In Los Angeles, the outdoors isn't a seasonal extension of the home — it's a primary living space. Clients aren't asking for an outdoor speaker on the patio. They're asking for a fully realized outdoor room with great sound, controlled lighting, seamless video, and a system that works at the same level as everything inside.
Here's how we build these spaces.
Audio: Distribution and Placement
Outdoor audio is more forgiving of imperfect placement than indoor because there are no room boundaries to create standing waves — but it has its own challenges. Sound disperses quickly. You're fighting ambient noise. Equipment faces temperature extremes, moisture, UV, and sometimes direct sun.
We use Sonance for most of our outdoor audio. Their landscape and patio speaker lines are purpose-built for the environment, the sound quality is genuinely good, and they disappear into the landscape in a way that matters on high-design properties. For pool areas and entertainment terraces that need higher output, we move to the Sonance Professional Outdoor series or Origin Acoustics.
Speaker placement for outdoor spaces needs more overlap than indoors — we typically plan for zones rather than spots, with speakers spaced to give even coverage across the area. Subwoofers mounted in ground cans at the edges of an outdoor terrace can be a revelation for clients who thought outdoor sound was inherently thin.
Video
Outdoor video used to mean one thing: a screen that washed out in daylight. That's changed. Samsung's Terrace display is genuinely good in shade to partial sun. For full-sun environments, we specify the SunBrite Veranda or Signature series, which are built with ultra-bright panels and proper weatherproofing.
For projection in evening outdoor settings — open-air theaters are popular on larger properties — Screen Innovations makes outdoor screens that handle ambient light better than anything else we've used. The motorized versions that drop from a pergola or overhang are particularly clean from a design standpoint.
Lighting Control
Outdoor lighting — landscape, hardscape, pool, architectural — integrates with the same control system as the rest of the home on all our builds. Lutron's Vive and RadioRA 3 handle outdoor circuits reliably. Scenes that shift the outdoor environment from a dinner setting to a party setting to winding down at night, all from a single button tap, are something clients use every single day.
Networking and Control
The outdoor living space needs to be on the same network as the house — not on a guest network or a separate access point. We run ethernet to the equipment location for every outdoor zone and spec Ruckus or Ubiquiti access points rated for outdoor use. Outdoor dead zones are one of the most common complaints we're brought in to solve.
All outdoor systems tie into the Control4 or Savant system. The outdoor remote — waterproof, impact-resistant — or the same app you use inside. No separate app, no separate ecosystem.
Build It Right the First Time
Retrofitting outdoor technology into a finished hardscape is expensive and messy. The time to run conduit and rough in power is before the concrete is poured and the landscape is planted. If you're in the design phase of a new build or major outdoor renovation in the LA area, we want to be involved early.
