TromboneChat

Yo!

I need to invest in a Bluetooth speaker for teaching lessons in a little practice room at a dinky school. This will be used to play Aebersolds, iRealPro, etc.

Requirements:

Small (should fit in a backpack)
Loud (to compete against two trombones while providing clear harmonic information, particularly from walking bass)
Reliable
Rechargeable

Don't tell me to "pick three." Notice I didn't say it had to be cheap? That being said...cost is a consideration.

Thanks, TCers!

Bose SoundLink Revolve or Revolve Plus might be an option. I have the "non plus" model and it gets decently loud. They usually have these out in like Target or Best Buy where you can listen to them.

I have the JBL Xtreme. I find it clear and loud. And if you can catch a second one later, you can build a stereo system which works just fine. And loud!

PaKETaZ wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:03 pm And if you can catch a second one later, you can build a stereo system which works just fine. And loud!

Same deal with the Bose Revolve. I have two setup in stereo in my living room... live streamed the BSO just a few weeks ago and, wow, it was quite immersive with two 360-deg speakers.

Good advice, guys. I'll research these and see if anyone else chimes in, too.

I use an Anker Soundcore 2. It's $30 on Amazon, so definitely a lower price class than what's been suggested, but I have no issues with it. I use it for iRealPro when I'm playing by myself, and for drums/bass when I play with a piano player. I've never had issues with sound being too soft, and the bass line comes through clearly. Not sure how it would be with two loud trombones though...

boomski wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:30 am I use an Anker Soundcore 2. It's $30 on Amazon, so definitely a lower price class than what's been suggested, but I have no issues with it. I use it for iRealPro when I'm playing by myself, and for drums/bass when I play with a piano player. I've never had issues with sound being too soft, and the bass line comes through clearly. Not sure how it would be with two loud trombones though...

Interesting - the plot thickens. Thanks for the tip.

I realized you had a few metrics, and figured it might be useful for other people, so I thought I would rate both the Anker and Sony SRSX11's that we use in the rest of the house based on the 4 metrics you laid out.

Anker SoundCore 2: $30 on Amazon

Size: I give it a medium size- it's not big enough to be conspicuous, but it's on the larger size of the scale. Fits in my bag/backpack no problem.

Loudness: When playing by myself, I have my ipad turned up between 1/2 and 3/4 depending on how loudly I want to play. When I play with a piano player, it needs to be all the way up- however sound quality and volume are not an issue at that point.

Reliable: it's waterproof. Has a soft-touch silicone type coating on the outside of the speaker, which makes it non-slip and I assume would add some slight protection if dropped. Also, I've never had an issue with the connection and I use it everyday. I use it interchangeably with both my iPad and iPhone with no issues, though it only connects to one at a time.

Battery Life: I use it around an hour every day (meaning, speaker is on, not always producing music) and recharge it once every few weeks. It charges in about 2 hours, and has a light that changes color depending on status.


Sony SRSX11: $30-35 on Amazon

Size: Small. Fits easily in your hand, and is about half the size of the Anker. We use two in stereo, and they are very small, light, packable.

Loudness: Again, we use two in stereo, and they get plenty loud. However, I have not tried these with the Trombone so I am not sure how they hold up. For general listening throughout the house they are great.

Reliable: Occasionally we have issues connecting a device. For instance, if we use my wife's iPad one day, and my phone the next, we need to re-pair the devices to the speakers.

Battery life: not so good on these, even if we don't have them on, they still need to be charged about once a week.


Based on these two, I recommend the Anker. I would only recommend the Sony's if size is your top priority. Hope that helps.

Great recommendations all. And thank you for that!

I went ahead and ordered an Ultimate Ears Boom 2. Lots of great reviews, and one of our TCers (TromboneChatters) emailed me with this recommendation. We'll see how it does.

I hope this topic helps some folks in the future!

I tried to post something similar before but it didn't go through; maybe it will this time.
A few of my friends/colleagues use the UE boom 2 and my professor recommended it to me. It is waterproof and can take drops while being small enough to fit in my case. It's also loud enough to hear a backing track or metronome over a horn section. I would highly reccomend it to anyone especially considering they are not that expensive.

I figured I would just piggyback this topic in lieu of starting another on the same subject. Anyone have first hand experience with the JBL Flip 4 vs JBL Xtreme? On paper, they seem comparable. Or just the JBL Flip 4 for that matter? How about the JBL Flip 4 vs. the UE Boom 2?

Update: I'm definitely leaning towards JBL. My #1 contender is the JBL Charge 3.

I can report back that my UE Boom 2 is remarkable. It's plenty loud, very compact, and sounds rather good. And it didn't break the bank.