Kickin' It Outdoors With The KB6000 Speakers

We go through a fair bit of audio equipment around here. When we're not busy setting up Airplay through Apple TVs, we're trying to get Sonos streaming to a set of rooms, or figuring out which amp is best with which set of headphones. And now that we've recently acquired some patio space, it was a whole new area to conquer. What works inside doesn't work so well outdoors, for electronics in general and definitely for audio gear.

With that in mind, we've been enjoying the Kicker KB6000 speakers. This twin pair serenades us while we are looking at Twin Peaks. Good both indoors and outdoors, they are sturdy without being too heavy, and can be used on the road or even on a boat. Think RVs, campers, or highly ambitious scooters.

One downside is that these don't come with an amp or mixer- they are speakers only, and so you'll need something to drive them. We placed an old home theater receiver in our attic and ran some regular speaker cable to the KB6000s. Available in white or black, ours were the latter, and though slightly more conspicuous, they also seemed likely to hold up to the elements without showing as much wear. The included mounts are minimal, and felt a bit cheap, but the spring-loaded plugs for wire were easy and solid.

Housing two 5-inch tweeters and a decent-sized 6.5-inch woofer, they'll put out 75 RMS watts of power but only take up about 11 inches x 8 x 8. We found the sound to be perfect for outdoors- a bit boom-heavy, these can put out decent volume. We wouldn't put them up against other indoor-only systems- for most music, they were pretty mushy and spatially weak with heavier lows and lacking in the highs. Don't expect audiophile-grade reference sound- but we frankly haven't seen too many other options in their class. All in all, these are perfect for near the pool or on the roof deck, and are light enough to be easily hauled. We would've liked a battery-powered option, sure, or slightly better handles for carrying- not the first time we've had those complaints. But that isn't quite what they are meant for, and at $110 or so, they are good-sounding speakers, perfect for setting up outdoors, at a reasonable price.