Bowers & WilkinsAM-1 Architectural Monitor Weather-Resistant Loudspeaker for Patio, Garden, or Poolside, 1" Aluminum-Dome Tweeter, 5" Glassfibre Cone Midrange & Auxiliary Bass Radiator (Pair, White)

I did a ton of research reading reviews both from audio publications to customer reviews. All spoke highly of these. It was between these and the Definitive 6500's. The Definitive's had quite a few reviews of speaker failure in a short amount of time so that pushed my decision even more to the B&W's.The house I purchased already had outdoor speakers mounted but they were 20 year old Speakercraft's which sounded ok but kind of flat in my opinion. I wanted something with more lower end bass to fill in. These do have more bass & overall I'm happy with the purchase but they do not have the same punch as if you had an actual subwoofer nearby. I used to take my JBL bluetooth Extreme speaker outside and it has a nice punch to it way more than the Speakercrafts so was wanting to avoid having to take out a portable speaker when I already have wired ones so these seem to come a lot closer.Mounting these I had some concerns as the mounting bracket is fairly small and when screwing into the wall did not want to hit the speaker wire and also did not want to cut too much length off the existing speaker wire in case in the future I replaced these with something else, the AM-1's do not need a lot of wire from the wall. Fortunately, I was able to cut some wire and force the excess under the cover in the mounting bracket.No doubt these are pricey but they are worth it, have nice clean and deep sound. They look nice and sleek with the propriety mounting system. I hope they last 20 years like the Speakercrafts did.

Ordered some speakers to replace the 20+ year old AudioSource speakers that were there when we got the house. Was tired of their weak tinny sound. Pool part coming up and speakers not here.....found these speakers on Amazon plus onsale for $250 off. Sold! Cancelled my delayed order and glad I did.Install was a pain......had a ton of trouble finding studs through the stucco around the door frame. Had to move them out which is probably a blessing. Wire run was garbage, but I had a pool party on Saturday so no time to make it look pretty. I've never drilled into the outside of a stucco home.... originally had 2" drywall screws. Nope. Not long enough. Tried 3" and it barely reached the studs. Had to get 4" for a nice firm fit. Stud finder was not accurate as well so right side was right on. Left side I had to angle them to get a firm grip.Sound.....I heard instruments, stereo effects, and even voices I never heard before in songs. The opening of Pain it back from the Rolling Stones.....WOW. Never heard it like that before. I am not a true audiophile, but I do have a decerning enough hearing to now good speakers when I heard them.Ignore the stucco.... its dirty as well and we just patched the 20 test drills trying to find a stud LOL. Next step is cleaning the area where the old speakers were at.

Can't speak completely to longevity or complete waterproofing, but so far, so good. I looked at Bose, Sonos, Kicker, etc., and landed on the Bowers and Wilkins.Let me give you the TL:DR on reviews... These are not a comparable speaker to the aforementioned brands. They cost more, because they're worth more, and B&W is playing a different game. I ordered a set of used from Amazon, which ended up missing quite a few pieces. I had a chat with support and provided them with the part numbers and prices from Encompass, and they refunded me the difference. I hooked them up to a simple two-channel 85W 8Ohm amp and have fallen in love again with my garage and deck.They look stunning and unique, have an excellent sound profile, wide range, great directional output, and were definitely worth the money.As for the longevity and weatherproofing, I will update after they've been through a few more Iowa seasons.

I am a real audiophile with a listening room full of high end gear worth near 200k. I LOVE GOOD SOUND.I wanted to install some outdoor speakers and looked at a few other brands, but decided to trust B&W in the end. My expectations were not high because I’m an audio snob. However, as soon as I installed these in my patio I was actually a bit offended and surprised by the quality of the detail and bass these little speaker put out! These speakers are simply amazing at any price, and for an outdoor speaker I doubt you can do better.I loved these so much that when one of my high end speakers blew in my garage system, I replaced them with another pair of the B&Ws. Mind you, the speakers they replaced were about 5k per pair! No regrets!Just buy them, the rest of the options out there are basically crap you will end up replacing in a few short years.