The Clever Way To Disguise Speakers And Other Patio Features
DJ Fake Rock isn't a Pandora station dedicated to AI-generated Linkin Park knockoffs but the brilliant idea of TikTok creator @derek_elliott to hide a Bluetooth receiver and Google Home Mini that drive a pair of Klipsch AW-650 outdoor speakers. Using a fake landscaping rock to hide and weatherproof unsightly electronics is a stroke of genius. If this is giving you some ideas about what you can hide in your yard with these faux boulders, welcome to the club!
These fake landscaping rocks are typically used to hide utility access structures like manhole covers, well pumps, and valve enclosures. You can use them as barriers to keep cars off your lawn, natural-looking pedestals for signage or house numbers, planters, lighting, or to hide gear for your backyard movie theater. You can find them online and at your local big-box hardware retailer. They typically cost $100-200 (but can be upwards of $1,000), and if you have something large to hide, the ones in stock in your local store might not be the largest available. They also come in a variety of colors; the most well-known manufacturer, Dekorra, offers four colors. Some come with plastic ground stakes, but better anchors are often available as an add-on, as are insulation, heating elements, and vent kits. Some are fiberglass, but most modern utility cover rocks are made from durable molded polyethylene resin and can incorporate additives and aggregates that make the rock stronger and more realistic. However, they're a bit more difficult to modify.
Hiding speakers
To conceal speakers, find ones like the AW-650s that are waterproof and ported within the face that will be exposed. If you enclose the bass ports inside the boulder, the sound quality will suffer. (Klipsch actually offers a fake-rock outdoor speaker, the AWR-650_SM, $658 for a pair, about the same as the $659 AW-650s.) Let's look at how you'd make a polyethylene DJ Rock for your own speakers.
Use a boulder with one surface about the size of your speaker's face and as flat as possible. Situate the hole you'll cut for the speakers so they can be set on something like bricks to keep them off the ground. Use a rotary tool to cut a hole slightly smaller than the speaker. Heat the boulder around your hole with a blowtorch so the spray foam in the next step will stick, since polyethylene that's not heat-treated resists the effects of ordinary glues, epoxies, and chemical welds. Move everything into position and cover the exposed speaker face with painter's tape.
Carefully fill any gaps between the faux stone and your speaker with spray foam. You can use a compatible adhesive caulk instead, if the gaps aren't too large. Shape the foam, spray paint it to match your stone, and remove the tape. Now you're ready to rock, and to start hiding nearly everything under fake rocks ... but remember that hiding a spare key under a fake rock could be a safety risk.