A new vibe in soundscaping

"I have outdoor sounds, the jungle, crickets, water," he says. "You sit out here at night and crank that up."

If the crickets don't satisfy, he also has Canadian brass, Italian opera, Jimmy Buffett and lots of Josh Grogan for their listening pleasure. Live recordings dominate in the soundscape of the Seitzs' yard.

"It's our second living room," Susie says of their garden. "It's like having a Greek Theatre in your backyard. I was the one who said we don't need it, and now I'm the one who loves it."

Thanks to a new generation of audio outdoor gear, sound is the latest indoor creature comfort that homeowners are taking outside. First the kitchen was moved into the yard, and now the family room has arrived with weather resistant, affordable high-quality audio and entertainment setups.

The fake-rock speakers of the past are still around but are clearly no match for the delight of having a true surround-sound system that envelops you like a warm breeze.

By some standards the Seitzs' setup in their 130-by-40-foot yard is modest: one subwoofer and three pairs of Boston Acoustics Voyager 7 speakers. The surround-sound effect, however, is total, so real it seems virtual, perfectly balanced in stereo with crisp highs and realistic, deep lows no matter where one wanders in the garden -- by the pool, next to the neighbors' yard, near the house.

The Seitzs' yard was wired by a neighbor, Terry Mullin of Tustin-based Creative Stream, specialists in outdoor home entertainment. He's put in more than a dozen similar sound gardens for his neighbors, sold mainly by word of mouth.

The pattern goes like this: One neighbor puts in a system, invites others over to show it off at a party, and before long they want one too. Or something bigger. And bigger doesn't always mean louder or present a possible source for a noise pollution issue for neighbors.

Making sure that the music stays balanced and in the yard is one of Mullin's primary concerns. Usually he works the soundscape math for an established garden, measuring levels and bouncing the low-end bass of the subwoofer off the lip of a pool, or smoothing out the surround-sound balance with a centered pair of speakers.