Portable Bluetooth speaker for classical music & voice?

Sysmod

I see the JBL Charge 4 gets good reviews but it looks like a party boombox with heavy bass. We want clear speech and classical music. Price around 100 euro or so. Power I dunno, maybe 20W? I expect it to be for home only, not outdoor or travel. Easily moveable between rooms so a USB rechargeable portable would be nice and one unit not two bookshelf speakers. I suppose stereo would be too much to expect from a single box? We have some older equipment so would like BOTH 3.5mm jack input for them and Bluetooth for the smartphone and laptop, I don't expect a need for Wifi connectivity. We don't need a speakerphone function or voice assistant.
I looked at richersounds.ie and you are selling older (2015 ish) kit like Cambridge and Audio Pro T3. Anything newer?
Thank you
Patrick

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

Sysmod wrote: »

I see the JBL Charge 4 gets good reviews but it looks like a party boombox with heavy bass. We want clear speech and classical music. Price around 100 euro or so. Power I dunno, maybe 20W? I expect it to be for home only, not outdoor or travel. Easily moveable between rooms so a USB rechargeable portable would be nice and one unit not two bookshelf speakers. I suppose stereo would be too much to expect from a single box? We have some older equipment so would like BOTH 3.5mm jack input for them and Bluetooth for the smartphone and laptop, I don't expect a need for Wifi connectivity. We don't need a speakerphone function or voice assistant.
I looked at richersounds.ie and you are selling older (2015 ish) kit like Cambridge and Audio Pro T3. Anything newer?
Thank you
Patrick

Hi sysmod,

Around that price I think the best bluetooth speaker to go for would be the Tibo Sphere 4. It's cabinet design and tweeter/driver configuration means that it will give great clarity and a less muddy sound as the high end is separated more from the bass! I have been using a Tibo for the last few weeks as a Bluetooth speaker and it's a stunning speaker for voice and clarity. It also has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm input!

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-202970-tibo-sphere-4-wireless-music-speaker.aspx?swapstore=1

Let me know what you think!

Kind regards

David

Sysmod

Hi sysmod,

Around that price I think the best bluetooth speaker to go for would be the Tibo Sphere 4. It's cabinet design and tweeter/driver configuration means that it will give great clarity and a less muddy sound as the high end is separated more from the bass! I have been using a Tibo for the last few weeks as a Bluetooth speaker and it's a stunning speaker for voice and clarity. It also has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm input!

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-202970-tibo-sphere-4-wireless-music-speaker.aspx?swapstore=1

Let me know what you think!

Kind regards

David

Thanks David
The good Amazon reviews are all from Vine Voice people who got a free review copy. The few who paid do not think it good value.
It looks like clearance stock as the Amazon price is £60, less than half of yours.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/RLN9KDANX5VXO/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B076TF5FFW

Which? Magazine UK gives it only 61% and says (snipped to avoid posting too much outside their paywall)

Should I buy it?

No. While the sound isn't bad, if a bit unrefined, it's not an easy speaker to use. And being so heavy with poor battery life, it's not really portable, either - you'd be served better with a proper portable or home speaker rather than this underwhelming attempt at a hybrid.

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

Sysmod wrote: »

Hi sysmod,

Around that price I think the best bluetooth speaker to go for would be the Tibo Sphere 4. It's cabinet design and tweeter/driver configuration means that it will give great clarity and a less muddy sound as the high end is separated more from the bass! I have been using a Tibo for the last few weeks as a Bluetooth speaker and it's a stunning speaker for voice and clarity. It also has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm input!

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-202970-tibo-sphere-4-wireless-music-speaker.aspx?swapstore=1

Let me know what you think!

Kind regards

David

Thanks David
The good Amazon reviews are all from Vine Voice people who got a free review copy. The few who paid do not think it good value.
It looks like clearance stock as the Amazon price is £60, less than half of yours.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/RLN9KDANX5VXO/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B076TF5FFW

Which? Magazine UK gives it only 61% and says (snipped to avoid posting too much outside their paywall)

Should I buy it?

No. While the sound isn't bad, if a bit unrefined, it's not an easy speaker to use. And being so heavy with poor battery life, it's not really portable, either - you'd be served better with a proper portable or home speaker rather than this underwhelming attempt at a hybrid.

Hey Sysnmod.

Might there be anything else on our website that may have taken your interest or any others you have seen good revies on?

Kenny.

Sysmod

Richersounds.ie: DavidS wrote: »

Hey Sysnmod.

Might there be anything else on our website that may have taken your interest or any others you have seen good revies on?

Kenny.

Hi Kenny
It's hard to find reviews of speakers with those specs, I've waded through a lot of searches polluted with spammy links.
So far I found three, all rather expensive, prices are Amazon UK

Bose SoundLink Revolve Bluetooth Speaker - £169 has aux, stereo, not on your site
KEF MUO Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - £155 has aux , but mono only, not on your site

Audio Pro Addon T3 Portable Bluetooth Speaker has aux, no smartphone control £178,
your price €169 is the only one in your website. What Hifi award from 2015 is five years old.

