot of what you will hear really depends on the power you are providing to the speakers and quality of the receiver/amplifier you are using.

These rock speakers sound great paired with a Sonos Amp. It took a few hours to install as I needed to bury the speaker wire, drill into my home, and seal the bushing with silicone. YouTube is your friend if you don’t want to hire a contractor.

I have had rock speakers and rock sub woofer from other manufacturer but this made DAY AND NIGHT difference!! It is hooked to sonos amp. Deep and clear sound with bass that I love. I even bought just the subwoofer from ebay to replace the other subfoower and it changed the game even with sonos connect amp.