Indoors, a good set of speakers can bring an immersive listening experience. But once you go outdoors – whether it’s a garden party, a beach party or a camping trip in the mountains – the sound seems to become “thin”, “weak”, or even drowned out by ambient noise. Why? Don’t you deserve good sound quality outdoors?
Of course not. The crux of the matter is that the outdoors is a completely different acoustic environment than indoors. Today, from the perspective of engineering and acoustics, we will have an in-depth discussion of what is the “good sound” standard for outdoor speakers, and how we can let the sound of nature flow freely in the vast world through careful design.
Q1: Why does listening to music outdoors feel less “vibrant” than indoors?
A: This is mainly due to the propagation characteristics of sound in open spaces, which can be attributed to three major reasons:
1. Lack of boundaries and reflected sound: In the room, after the sound is emitted, it will be reflected multiple times by the walls, ceiling and floor, forming a rich “reverberation”. The superposition of these reflected sounds and direct sounds greatly enhances the fullness and energy of the sound, especially the low frequencies, which sound more “shocking”. Outdoors, sound propagates in one direction with almost no reflection, so it sounds dry and thin, with particularly obvious low-frequency loss.
2.Masking effect of environmental noise: The outdoors is full of various background noises, such as wind, traffic, human voices, etc. According to the acoustic “masking effect”, these noises will raise your hearing threshold, and only when the intensity of the music signal significantly exceeds the ambient noise, you can clearly hear the details. Simply put, background noise “eats” many of the subtleties of the music.
3.Sound energy attenuates sharply with distance: In a free sound field, the intensity of sound is inversely proportional to the square of the propagation distance. This means that every time the distance doubles, the sound pressure level (SPL) will decrease by approximately 6dB. If you want friends who are far away to be able to hear you, the speaker needs to have enough power reserve to combat this natural energy attenuation.
Q2: What sound quality parameters should we focus on for outdoor speakers?
A: Based on the above challenges, when choosing outdoor speakers, please focus on the following parameters:
1.Continuous power (RMS): This is more important than peak power. RMS power represents the energy that a speaker can continuously and stably output, which directly determines whether it can remain loud without distortion in a noisy environment. A high RMS power speaker is the basis for combating environmental noise and sound energy attenuation.
2.Speaker Dynamic range: refers to the range between the weakest sound and the strongest sound that the speaker can handle. The wide dynamic range means that slight details (such as guitar string picking) and sudden bursts (such as drum beats) in the music can be clearly restored, without the embarrassment of “inaudible at low volume, broken sound at loud volume”.
3.Mid-low frequency performance: Environmental noise is mostly concentrated in the mid-low frequency band (such as the roar of vehicles). Therefore, an outdoor speaker must have a solid and clear mid-low frequency output in order to “penetrate” the noise and make the backbone of the music sound powerful and full.
4.Directivity and diffusion: An ideal outdoor speaker should have controllable sound field coverage. Too concentrated directivity (such as horn treble) will lead to “hot spots” areas, and the sound quality will drop sharply after leaving the axis; while excellent diffusion design (such as waveguide panels) can spread the sound more evenly to a wide area, ensuring that every listener can get a consistent listening experience.
Q3: What is the “TWS pairing” function? How does it help with outdoor parties?
A: TWS, or “True Wireless Stereo”, is a technology that allows a direct connection between two wireless speakers without going through a mobile phone or other intermediary device.
What it does for outdoor parties is revolutionary:
1.Create a true stereo sound: You can place two TWS-enabled speakers on the left and right sides respectively, one playing the left channel and the other playing the right channel, restoring the original stereo field of the recording studio and bringing an immersive listening experience.
2.Expanded sound field coverage: In a larger backyard or campsite, you can place two speakers a certain distance apart and set them to “dual mono” (playing a complete stereo signal simultaneously) mode. This not only effectively expands the sound coverage and eliminates listening dead spots, but also creates a more enveloping atmosphere through multiple sound sources.
3.Our party series and camping series speakers both support one-click TWS pairing, allowing you to easily combine them and create a mobile stereo system anytime, anywhere.
Q4: How much impact does the unit size and material of the speaker have on the outdoor sound quality?
A: The unit is the heart of the speaker. Its size and material directly determine the background color of the sound.
Bass unit size: In layman’s terms, the size of the woofer (such as 4 inches, 5.25 inches, 6.5 inches) basically determines the amount of air it can push. Outdoors, a greater volume of air is required to compensate for the natural loss of low frequencies. A larger bass unit is the physical guarantee for obtaining abundant and elastic outdoor bass.
2.Diaphragm material: The material of the diaphragm determines the segmented vibration characteristics and transient response of the unit.
3.Paper diaphragm has good damping characteristics and natural sound, but has poor moisture resistance.
4.Polypropylene (PP) diaphragm has good weather resistance and balanced performance, and is a common choice for outdoor speakers.
5.Metal (such as aluminum, titanium) diaphragms have high rigidity and fast response speed, and can bring clearer and sharper high notes, but if not handled properly, they can easily produce a “metallic taste”.
We use selected composite diaphragm materials to achieve a balance between rigidity, lightweight and damping to ensure accurate and durable sound performance in complex outdoor environments.
Q5: What optimizations has we made in the acoustic structure of the speakers to adapt to outdoor use?
A: (Technical Demonstration Session) Good sound is by no means a simple stacking of units. The acoustic structure design behind it is where the engineering skills are reflected. We have made the following core optimizations for outdoor scenes:
1. Passive radiator design: Within the limited box volume, the traditional inverter tube design may generate wind noise and be easily blocked by foreign objects. We use high performance passive radiators. It is a “fake unit” without a voice coil and not connected to electricity. It resonates under the drive of the active bass unit and enhances the low frequency in phase. Its advantages are: it significantly improves the volume and impact of the bass without diving deeper, and it has no wind noise at all. The structure is also more reliable, which is very suitable for playing the strong rhythm required for outdoor party music.
2.Optimized cavity structure and stiffeners: When the speaker is working, the cabinet itself will also vibrate, producing harmful “box sound” and polluting the sound quality. Through computer-aided modeling and laser vibration measurement analysis, we designed the internal support structure and stiffeners to maximize the rigidity of the cabinet, reduce resonance, and ensure that the sound is clean and pure, originating from the unit, not the cabinet.
3.Acoustic sound-transparent mesh: Waterproofing is a basic requirement for outdoor speakers, but ordinary waterproof mesh may block high frequencies, causing the sound to be muffled. We have specially developed waterproof mesh with high sound transmittance. It uses a special weaving process and hydrophobic coating to meet the IPX7 waterproof standard. At the same time, its acoustic impedance is extremely low and the attenuation of high frequencies is minimal, making it truly “waterproof without distortion.”
Conclusion
Obtaining good sound outdoors is a comprehensive art that combines physical acoustics, materials science and electrical engineering. It’s not just about “loud volume”, it’s about how to accurately, powerfully and stably reproduce the soul of music in an open, noisy environment. I hope this popular science can help you establish the criteria for judging outdoor sound quality. All the optimizations we have done are for one simple goal: to allow you to enjoy pure music pleasure without any worries, anywhere.
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