Outdoor lighting that sounds good
Ibiza lamp/speakers in the wall sconce version
(Credit: Oluce S.r.l.)If you're about to install outdoor speakers and patio lighting, your thoughts may be turning to feeble solar Malibu lights and those tacky speakers hidden in plastic rocks. Allow me to help before the neighbors stop speaking to you: Consider the Ibiza speakers from Italian lamp maker Oluce.
Standing 21 inches to 45 inches in height on a brushed-steel pole, they integrate a 20-watt compact fluorescent bulb and a small speaker just sufficient for background music. The opaline polyethylene housing and machined-metal speaker face make for a cool look, evoking the 1970s, but in a kitschless way. You can floor-stand the tall ones, or get the shorter model with a 90-degree bend and a plate for sconce mounting.
Inexpensive they are not, as you would expect of anything designed and manufactured in Italy: about $700 to $900 each. But if it prevents your beautiful patio from resembling a Radio Shack store, perhaps it's worth budgeting for.
Brian Cooley is an editor at large who keeps his fingers on the pulse of consumers' attitudes toward tech. His specialty is CNET Car Tech videos, but, frankly, most people have seen him on the TVs at Costco (or in one of his '60s Fords or Fiats). 
