Need to get a dock/speaker set up to provide background music to an outdoor garden party, so I don’t need anything massive powerful, just something to provide some tunes in a garden with some people bimbling around nearby.

I’ve not used anything like this before as in the house everything is via my amp and floor standing speakers, but obviously don’t want to cart that all outside.

There’s so many options available I don’t really know where to start so does anyone have any good suggestions?

iPod/iPhone/iPad connectivity would be a bonus as we will jsut have it set up with Spotify for people to pick and queue their own tunes, but I’m assuming they all have a 3.5mm if needs be for connecting any device?

budget < £200, preferably less as won’t get a lot of use!

Philips BR1X sb5200

thanks, but erm…why that one?

have you got one? is it particularly good in some respect?

I’ve got a JBL Flip 2 and it is very good indeed. The sound quality is excellent and for such a small device it really fills the room or outdoors!
The battery life is good and it is only small and light. I am no HIFI buff but I know good clear sound when I hear it. Recommend it.

You can get them on offer for around £50 I think.

Edit: £45 !!!!

Because it sounds good, works reliably, has good battery life, is weatherproof, can be chained with others for more output. But since it’s a speaker, mainly because it sounds good.

I got one of these for my birthday:

Seriously good quality for the money. It’s small, but puts out plenty of noise – bass isn’t perhaps the greatest, but about as good as you’ll get for something that size.
It can connect via Bluetooth or a cable, but you’ll need to supply a cable (can get them cheap enough from Amazon or ebay). I use mine over Bluetooth mainly.
Battery life is exceptional; I think I’ve only charged mine two or three times (so just a bit more than once a month) and it gets used loads.

Obviously how big your garden is and how many people are attending will have a bearing on how suitable this is, but just for background music in a ‘normal’ sized garden it should be fine.

EDIT – the black colour is cheapest (only £24).

ta guys, will have a read up on those options

Of all the ones I’ve heard the Bose Soundlink Mini is head and shoulders above the rest.