Beyond the back porch

My porch is about 18 feet deep and the Atrium 45s are pretty small speakers, so I wasn't really expecting to be able to hear much music from them out in my back yard. But again, these speakers had another pleasant surprise in store for me.

I found that if I turned the volume of my receiver up just a few notches, the Atriums delivered music that I could hear throughout my back yard. There was no distortion audible at this increased volume level, either, although out in the yard there was of course some reduction of the potent bass power that I had experienced on the porch. Still, the sound was impressive, so I'll also be able to enhance work and play time in the yard with my favorite tunes. Well, at least the work time when I'm not using the lawnmower!

A few suggestions for doing this yourself

The Atrium 45s come in both white and black. The white version is paintable, for better blending with your house. If you plan to paint them, it's a great idea to get this painting done prior to installation time. The speakers themselves are easy enough to remove from their brackets and paint at a later date, while the brackets would be a little trickier to remove. Most important to paint before installation is the insulation jacket on your speaker cabling — this would be a real pain to remove from your walls, paint, and re-install.

Another point to consider: It's generally recommended that you mount outdoor speakers as high as possible, in order to achieve the widest possible distribution of sound. If you follow this strategy, you'll very likely end up with your speakers well above ear-level.

Vertical mounting (Figure 1) allows you to swivel the Atrium 45 from side-to-side. Horizontal mounting (Figure 2) permits vertical swiveling. (Illustration courtesy of Polk Audio.)

As I previously mentioned, the Atrium 45 brackets allow you to position the speakers horizontally or vertically. If you choose a vertical installation, the bracket allows side-to-side swiveling, which is great if you've mounted the speakers at ear level. But if you're going for the maximum height/maximum dispersion strategy, you won't be able to point the speakers down towards the listeners. A horizontal installation, on the other hand, allows you to swivel the speakers vertically, which in most mounting situations gives you more flexibility to direct the drivers at your favorite listening location.

When installing any outdoor speakers, be sure that the cable you buy to connect them to your receiver or amplifier is an appropriate length for your setup (it's a good idea to buy 15% more cable than your best estimate of the run you'll need to make, to allow a margin of error). Also, always buy cable that is sufficiently insulated for either in-wall or burial application, depending on what route you're using to connect your indoor amplifier and your outdoor speakers.

Big sound and sound value

I definitely got a lot more than I bargained for with the Atrium 45s. They produce powerful, dynamic outdoor sound that's truly impressive given their compact size and very reasonable price. Thanks to these great little speakers, I'm now looking forward to summer afternoons on my new porch more than ever.