Best Outdoor Speaker in 2026

Martin Logan outdoor speaker on stake

Martin Logan vs Monitor Audio - What is the best outdoor speaker in 2026?

Rancho Santa Fe Outdoor Audio installation

We live in San Diego, CA for a number of reasons. One of these should be that we love not having to shovel snow for 6 months of the year. Our weather also allows us to enjoy our outdoor spaces more than friends in, let’s say Nunavut, Canada where it averages -3.5 F year-round. At Aire Theater Designs, we love celebrating the outdoors with great sound! Here’s our take on the best outdoor speakers in 2026 under $1000/pair.

NOTE: There are a bunch of "Best Outdoor Speaker 2026" articles and videos going around right now and if you know the industry, you know that many of these products are $200.00/pair options that don't sound much better than some Dixie cups tied together with string. You old timers like me know what this means. For you young ones, this is how we used to make intercoms as kids prior to video games, computers and the Internet. The outdoor speaker selections below are QUALITY and it makes an audible difference opting for better speakers vs. lesser ones.

Many of these models are the same as we featured in our "Best Outdoor Speakers 2025" article as they are still current models. We have one new entrant and some pricing has changed. Our contestants are:

Martin Logan Dynamo 12 Review

How To Use The Heos App in 2026

You may have seen our old video that details how to use the Heos music streaming app. This is the platform used by Denon, Classe and Marantz to enjoy music through compatible soundbars, audio/video receivers, streaming amps and other audio products. However, the Heos app has changed slightly SO we've created a new Heos tutorial for 2026 to get you listening and rocking for the new year. See below.

A few things:

Pay attention to the intro of this video and specifically, make sure your control device (ex: phone, iPad)  is on the same WiFi network as the Heos device you want to listen to.

When using a Heos-compatible audio/video receiver from Marantz or Denon that will be sending Heos to 2 zones AND you want to perform two separate activities such as watch Netflix inside and listen to Heos outside, the order of operations should be:

1) Pick the desired Heos source and get it playing in Zone 1. Ex: Activate Motley Crue on Spotify.

2) "Zap" it to Zone 2 using the app. Ex: Get Motley Crue playing on your outdoor speaker pair.

3) Pick the desired program you want to watch in Zone 1. Ex: Watch Amazon Prime through your Apple TV in the Family Room.

If you don't follow the above order, your Zone 1 source may get muted. For listening in multiple rooms or areas, we recommend adding separate streaming amps as opposed to using the audio/video receiver for this purpose. It is more intuitive, especially for systems with 3 more more rooms. Their Marantz M1 or M4 music streamer is a great option. See below.

https://amzn.to/4qANK8T

Looking for Heos San Diego? We are authorized Marantz and Denon dealers and would love to enhance your life with music. Happy New Year! 

Best WiFi of 2026

Looking for the best WiFi you can buy? Aren't we all. Our "Best WiFi for 2026" winner takes the REPEAT award as in our opinion, it checks the boxes for the most needs for the most people. Here's why we picked the eero Max 7 as our best WiFi solution for 2026. Update: Although this may look very similar to our "Best WiFi of 2025", Eero did something in the meantime that blew us away regarding customer service and in listening to their dealers. See below.