I like to have music when we’re eating in the garden in the evenings. It’d be a major hassle to bring the indoors stereo out, but a pair of cheap PC speakers plugged into the jack socket of the phone or laptop doesn’t cut it.

I know there’s something indefinable about the thickness of sound from a good system – you can have it relatively quiet but it still has good definition.

Is there any way I can get close to that for about £100? I’m looking for something that will still be driven from the 3.5mm jack.

If I can get something good, compact-ish and driven from mains and fag-lighter that would be brilliant for holidays too.

Friend of mine bought Bose wireless speaker, connected via Bluetooth. Sounds nice but £250.

Oh man, Arcam rCube going at £250. King of portable speakers.

Do like buskers, gyms, dance classes, schools etc do. PA is cheaper than hifi. Plenty of active speakers and stereo sets around, lots have built in battery and ipod docking too.

Remarkably good sound from this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generation-Capsule-iPhone-Laptop-Speaker/dp/B001UEBN42

You can even daisy chain loads together. The sound really is surprisingly good. Way better than any other mini speaker

Small guitar practice amp such as http://www.voxamps.com/uk/mini3/mini3/ ?

+1 on the x mini v2 mini speakers, 1 sounds good but I got 2 and they sound good for what they are. 5 daisy chained must be a bit mental

Trouble with a guitar amp is it’s treble heavy.

The active speaker might be what I’m after. With £250 to spend the Bose or Arcam would be worth looking at but I’m after something good at half that price.

Anybody had a good experience with active speakers? And can recommend a particular model?

Ooops – overlapped the last post.

Are those little round things really OK? I guessed for £15 they’d sound like something that cost £15.

get a decent bluetooth speaker

Sonos can also take iPhone/ipad/android as a source now. Again, over budget.

So go on guys, specify a make and/or model of decent bluetooth or active speakers. M-Audio, Behringer come up on Bing. OK or avoid?

iLuv isp100.
Cheap as chips and unbelievable sound for something that fits in your pocket.
3.5 mm jack. 3 x AAA batteries. got this for under £15 on e bay. Even after checking reviews that claimed surprise when first used, I was pleasantly surprised when plugged into my phone ( Galaxy Ace).

Not bluetooth, but get a Minirig! http://minirigs.co.uk/index.html

Everyone that hears mine is blown away at the quality. £99 it’s bang-on your budget. The only problem is finding stock as they sell out so quick! Keep an eye on their facebook for details of new stock.

I’ve got some Numark powered DJ monitors which I use with a laptop for screening films to small audiences. Clear enough and loud enough to screen to a whole primary school in their sports hall last week, even though we were making them laugh. Cost around £60 to £80. My ones are mains only – but we bought them about 8 year around, I’d be there are battery / car lighter compatiable ones about now.

X mini. 5 of them daisy chained for £75

simonlovell999 – Member
+1 on the x mini v2 mini speakers, 1 sounds good but I got 2 and they sound good for what they are. 5 daisy chained must be a bit mental
POSTED 50 MINUTES AGO #

This! I use one at work quite regularly and also when away camping etc.

It will hold charge for between 20-35 hours depending on the volume it’s played at.

Got a window?

What about these? http://www.soundbug2.com/portable-speakers/portable-bluetooth-speakers/

Don’t know what they’re like, I’m waiting for someone to try them!

Minirig here too-flipping great bit of kit.

oh joy, neighbours bringing their music outdoors. I’m off out, let me know when the rain sends them back inside

Logitech S715i iPod dock. You can pick them up for about £80 at Currys or even less inTesco at one point. Awesome sound and rechargeable. If you don’t use iPod/iPhone you can plug another phone in via a 3.5mm headphone jack input at the back. They now do a bluetooth variation without dock aswell.

John

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ll check them out

I think it would have to be pretty loud for the sound to reach the bounds of BigJohn Towers but we did get a complaint once when we had a band playing. The PA went up beyond 10.

The x mini sounds a lot better than something that cost £15 nowhere near as good as a Bose sound dock though.

I use a Jawbone Jambox, quite expensive at £120 but sooo worth it as i use it for at least a couple of hours every day, from shower, to shed, to garden, to workshop i wonder what i did before i bought it?. Quite a decent sound out of it and whilst it may not be the loudest i’ve never found it to be a problem – i like the small size as it’s possible to fit it into a jacket pocket.

