Enhancing Your Poolside Experience

When looking at the most elegantly appointed backyards, sound and video definitely create a premium poolside experience

Given how much time we spend inside our homes, it makes sense that in order to feel a certain level of comfort we want to bring elements from inside the home into our outdoor living space.

Sound and video play a huge role in the outdoor living environment. It certainly explains why digital home entertainment industry represents a $30 billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone. That’s roughly 12 times what we spent only a decade ago.

Consequently, two things are for certain; for one the market for home audio & video has grown. Secondly, a good portion of that growth has been seen coming directly from the outdoor living sector.

As we have grown our appetite for all things digital, our capacity for being without certain creature comforts has diminished over the last decade.

In our parent’s era, we were content with bringing a transistor radio into the backyard to catch the ballgame poolside. These days, you’re likely to find a fully equipped outdoor pavilion with a complete entertainment area in high-end custom backyards.

To get a better understanding of what a vital role entertainment plays in the backyard, we spoke with Keith Perry, a leading installer of outdoor audio & video. His firm, Peridon Entertainment, is one of the leading AV consultants in Houston as well as frequent collaborators with pool builders throughout the entire state of Texas.

Adding premium sound around the pool & patio area creates an immersive entertainment experience.

“When pool builders and contractors have a plan in mind for how they want to incorporate A/V into the pool and patio area,” said Perry, “in those cases, we are happy to provide them with an entire design schematic. We can even make a CAD plan for audio and video systems with a flowchart showing integration with other systems.”

“We also collaborate with those without a clear vision on how A/V will best be utilized,” said Perry. “If the builder or designer really is leaning on us for a plan that truly incorporates entertainment zones in the backyard that’s where we deliver the most value,” said Perry, “it’s why I get such fulfillment out of what we do. We come in the backyard and quite often there is zero entertainment planned. It’s like seeing a movie before it’s scored without the soundtrack. There’s a disconnect without those elements there. Adding an entertainment center gives the outdoor living environment an entirely new dimension that makes it feel complete.”

We asked about some of the high-end components homeowners are looking to install in the backyard in terms of adding a full-on entertainment center. Ultimately, we wanted to know what’s hot and trending right now for A/V in outdoor living.

“One of the biggest requests we get is for the complete buildout of entertainment pavilions,” said Perry. “Folks really find great value when they’re able to enjoy those same indoor amenities outdoors.”

“In years past, it’s been all about increasing the quality of components to really create an immersive outdoor entertainment experience and the industry has come a long way” explained Perry, “Many of the major drawbacks that came with building sophisticated audio and video systems for outdoor applications are a thing of the past. The technology just gets better and better with each passing year.”

“There are certain brands that perform better poolside than others. Manufacturers like Bose, Klipsch, MartinLogan, and Sonance have also really upped their game in terms of providing a wide spectrum of high-quality systems and controllers that work perfectly in the backyard,” said Perry.

“Sonance is a favorite with homeowners and manufactures a line of speakers specifically designed for outdoor settings. More to the point, they make great products for outdoor audio.” said Perry. “We’re talking about a versatile speaker system designed to deliver high range performance. From background listening levels to party levels. Homeowners enjoy the ability to easily adjust their sound system. It’s nice to be able to provide background music or be the entire focus of the party.”

As far as adding video components to the backyard, consumers, these days have their choice of high-end products. However, when it comes to watching TV poolside, Perry says that there are TVs better suited for the outdoors.

“Honestly, when it comes to which TV to put in your backyard, what consumers really need to be looking at is weatherized TVs that can withstand being outdoors indefinitely,” said Perry, “Anything that’s going to be in the pool area, you’re talking about water-resistant TVs that can handle getting wet. Most in that category will be fine with some heavy rain, but submerging them will cause irreparable damage.”

“Lighting is another big issue that comes up with watching TVs poolside. Direct sunlight can be hard on TV screens and a bright sunny day can make it almost impossible to see anything,” said Perry. “Full sun, full shade and partial-shade TVs are all made to the ideal environment specified, but there is one constant and that is hanging a TV in direct sun will result in difficult viewing.”

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