Looking to place a pair in a narrow planter that separates a dock from a pool. Pool will have additional speakers on the other side mounted to the house - separate zone. I see JBL Control 88M and Snap Episode 360. I plan to power with Sonos amp - if more power is needed I can upgrade amp. I've never installed any of these mushroom style speakers so I'm looking for suggestions. I'd lean towards JBL over Snap. Any other options I should consider?

Good question, Im in the same boat for an area that needs these. I am thinking about the Blose Freespace51's and pairing them to a sub. The area doesnt have much landscaping and the client isn't thrilled about the looks of a bunch of satellites arranged in a Quad shape. They also nixed the idea of the JBL's because they stick up so high

NEAR in ground

Do note, however, they will require more current then I suspect a Sonos amp can deliver.

Absolutely superb speakers, and a very low profile.
[Link: nearspeakers.com]

yes very good! looks like you guys quite offering them

The Bose are not terrible. TruAudio makes one that is quite a bit shorter. I have some hopefully going in before winter where we cannot bury then and needed something a bit less fugly than the Bose.

Not a fan of the Bose personally. The NEAR options would suit perfectly if looking for minimal esthetics.

I've used the JBL Control models in both sizes and they sound fine, but they're very large.

Atlas Sound also has their line of garden speakers which I used a few times... they're big and green like the JBL speakers.

JBL is smaller in diameter, but taller and the Atlas are larger in diameter, but not as tall.  With the Atlas speakers more can be buried in the ground.

One of the few areas I go for the Bose Free Space speakers.

Rockoustics make a couple of great ones as well. You’ll want way more power than what a Sonos amp can deliver, though. It’s an outdoor environment plus a 360* speaker spreads the sound out all over, making it less efficient. I ran into this before a few years back.

It depends on what you want. I have a client with the Bose and they're used for low background music. They fill an area really well and sound pretty decent. (Never in my life did I think I'd say words Bose and sound decent) . Don't hammer on them.

I think the Bose Freespace 51's are good for lower-mid listening.

Im seriously thinking about given them a try with Jame's outdoor 8" sub paired with the A2.1 amp.

I think snap has an 8" now too? in my case the area is small and I cant fit the NEAR stuff and a sub.

There are a lot of places in Vegas and I'm sure elsewhere that use those Bose for ambient low level music outdoors....can't knock them.

Snap has an 8" sub.

The Snap omnidirectional will fit aesthetically in my installation. They're smaller than the JBLs and the color will match. I wonder how they'd pair with the sub or even on their own. I'ts been years since I used any Snap speakers - am I crazy for considering them? Anyone use these and have any opinion?

To be honest I think SNAPs outdoor speakers sound really really good. I can’t say for sure how their ground speakers sound

There’s a lot of places that use the Freeapaxe 51s....their commercial stuff is solid and their commercial amps have DSPs setup for everything