iPad wireless speaker?

We have busy lives and don’t watch any TV but the odd thing on BBC iPlayer is sometimes of interest when we are cooking in the kitchen. However, the internal speaker of the iPad is not good enough. Is it possible to buy a wireless speaker (bluetooth) to put in the kitchen that the iPad can hook up to?

I know this is a bike forum but I have seen some crazy non-bike questions before, and there always seems to be someone who provides an answer!

Thanks very much in advance

Jawbone Jambox is excellent, but expensive.

With any BT speaker there’s a slight delay on the audio. Fine listening to music but it bugs me watching video. Others don’t notice.

When I use my jambox for video, I connect it with a cable to prevent that.

I also have a nokia MD-310 which is a BT receiver you connect to your hifi, it’s also ace.

I just use a simple wired speaker connected by a jack plug, cheap. Speaker is a “little ball” and hides in cupboard when not in use. I wonder what cost a wifi speaker will be and whether it’s not better to get something like below which offers much more …

Other possible solutions are
1) Apple TV connected to your tv which you then use sound only / full picture (mate has this in his kitchen with tv mounted on wall). Note Apple TV can show the BBC iPlayer or other content (mid week mini movies 🙂 ) on your tv driven from iPad / iPhone. Apple TV can access Vimeo / YouTube / iTunes / Netflix directly also
2) airport express connected to whatever speakers/Sterio amp you wish. Airport express can turn normal printers to wireless, be used as wifi extender or to create a seperate/second network

I have one like this and it’s surprisingly good for the size/cost.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=330940124675

It is true there’s a slight delay though.

I have an Apple TV in the living room for those few times we actually use it. I presumed it wasn’t possible to use another one on the same network so hadn’t thought about it as an option. I’ll look into that.

Thanks for your info so far, much appreciated.

After getting tired of the limitations of the admittedly brilliant X Mini speakers, I decided to get bluetooth speaker for around the house. There are loads out there – Jawbone Jambox is the best known (going cheap on Expansys recently) – across a range of budgets, do you want portable/ruggedised long battery life etc.

In the end I got a fairly mid/high end portable Braven 650 for my birthday absolutely fantastic. Although pretty sure I’d have been just as happy with Jabra Solemate or Cambridge Audio Minx Go or any of the Logitech UE range which were also on my list of possibles.

I asked this last week and ended up buying a ks hive, great bit of kit and I’m amazed at the sound that comes out of it for the size.

I have an Apple TV in the living room for those few times we actually use it. I presumed it wasn’t possible to use another one on the same network so hadn’t thought about it as an option. I’ll look into that.

You can run as many AirPort Express’ or Apple TVs on one network as you wish. You just get a list of them and choose which one you want to connect to. In iTunes you can connect to multiple AirPort Express’ at once, not so sure about Apple TVs.

I got one of these UE Mobile Boombox

I thinks its excellent for the size and money, I paid about a tenner less of Amazon a few weeks ago.

after lots of research i bought a JBL flip – sound is superb for the size, and seems to get glowing write-ups. only letdown is it needs a recharge after about 3-4 hours

Bit of blatant plug for business but if your using your iPad in the kitchen than one of our FridgePad mounts might be very handy http://www.woodforddesign.com/products/fridgepad

Regarding speakers we are working on a new stand with integrated induction speaker so no bluetooth is needed that depletes your battery. Still in testing phase but if you drop me a mail we might be able to include you in our customer testing.

so no bluetooth is needed that depletes your battery

See, I’d be wary of making claims like this. I immediately think “BS”.

I’d expect a BT connection to perhaps consume less current than the iPad playing the sound itself – after all it’s generating low power radio waves instead of pushing a load of air around.

I certainly don’t notice BT audio devices draining power faster than headphones/internal speakers.

Ooooh, like that woody *tempted* 8)

Sorry IA I didn’t really explain myself very well. Yes you are right a speaker will deplete the battery quicker then bluetooth. The wireless benefits of the stand are really convenience (no need to switch bluetooth on and off) and removing the issues of bluetooth pairing that people still get. It also means you can use any device you might have, tablet or phone straight away without having to pair it. Of course you also get a stand so you can watch the iPad screen is needed.

Woody- will the stand also work with a Nexus 7? If so could also be very interested…

Hi tootalipaul

It all depends on the placement of the speaker. We are currently aiming it at the iPad as this is the biggest market by a long way, but looking at the Nexus 7 it should work fine as the speaker is in the right area. I’ll get a Nexus 7 ordered and then we can check.

We are currently aiming it at the iPad

Note that the leaks of the new iPads have the speakers in a slightly different location.

New nexus 7 has stereo speakers either side compared to mono on one end of the ipad.

That fridgepad thing looks flipping awesome!

pdexia – Glad you like the look of the FridgePad. Its simple but works really well and great for keeping your iPad out of harms way. When a world cup event is on I can leave it running in the background and still do jobs in the kitchen without getting nagged by the wife! Keeps everyone happy.

IA – Yes we are looking at the new iPad speaker locations and it will be fine as they are in the right locations. Basically the speaker stand works by picking up the speaker vibrations from the iPad or device and then amplifying them and playing them out of 2 side speakers with addition bass ports. You end up with a much louder and cleaner sound. As you reduce the volume of the iPad it then automatically reduces the volume from the speaker stand.

@nuttysquirrel – yes you can have multiple Apple TV’s – you just assign it a different name, either one of the standard ones or any custom name you choose. Look in the menus.

BTW this is the kind of speaker I have connected via jack plug ball speaker

I’ve just spent a whilst choosing one for the bedroom. Went with an Orbitsound M9 and I must say its brilliant. There are a few Bose ones which are similar and would work well in the kitchen. The m9 came with a wireless subwoofer however and I thought the quality was significantly better than the competition for £300

I heard a Bose BT speaker this week and it was amazing. The bass from something so small was nothing short of incredible. It also had a jack input so you don’t have to use BT. Cost around £165

I’m waiting on a Vamp, which may be a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.

I do like the idea of being able to simply and easily output music through any speaker I can find.
Disadvantages are that it’s mono, no reviews of the sound quality, and that its running behind schedule.

Bose Mobilethingy like wot ‘e said ^^. Unbelievably good. Fills pretty much any decent sized room. We’ve used it outdoors too and it impressed then!

Hmmm, good chat – thanks! 2 Apple TVs sounds good to me if I can work a few things out. My fridge is integrated so nothing sticks to it!!

Wireless subwoofer? Cool!

I listened to the Bose ones in Lewis’ but they didn’t compare to this Orbitslund one. Not a make I’d heard of before but it gets good reviews. Recommend!

http://www.whathifi.com/review/orbitsound-m9

The bose ones I am talking about were about an 1/8 the size of that one, it was not a dock.

The pic is deceptive, it’s quite small

I have a Jambox, it’s ok but the sound quality ain’t all that but then again i’m comparing it to my KRK monitor speakers or my Audioengine A2’s, the battery life is ok at perhaps 5-6 hrs at full volume but the spoken warning for “Battery life is less than 1/4 full” is rather misleading as it usually shuts off 5 mins later. your source bluetooth feed will need to have it’s volume right up to near enough max.

I guess i’m trying to say it’s ok for what it is (small, rubber protected case, nothing to break, easily wiped down, ok sound but not loud enough) but there’s better out there for the money.