“Another plastic outdoor speaker,” I mumble to myself as I heft my powered screwdriver and prepare to gild my patio with    a new pair of white, waterproof transducers. But I quickly realize it’s not. In seconds, I zip the four screws through the stucco, pop the ends of a speaker cable into spring-loaded binding posts, then slap two side panels shut—and I am finished. It’s the easiest outdoor speaker installation I have ever performed. And the product looks more distinctive and stylish than any outdoor speaker I have ever seen.

The speaker is the Sonoma Ten, one of two in Conextion Systems’ new indoor/outdoor line. Conextion Systems is a relatively new company that seems hell-bent on innovation. Its first product was the z600c, a ceiling speaker that installs with no tools and includes a unique midrange/tweeter module that drops down below ceiling level—and that also happens to sound better than anything else in its class. Conextion has also shown prototypes of a new in-wall speaker system in which the entire front baffle of the speaker pivots to face the listener.

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A peek behind one of the side panels (right) shows the tilt lock lever and the binding posts. Each Sonoma Ten comes with two snap-in legs (bottom) so you can place the speaker on a stand or a table. (Click images to enlarge)

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The new Sonoma line is just as innovative. The look is radically new yet instantly pleasing. Friction locks on each end of the speaker make it easy to tilt yet difficult to knock out of place accidentally. A quarter-inch-thick glass-filled and rib-reinforced structural nylon cabinet (which technically is not plastic, so I’m wrong again) provides a stiff, rugged enclosure for the waterproof woofer and tweeter. And as I noted earlier, it’s easy to install.

Most unusual, though, is the passive radiator panel on each side of the speaker. Like the ports you have seen on many other speakers, a passive radiator deepens a speaker’s bass response. This is the first time I have seen an outdoor speaker with a passive radiator. The idea makes sense on an outdoor speaker because using a port can allow water and insects to enter. Conextion dubs the configuration Side-Firing Pneumatic Coupled (SFPC).

The line consists of the Sonoma Ten and the Sonoma Twenty. The Twenty adds a second tweeter and a second set of speaker-cable binding posts, so you can use it to carry both the left and right channels from a stereo amp in situations where it is impractical to mount two speakers.Also innovative is the way in which one acquires Sonomas. Conextion sells directly to custom installers through its website, and does not put dealers through the grueling process they normally must suffer when signing on to carry a new line. And there is no minimum order. Thus, if you fall in love with the Sonomas’ design, your dealer can easily order them even if he or she already carries other outdoor speaker lines.
 
Of course, a snazzy design does not a great speaker make. However, the Ten’s acoustic engineering is just as impressive as its industrial design: It comes courtesy of noted speaker expert Vance Dickason, author of The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook and subject of a profile in the March/April 2005 issue. (You can read the article in “The Pros Talk” section of hemagazine.com.) Thanks to Dickason’s work—and, he adds, fine-tuning suggestions from Conextion marketing VP Nancy Weiner—the Sonoma Ten’s sound is far more like that of a high-end minimonitor than a typical outdoor speaker.

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The cabinet (below) looks like plastic, but it is actually nylon reinforced with glass fiber. According to Conextion, nylon is less permeable to water than ordinary plastic is. (Click image to enlarge)

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I cannot decide what excites me more about the Sonoma Ten: its unbelievably deep and broad stereo soundstage, or its nearly perfect tonal balance. Castanets in the Chesky Records CD The Coryells sound as if they’re emerging from 40 feet behind the Sonoma Tens. Sounds in particularly ambient recordings seem to wrap around behind me—an impressive performance for any speaker, and an unbelievable accomplishment for a wall-mounted speaker. In fact, I have heard some $3,000-per-pair speakers that do not sound as good as the Sonoma Ten.

The Ten is as adept at reproducing saxophones and trumpets as it is at portraying voices. Every singer I hear, from the deepest-voiced baritones to the most delicate sopranos, sounds excellent; only a mild emphasis right in the middle of the midrange detracts from the speaker’s sonic neutrality. And the Ten plays loud enough to entertain at Tommy Lee’s birthday party—in fact, the vocals in Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” remain clear even at extraordinary volume.

SFPC allows the Ten to produce as much bass as an outdoor speaker with an 8-inch woofer. The sound is so full that there is no need to add a subwoofer unless you just really love bass. The radiators seem to trade off a bit of precision in order to gain more bass output, though—I have heard a few top-notch outdoor speakers in standard sealed cabinets produce more accurate bass.

Because of the extraordinary success of the iPod, I suppose that technically, Apple is audio’s Apple. But the Sonoma Ten—which now ranks as my favorite outdoor speaker—indicates that Conextion Systems may at the very least be the speaker industry’s Apple.DESCRIPTION
Indoor/outdoor speaker for stereo or home theater use. Includes legs that allow vertical mounting on stands
COMPONENTS
5.3-inch aluminum-cone woofer, 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter, dual polyvinyl 4.5 x 3.8-inch passive radiators

CONNECTIONS
Spring-loaded binding posts, accepts bare wire or metal pins

DIMENSIONS
7 x 15.4 x 7 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $600 per pair
CONTACT: 866.310.6398, conextionsystems.com