[TobyD]

Anyone got any opinions on these?

Smart facilities not essential, but Bluetooth / WiFi connection to play music and radio is.
Portability not necessary.

Was looking at this; https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/symfonisk-wifi-bookshelf-speaker-white-60435207/

Anyone got one?

[Johnny Brown]

I've got the old wired version of these:

https://www.hifix.co.uk/audioengine-a2-wireless-powered-speakers-pair

They're exceptional.

[tomtom]

The IKEA ones are rebadged Sonos ones IIRC that got good reviews (I think)..

[Steve R]

Might be worth a check on gumtree for older amps and speaker sets?  Often find 'audiophiles' selling decent branded stuff having upgraded.  Could then use a bluetooth adapter as one of the inputs.  Have derived great pleasure from a used rotel amp and wharfedale speakers I bought years ago for not a lot.  No expert but sounds great to me and goes loud.

[Mr_Cus]

We got an ultimate ears megablast after sending a sonos one back after terrible connectivity and glitching.

The sound is great and incredibly surprising that it comes from this device! Sounds like a speaker 2 or 3 times it's size. We've been dead impressed. It's easily as good as the sonos we sent back (on the rare occasion it actually worked).

[cheque]

Might be worth a check on gumtree for older amps and speaker sets?

 

[Andy F]

Another vote for the UE gear.
I've used the Megaboom for about 2 years and loved it. Great sound quality, excellent battery life (20 hrs+ at low to mid volume) and easy connectivity.
Recently upgraded to the Megablast, which is even better sound quality with richer bass and sharper treble and has Alexa built in. The battery isn't as good and it doesn't double as a phone speaker, but given I got it for £120 from Amazon rather than the £240 RRP, they are minor quibbles.

Both recommended.

[TobyD]

Another vote for the UE gear.
I've used the Megaboom for about 2 years and loved it. Great sound quality, excellent battery life (20 hrs+ at low to mid volume) and easy connectivity.
Recently upgraded to the Megablast, which is even better sound quality with richer bass and sharper treble and has Alexa built in. The battery isn't as good and it doesn't double as a phone speaker, but given I got it for £120 from Amazon rather than the £240 RRP, they are minor quibbles.

Both recommended.

Thanks for the replies all. Further details, this is actually a present for a parent.
A standalone speaker is definitely what I had in mind, amps and speaker sets are definitely out.
The UE one looks great and I'd consider getting it myself in the future, but they won't need anything portable or super loud. A horizontal orientation would also be preferable, hence looking at the IKEA one. If that's really a rebadged Sonos it'd be a bargain, but have seen quite a few reviews for Sonos saying that they are a pain to connect with or set up. Have also looked at the Echo plus 2nd generation and Echo third generation which look really good. 

[tomtom]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/12/ikea-symfonisk-speaker-review-sonos-on-the-cheap

[TobyD]

Nice one Tom I'm pretty sure that this one is good, or one of the Echo ones.

[cofe]

I’ve had a Sonos One in the kitchen for 18+ months. It’s great. Have had maybe one or two connection issues, but no more than any other modern Bluetooth etc speaker.

[Snoops]

I’ve had a Sonos One in the kitchen for 18+ months. It’s great. Have had maybe one or two connection issues, but no more than any other modern Bluetooth etc speaker.

Second Sonos, I had a first generation one, which has worked fine for many years,and is still nice sound. Its wi-fi, which I think is more convenient than bluetooth as it doesn't stop playing when you go upstairs for a pee!

[duncan]

I have Quad electrostatic speakers which sound quite good. They are fussy about matching with appropriate carpet and wallpaper though.

[danm]

Whose living room is that, Albert Hofmann's?

[SA Chris]

My grandfather gave me some sound advice on his deathbed.

He said money spent on decent speakers is never wasted.

[dunnyg]

I got a pair of Edifier R1010BT last year when the other half wanted some bluetooth speakers. Has both bluetooth and standard wired input.  Currently  listening to some jungle mix on it on them and think they are good for the money, bluetooth works fine, bass can be controlled seperately.  Mine are all black so pretty standard color wise. Usually sit on a couple of shelves, but recently moved for the new home office. And they go plenty loud
 

*edited because I forgot to put the speaker name in*

[tomtom]

Bought some Cambridge Audio speakers 6-7 years back - and they’re distinctly average via headphone lead etc..

except they have a built in DAC - so if I run them off my PC via the USB cable they sound amazing.... They’re doing a great job in my home office/training/wall room at the moment.

