Wireless Music System

[eta34]

I purchased my wife a wireless speaker system for Christmas...it sucked and I took it back. Saw it at Kohl's (I know, I know) and thought it might be decent. It wasn't and was made my some no-name company.

Here is what I am looking for: I want something that we can hook our Ipad, cell phones, or home computer(s) up to and play our music. I would like the speakers to be wireless so we can move them from the kitchen to another room, etc. It would be nice if I could take them outside by the pool as well.

I looked at Best Buy yesterday and saw products from Bose, Sony, and Rocketfish. Anybody have any experience with this stuff?

[Sergal]

The majority of wireless speakers will use Bluetooth instead of Wireless (IEEE 802.11). This is an important distinction because, while your IPad and cell phone should both already have Bluetooth, your computer may not. Most desktops do not come with Bluetooth adapters, and it's still not entirely mainstream on laptops yet. If you purchase a Bluetooth speaker system, and your computer does not support bluetooth, you can purchase a bluetooth adapater such as:

Medialink Bluetooth Adapter

With that covered, there are a couple of speaker systems that may interest you.

First is the
Logitech Wireless Boombox

If you are not a computer enthusiast, you may not be familiar with Logitech. They are primarily a computer peripheral company (gaming keyboards and mice, etc). However, they make excellent speaker systems. I personally have owned several, and have yet to be disappointed. Logitech is considered mid-range. Their products are well worth the money, but if you are looking to spend hundreds of dollars on this speaker system, you could find better at that price range.

A review of the system can be found Here

Second is the
Bose Soundlink Wireless Mobile Speaker

Bose is a reputable producer of great sound systems. The Soundlink will be one of the best Bluetooth speakers you can find, but it's also quite expensive. I have used many Bose speakers, and they all sound better than the Logitech, but I could never justify the cost for such a small speaker, and have never purchased one. You should also consider that the size of the speaker will always effect sound quality. In any small speaker, the subwoofer will have to be built into the product, and will never be as good as a standalone unit. For the price of the Bose, you could buy a fairly decent 5.1 home theater system, with a standalone subwoofer.

You can find a review of the Bose Here.

Hope this helps you a bit.

[eta34]

Exactly what I was looking for...thanks.

[rplusplus]

I almost bought this for xmas... It sounds INCREDIBLE! Spent money on other stuff but it's still on my list.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=SRSBT100

Check it out if you can find a store that has one.

[erik_26]

I almost bought this for xmas... It sounds INCREDIBLE! Spent money on other stuff but it's still on my list.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=SRSBT100

Check it out if you can find a store that has one.

The website says it is no longer available.

[high_revs]

bluetooth has a distance limitation. not sure if line of sight plays a heavy role in it.

[Sergal]

bluetooth has a distance limitation. not sure if line of sight plays a heavy role in it.

Bluetooth v1.2 has a 30 ft distance limit between devices. It will work for a bit after that, sometimes double, but expect performance loss after 30 ft. Bluetooth does not require line of sight.