Expert Rock Reviews

The following is an excerpt from Darryl Wilkinson’s Home Theater Magazine article of August, 2001:

Stereostone Gibraltar Stone SoundStealth

Stereostone's Gibraltar Stone SoundStealth is aptly named because it's quite a big rock, almost six times the size of the SpeakerCraft model. Even so, it looks perfectly natural once you get it outside. The Gibraltar's bass is quite impressive, as it should be, since that big exterior hides an 8-inch woofer and a 0.75-inch tweeter. The shaping and painting of this brown-and-black rock is quite well done, with enough detail to look realistic under all but the closest inspection. The SoundStealth utilizes extremely fine perforations in the almost-7-inch round grille on the front of the speaker, which (despite its large size) is very well disguised.

    

It took two days for me to notice the small drainage hole about 1 inch beneath the grille—I only did so because I turned the speaker over to look at the construction of the bottom. Although not much water and dirt can get in through the front grille, what does squeeze its way in soon finds its way out through this hole, preventing the Gibraltar from becoming a nasty breeding ground for mosquitoes. (There's nothing like inviting your guests over for a BBQ and giving them malaria in the process.) This speaker's 93-decibel efficiency rating makes it one of the most efficient outdoor speakers, rock or not. It was definitely the best sounding of the bunch, too.