There’s a new JBL bluetooth speaker out recently, called the charge which by all accounts is a Jawbone jambox beater in terms of sound, loudness and it can also be used as a charger for your phone, MP3 player etc – might be worth a look.

The Jawbone & JBL Charge look good!

I got some X-Mini Mini Max II speakers as a present a couple of years ago and they are ridiculously good.
To be honest it is a shame that they aren’t wireless, but I guess that would add expense, complexity and reduce battery life. The cable does seem to be the weak point; you have to be careful with it as it seems quite fragile.

BUT, having said that, they do sound excellent for their size. I use them in the garage and use them plugged into my laptop if I am watching something on iPlayer. Battery life is about 10hrs I think if not plugged into a power source.

Xmini is a really good option if you want small, not sure how much sense it makes to chain a load together though.

Is mono the new stereo now?

I took a punt on this.. Bluetooth and 3.5 jack inputs.

Supply your own cheap hifi speaker. Fundraising is over, but might be worth contacting still.

BigJohn – Member
Is mono the new stereo now?

Dunno. Pretty sure the Mini Max II’s are stereo though.
They don’t daisy chain as such. They have 1 cable that connects to the two speakers from the headphone jack and they are labelled L & R (on the cable).

Not sure mono or stereo matters though in this situation, as you are never gonna get great ‘stereo’ from any compact solution as the speakers won’t be far enough apart. The speakers will act as a single mono source anyway (to all intents and purposes) and I doubt the people sat in your garden will have ‘getting in the stereo hotspot’ high up the agenda when choosing somewhere to stick their chairs anyway.

Man, I really didn’t need anything more but after realising Arcam could serve me as tv speaker. Damn STW. Now moneys have to be spent.

I’m sold on this idea. Will have smug face over my friend with his hyped up Bose. No messin.
8)

Wow the sound on that youtube clip is amazing….

but get a Minirig! http://minirigs.co.uk/index.html

Everyone that hears mine is blown away at the quality. £99 it’s bang-on your budget. The only problem is finding stock as they sell out so quick! Keep an eye on their facebook for details of new stock.

This + 1.. I’ve got one and they sounds amazing. They can be daisy chained with other mini rigs to make it even louder.

I’ve heard he’;s developing a separate subwoofer component to add to it

I ended up spending £170 on this which does a pretty good job. All of these speakers will have some kind of compromise but if you just want to have music on when you are doing other things and also be able to cart it around the house then it works well.

I use Harman Kardon SoundSticks with the PC and really like the sound they produce, and a bluetooth version is available which would tempt me for a kitchen/dining room setup but the Bluetooth reviews are poor.

Just clicked on a Minirig.

Thanks for the help, guys.

and this

Will be out soon! the minirig subwoofer.. Can’t wait

I use small Behringer desktop monitor speakers, with a 3.5mm jack-jack cable.
Sound way better than usual PC speakers, and 2nd hand you can easily get some for less than £100.

Yamaha PDX b11 sounds very good.

The Minirig has arrived and sounds brilliant. It cost £93.94 delivered from Amazon. Of course As soon as you get one you start to want two, and then you want the Sub-woofer, but in reality, the one will give me exactly what I’m looking for.

It comes with its own 3.5mm jack cable, and the terminals are a gold colour. In reality how important are cables to the sound? I know a dead cheapy will be a mistake, but would I benefit by spending another £15 on one?

Yes, for that it will make a bit of difference, don’t need to spend £15 though. I use stuff from here; http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/category/46/3-5mm-jack-jack-cables/

I brought the earlier version of these:
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-12890-epoz-aktimate-mini-active-speakers-with-ipod-dock.aspx

Epoz Aktimate Minis, they are fantastic although a little over budget.
They sound good just placed on a unit in the bedroom, but sound even better on stands.
We have them hooked up to a tv/dvd and they have the dock in the top for ipod / iphone

Have a pair of Focal XS Book speakers. It’s genuinely surprising what you can get out of such a small speaker, they provided music for a hall maybe 8x8m on Saturday.

Disclaimer, I do work for a sister company so may be a bit biased.