Wireless / bluetooth speakers

Skittlebrau

Hi guys,

Hope you can help.

Am looking for some recommendations for a wireless or bluetooth speaker. The plan is for it to be permanently located in the kitchen so it doesn't need to be portable.

Want to stream Spotify mainly (either directly from the device or via iPad or Android phones) and possibly access music stored on a portable hard drive.

It'd be nice to be able to add to it too in future.

The Sonos Play:3 and 5 seem to be highly regarded but reviews seem a few years old at this stage. Anything else I should be looking at?

Budget is c. €300

Richersounds.ie: John

Skittlebrau wrote: »

Hi guys,

Hope you can help.

Am looking for some recommendations for a wireless or bluetooth speaker. The plan is for it to be permanently located in the kitchen so it doesn't need to be portable.

Want to stream Spotify mainly (either directly from the device or via iPad or Android phones) and possibly access music stored on a portable hard drive.

It'd be nice to be able to add to it too in future.

The Sonos Play:3 and 5 seem to be highly regarded but reviews seem a few years old at this stage. Anything else I should be looking at?

Budget is c. €300

Skittlebrau,

apologies for the delay getting back to you - but your timing is actually excellent - a while ago Sonos really was pretty much the only game in town but now there are lots of amazing sounding options for wireless & Bluetooth speakers - the market has just exploded over the last few months - I'll give you my subjective choice of the finest at a few different price ranges:


Under £100

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-200752-xw-btsa1.aspx

The Pioner BTSA1 is a really exceptional little speaker for under £100 and it even sneaks in under €90 including shipping! its been reduced from
£80 and even at £80 it really did sound great!

We only have them left in white at the moment but it looks great, really compact and well equipped with Bluetooth and NFC on board - it also has line in, the only downside is that it is only mains powered there is no battery back-up at all.


Around £100

Cambridge Audio Go ( available in either black or white)
https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-200776-go-white.aspx

The Cambridge Minx Go was a huge seller and also a 5 star review winner in What Hifi - Cambridge have just added £20 to the retail but also completely revamped the original Minx Go and re-launched it as the 'CAMBRIDGE GO' - and this time its won the What Hifi 2014 Awards as best wireless speaker up to £150:
http://www.whathifi.com/cambridge-audio/go/review
Not going to go into too many details - but this really does sound excellent and it has an amazing 18 hour battery life - the new version has NFC so its great with either IOS or Android devices and it also features the higher quality APTx Bluetooth encoding.

The next move up will be a big step up in quality - the new Monitor Audio S200 is just plain A M A Z I N G!!
https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-200939-blk.aspx
The Monitor Audio S200 is just €259.99 ( including delivery) but its won the What HiFi 2014 award for best wireless speaker up to £300!
http://www.whathifi.com/monitor-audio/airstream-s200/review - over the Cambridge Go it adds Apple Airplay as standard - its Bluetooth Aptx AND also has Airplay direct ( ie it doesn't have to be connected to your router / wifi network as it will establish its own wifi network to allow you to connect your device) - the s200 also has USB and 3.5mm inputs to allow you to connect a local device directly. The build quality is superb ( typical Monitor Audio) and really if you are looking at circa 300 - the Monitor Audio S200 HAS to be on your shopping list.

Blow the Budget!

Last but by far the most interesting is the new HEOS system by Denon - recently launched, this is the first serious Sonos competitor to emerge with a cohesive range - the ideal speaker in your range is the HEOS 3 https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-12828-heos-3-black.aspx the HEOS 3 is just on budget at €298 and sounds exceptional, but if you could stretch to it, the HEOS 5 is really a stunner ( but will blow the budget at €398) https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-12833-heos-5-black.aspx 

HEOS is just different to all the others mentioned previously - it does E V E R Y T H I N G - it really forms the backbone of a brilliant multi-room system, you can stream Spotify connect and of course it will play from your network or a USB drive ( or NAS drive) - if you just connect a USB thumb key to it you can play multiple streams from the same USB key across multiple HEOS speakers at the same time.. you can also connect a legacy device ( ie a turntable or CD player) to a HEOS speaker and it will play this, better again, it will encode the input from the legacy device and allow you to listen to it on any other HEOS speaker - it really is the best multi-room wireless system out there at the moment! DENON are doing a 90 day money back guarantee with it at the moment so you can purchase completely risk free! ( and they offer 20% discount on the 2nd item if you purchase another item within 90 days! have a look here: http://www.richersounds.com/information/90dayterms

Sorry for the delay and for rambling on - as ever drop us a line if we can assist in any way

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

Skittlebrau

Wow.. thanks John.

Lots of great info there.

Decisions... decisions... decisions..

Richersounds.ie: John

Skittlebrau wrote: »

Wow.. thanks John.

Lots of great info there.

Decisions... decisions... decisions..

Always happy to add a little confusion

To be honest all the ones posted above sound great and in their respective price categories they are all the best in my view - but the HEOS is just plain exceptional and of course its a complete system so you can add onto it over time to make a really amazing multi room system..

Keep us posted if we can assist,

ATVB,

John Mc