Outdoor Living
Coastal Source Outdoor Lighting and Audio, Built for Long Island Weather.
By the Aurora team··4 min read
Salt air, sandy soil, freeze-thaw winters and summer storms are hard on anything installed outdoors. Coastal Source designs lighting and audio specifically for those conditions, which is why we specify it for homes from the North Shore to Montauk.
Who Coastal Source is
Coastal Source is a manufacturer of premium outdoor lighting and audio based in Moorestown, New Jersey. Its products are sold and installed through trained dealers rather than retail stores, and its motto, "Defy the Elements," sums up the approach: every fixture, speaker, cable and connector is engineered as part of one outdoor system.
Lighting built from solid brass
Most outdoor fixtures look good on the first night. The question is how they look after five winters. Coastal Source fixtures are built from solid brass and marine-grade materials designed to resist corrosion, seal out moisture and hold their finish through sun, heavy rain, salt air and seasonal extremes.
That matters on Long Island. Homes on the water in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and throughout the Hamptons, see salt spray that eats through aluminum fixtures and cheap connectors. Brass weathers to a natural patina instead of failing.
The connection is where most systems fail
In a typical landscape lighting system, every fixture is spliced into the main cable with a wire nut or a crimp buried in the soil. Moisture finds those splices, resistance rises, and lights dim or fail one by one.
Coastal Source replaces those splices with its patented Coastal Connector, a watertight, corrosion-resistant plug-and-play connection. Pre-terminated cables come in set lengths, so connections are consistent from the first fixture to the last, and troubleshooting means unplugging a single run rather than digging up a yard.
Outdoor audio that sounds like indoor audio
Coastal Source also builds landscape speakers, bollard speakers and buried subwoofers designed to bring true high-fidelity sound to a patio, pool or lawn while staying nearly invisible in the planting.
Direct Drive versus 70-volt systems
Many outdoor audio systems borrow 70-volt wiring from commercial sound, the kind used in shopping malls. It allows long cable runs, but Coastal Source's own white paper explains the trade-off: the transformers in a 70-volt system reduce frequency response, add distortion and waste power. In most states, 70-volt wiring is also considered high voltage.
Coastal Source's Direct Drive approach keeps the signal at speaker level. Outdoor-rated amplifiers can live outside, close to the speakers, and IP-68 gold-plated connectors let speakers be daisy-chained cleanly. The result is fuller bass, more power at the speaker, and runs of up to 300 feet without significant loss, all while staying low voltage.
One system, lights and sound together
Because lighting and audio share the same cabling and connector philosophy, they can be designed together. A pool deck can have path lights, tree uplights and bollard speakers on one plan. Coastal Source VIA fixtures can also join a Lutron HomeWorks system over Clear Connect Type X wireless, so the garden follows the same scenes as the house. See our Lutron HomeWorks guide for how that works.
Maintenance and warranty
Even the best outdoor system benefits from care. Plants grow, mulch builds up, and fixtures get knocked out of aim. Coastal Source recommends regular maintenance by a certified dealer and backs its fixtures, cables and transformers with a lifetime warranty when the system is maintained on a regular program. Systems without a maintenance program carry a five-year warranty. Ask your installer how they handle seasonal service.
Where Coastal Source makes the most sense
We recommend Coastal Source most often for waterfront and near-water properties: the bayfront homes of the South Shore, the harbors of the North Shore from Port Washington to Northport, and the ocean and bay properties of the Hamptons and the North Fork. Anywhere salt air reaches, the difference between solid brass and ordinary aluminum fixtures shows within a few seasons.
Planning Coastal Source for your property
- Start at night. We walk the property after dark to see what deserves light and where sound will be enjoyed.
- Design lighting and audio together. Shared trenching and coordinated placement keep the landscape clean.
- Aim by hand. Every fixture is adjusted on site after dark, not just placed from a drawing.
- Automate it. Schedules follow sunset, and scenes tie into your smart home.
Aurora Automated Technologies is a direct Coastal Source dealer serving Long Island, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. Read our guide to landscape lighting design and installation for more on how a lighting plan comes together.
Frequently asked questions
Does Coastal Source hold up near the ocean?
Coastal Source fixtures are built from solid brass and marine-grade materials specifically to resist corrosion from salt air, rain and seasonal extremes.
What is the Coastal Connector?
It is Coastal Source's patented watertight, plug-and-play connection. It replaces the buried wire splices that cause most landscape lighting failures.
Is Coastal Source outdoor audio better than a 70-volt system?
Coastal Source's Direct Drive design avoids the transformers a 70-volt system needs, which preserves frequency response and power, and it stays low voltage in most states.
What warranty does Coastal Source offer?
Coastal Source backs fixtures, cables and transformers with a lifetime warranty when the system is regularly maintained by a certified dealer. Unmaintained systems carry a five-year warranty.