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi Sysmod,

thanks for the mails and apologies for the delay getting back to you.

I can see that you are quite driven by reviews and you are looking for a newer model but given your specific requirements I think it may be helpful to go back to ground zero.

Most portable bluetooth speakers, especially relative sub 100€ budget models are not designed or manufactured for your specific requirements - in fact most are optimised to produce as much volume and 'bass' as possible from a small box and absolute fidelity which you require for classical and vocal music is really not of primary importance for most budget bluetooth speakers.

There are a few exceptions to this 'rule' and you have actually noted a few of them, Audio Pro / Cambridge and Ruark make really quite good quality Bluetooth speakers, but they do not tend to change their ranges ( or model designations) every season - some of these, specifically Audio Pro have a good reason for this - they design them properly, build them well, they sell constantly, continually get decent reviews, they don't need to sell millions of them and thus if the model is strong it continues to sell mainly via peer referral.

Next up Stereo, I know this is the holy grail, but I would really recommend a decent mono speaker rather than a stereo speaker at the same price, realistically a single point stereo speaker, typically bluetooth portable sized is not going to give you any reasonable stereo image anyway, so you are paying for something that the product will struggle to deliver.

Personally, I would not be comfortable recommending any sub 100€ portable bluetooth speaker to you if your main requirement is for high quality vocal reproduction and portability, I do think the Audio Pro T3 would be a good starting point:
https://www.whathifi.com/audio-pro/addon-t3/review

You correctly say that it was reviewed in 2015 - its still current, it's beautifully built, it still sounds good and it still sells - the downside is that it retails at 169€  - however if you keep your eye out Audio Pro frequently do promotions that reduce it to 129€ and at that - nothing else touches it, specifically for quality.

You could also look at the Cambridge Yoyo but stock is really constrained across the complete Yoyo range due to Covid-19 supply chain issues, at the moment they are realistically not available - at the upper level there is also the SONOS Move, which does sound excellent.

Sorry if I appear negative, that's not the intention, by all means check out some of the JBL / Bose style speakers - but I'm not sure they will fit your brief as well as some of the specialist manufacturers like Ruark / Audio Pro / Cambridge Audio.

Keep us posted if we can assist,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew  

Sysmod

Richersounds.ie: John wrote: »

Hi Sysmod,

.

Personally, I would not be comfortable recommending any sub 100€ portable bluetooth speaker to you if your main requirement is for high quality vocal reproduction and portability, I do think the Audio Pro T3 would be a good starting point:
https://www.whathifi.com/audio-pro/addon-t3/review

You correctly say that it was reviewed in 2015 - its still current, it's beautifully built, it still sounds good and it still sells - the downside is that it retails at 169€  - however if you keep your eye out Audio Pro frequently do promotions that reduce it to 129€ and at that - nothing else touches it, specifically for quality.
  

Thank you John! Sorry I just noticed your reply now.
I was going to have to pick the JBL Charge 4 as it was more affordable, but if I was able to be informed of Audio Pro promotions that would be good.
I don't see the T3 on audiopro.com. just the Addon T5. Is there somewhere I should watch? Do you have an email alert / notification service on richersounds.ie ?

PriceSpy tells me it was £109 up to May 20 so that was not long ago.

https://www.whathifi.com/audio-pro/addon-t3/review

By the way, I visited euro.richersounds.ie  , country "Republic of Ireland", entered my Eircode, and get a popup "Please enter a valid UK postcode to check or enter your address manually" - manual entry works OK.

Thank you for the detailed and considered response

Patrick

Sysmod

Well, that was quick. I got a Pricespy alert:

https://pricespy.co.uk/audio-video/speakers-headphones/portable-speakers/audio-pro-addon-t3--p3179046

Richer Sounds       Audio Pro ADDON T3 (White) Portable Bluetooth Speaker   £109.00 Free delivery

"We aim to list all offers available on the market. There’s no direct link to this product since the shop has chosen to not be a PriceSpy customer in this category."


BUT
https://www.richersounds.ie/cssearch.aspx?searchterm=audio%20pro%20t3#pgnum=&sort=


Audio Pro ADDON T3 Pink £119.95




Pink??




I guess the .ie website is a little behind the .uk one?

Richersounds.ie: John

Sysmod, 

the .ie site dovetails with the .com site every day before close of business.

The T3 in Green and grey are already reduced today on the www.richersoundsireland.com site to £109 / 129€

ATVB,

John Mc & crew

Sysmod

Thanks John, that arrived today. A first run with an organ performance was surprisingly loud. Other music had more bass than I'm used to but that's OK. Voice was clear and a drum solo was much better than the usual radio speaker.  My wife is very impressed with it so that's a bonus :-)

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

Sysmod wrote: »

Thanks John, that arrived today. A first run with an organ performance was surprisingly loud. Other music had more bass than I'm used to but that's OK. Voice was clear and a drum solo was much better than the usual radio speaker.  My wife is very impressed with it so that's a bonus :-)

Hey Sysmod.

That is good news

Thanks for letting us know.

If you require any assistance in the future please drop us a post.

Kenny.