[galpinos]

Thanks for the replies all. Further details, this is actually a present for a parent.

We've bought Ultimate Ears speakers for both my mother and mother in law. Really easy to set up and very easy to play music on, they are both on our Apple Music Family Account.

Only downside with bluetooth is that when you get a notification, it cuts into the music.

[peewee]

I have Quad electrostatic speakers which sound quite good. They are fussy about matching with appropriate carpet and wallpaper though.

My Dad currently has a set of them in at his shop for repair!

[SA Chris]

Any suggestions for best options for close to £100 (but would consider a bit more if worthwhile) at the moment? Something robust and waterproof appeals, but not essential. Anker one has just died (dropped), and can't be resurrected. Well not by me anyway.

Thanks.

[SamT]

Love our JBL flip 4.

Quite old now but going strong.  Not sure what their latest in the range stuff is like, Charge/Flip 5. 6  etc.

[largeruk]

Love our JBL flip 4.

Quite old now but going strong.  Not sure what their latest in the range stuff is like, Charge/Flip 5. 6  etc.

I second the above recommendation. A friend asked me to find a sub-£100 portable speaker for her study. I looked at quite a few including the Flip series and eventually suggested the Flip 4 which imho delivers better bang for buck than its newer iterations. A couple of years later, she's still more than happy with it. Easy to set up, use and sounds good.

Perversely, it has more features & connections than the newer ones eg aux input, dual driver stereo vs mono on Flip 5/6, noise-cancelling microphone for hands-free calls etc. It can also double a speakerphone while the newer models can't. Supposedly punchier and more dynamic sound on the newer ones but to my ears the Flip 4 is plenty detailed and loud enough given its size. Depends on what you want from a portable speaker and the environment it's going to be used, I guess.

[TobyD]

 I have an ultimate ears speaker, it was about £100 on Amazon, it's really good after using it for about 8 months.
Bluetooth works well, it's waterproof, bombproof, decent battery life and impressive sound quality for the small size.
I'm tempted to get another one or one higher in the range. Eg the Megaboom3. They can also link in pairs.

The one I have at the moment is the wonderboom.

[Stabbsy]

I have an ultimate ears speaker, it was about £100 on Amazon, it's really good after using it for about 8 months.
Bluetooth works well, it's waterproof, bombproof, decent battery life and impressive sound quality for the small size.
I'm tempted to get another one or one higher in the range. Eg the Megaboom3. They can also link in pairs.

The one I have at the moment is the wonderboom.

We’re same - in fact we’ve got 2, although haven’t tried linking. A Megaboom 3 in the kitchen and a smaller one (Boom 2, I think) in the shed for board sessions. Had the smaller one for about 4 years and still going strong, despite living in a cold shed. There’s often some good deals if you shop around - we paid about £100 for the Megaboom (RRP £160) about 18 months ago.

[IanP]

As a number of other people I've generally had decent experiences with Bluetooth speakers.  Had UE and JBL ones years ago that are still usable, daughter has a UE Boom which has withstood 3 years of UE life and is still going strong. I've got a couple of Anker Soundcore Flare minis (think you can pick up for around £40 each), sound is pretty decent and not obviously much worse than the Boom, liked the ability to link them either for greater volume/stereo or to have music in multiple rooms.   

More recently I've gone down the Google speaker route indoors with 4 speakers around the house as a cheap multi room audio system but still use the bluetooth speakers outside/on holiday etc.

[Andy F]

I have an ultimate ears speaker, it was about £100 on Amazon, it's really good after using it for about 8 months.
Bluetooth works well, it's waterproof, bombproof, decent battery life and impressive sound quality for the small size.
I'm tempted to get another one or one higher in the range. Eg the Megaboom3. They can also link in pairs.

The one I have at the moment is the wonderboom.

We’re same - in fact we’ve got 2, although haven’t tried linking. A Megaboom 3 in the kitchen and a smaller one (Boom 2, I think) in the shed for board sessions. Had the smaller one for about 4 years and still going strong, despite living in a cold shed. There’s often some good deals if you shop around - we paid about £100 for the Megaboom (RRP £160) about 18 months ago.

I've got the Megablast and it's really great. Sound quality is excellent and it's got some serious punch for it's size. The Alexa feature is super handy, the only downside is you can't use it for phone calls. My eldest has my older  (about 4-5 year old) Megaboom 2 which is still going strong.