Awesome Speakers

The Lenovo 700 Ultraportable Bluetooth Speaker is as thin and light as a smartphone. It’s just 0.43″ thick yet packs a battery that lasts up to 8h. It’s compatible with Siri and Google Assistant and pairs via Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and USB-C. Drops 3/2019 for $149. More here.

This high-fidelity audio system offers everything you need to fill a room with big and bold sound. It’s got six drivers, including dual 8″ subwoofers, 280 total watts of amplification, has a built-in AM/FM radio, and supports Bluetooth, 3.5mm, and digital optical inputs.

Klipsch’s stylish The Three Bluetooth speaker now comes with Google Assistant. Use it for voice control, connect to your smart devices and search for the weather, news and more. It still has the same room-filling stereo sound and mid-century modern design.

Designed by Jose Levy for Lexon, the Prisme is a Bluetooth speaker with a unique triangular case. Its prism shape makes it perfect for mounting vertically into corners. You can also mount it horizontally. Two units can be paired for stereo output.

If Porsche Design’s 911 GT3 Soundbar is too raw for your taste, check out the new Black Edition. The welding seams and uneven surfaces on the silencer and tailpipes have been smoothed out, and a matte black powder coating has been applied by hand.

Crosley goes old school with this a portable retro tape deck. It also has an AM/FM radio as well as access to two short wave radio bands. It can also play music from USB drives or an SD card. It also has a record feature, a built-in microphone and a headphone jack.

LG’s WK9 is a smart speaker with a built-in display and support for Google Chromecast and Google Assistant, so you can search and access your smart devices via voice commands. It also has a camera for video calls, and supports streaming music via Bluetooth.

The Celtrix is a tiny device with lots of functions. It’s a 6200mAH power bank, a Bluetooth speaker, and a wireless storage device with 128GB storage, expandable with a microSD card. It also lets you use a second SIM card with your phone via its app and can act as a hotspot.

Anker improves on its popular Nebula Capsule portable projector. It now projects a 720p screen, has Google Chromecast and Google Assistant built-in, charges fast via USB-C, and has 1-second autofocus. It still lets you access Android apps and plug-in via HDMI and USB.

YouTuber Jisaku kōbō recently showed us how to upgrade cheap speakers with custom wood enclosures. He’s back to show how a pair of glass fish bowls can work with off-the-shelf speaker drivers. Every time he drilled into the glass, we cringed a little.

Some of the best bookshelf speakers we’ve ever heard, the A300s push out tremendous volume with crystal clarity. They feature built-in amplification, Bluetooth, RCA, XLR, and optical inputs, and punch out frequencies from 40Hz to 40kHz. Read our full review on Technabob.

Nexi Tech shows us how to make some truly unique speakers using value-priced parts. The electronics are set into organic looking enclosures designed by Ondra Chotovinsky. The 3D printer he used is the $500 Creality3D CR 10S, which makes great big prints cheap.

Devialet’s one-of-a-kind Phantom speakers are as huge as they are pricey. But the entry-level Phantom Reactor is at least within a mortal’s reach. The speaker packs the same room-filling, distortion-free sound as its bigger brothers, but in a smaller and less costly package.

Marshall’s Kilburn II portable Bluetooth speaker has a multi-directional sound design, allowing it to output audio from both its front and back sids. Inside the water-resistant case is a 20W woofer and a pair of 8W tweeters. It lasts up to 20h per charge.

JBL revisits one of its most famous and bestselling speakers, updating its cabinet and drivers. The L100 Classic looks strikingly like the L100 bookshelf speakers from the ’70s, but it has an improved tweeter and dome. Available with an orange, black or blue grille.

Soundwave toy inferior, DIY Soundwave boombox superior. I Like to Make Stuff made a boombox-sized Bluetooth speaker that looks like his favorite Transformer, the Decepticon’s Soundwave. As he said, you can choose to tackle the project in a simpler way than he did.

Vizio’s 8-channel home theater sound system supports Dolby Atmos at a competitive price. Its 36″ sound bar has upward-firing drivers for immersive sound. It also has Chromecast built-in and works with Google Assistant. A 46″, 10-channel version is coming soon for $999.

Bang & Olufsen’s typically stylish Besound Edge is a disc-shaped dual sided speaker that has a 10″ woofer as well as a 4″ driver and a 0.75″ tweeter on either side. Its volume can be adjusted by a remote control or by rocking the speaker. Drops 11/2018 for $3500.

This compact Bluetooth speaker screws onto the top of an empty plastic soda bottle, turning it into an acoustic enclosure, and increasing its bass response and volume up to three times. Permafrost’s speaker recently had a successful run on Kickstarter and should be available soon.

Part of Bose’s new line of smart speakers, the Bose Home Speaker 500 supports Amazon’s Alexa, so you can fire up your favorite music or podcasts using your voice. It can stream music over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and it also has a 3.5mm aux input.

DIY Perks shows us how to make a beautiful, vintage-looking Bluetooth speaker and LED lamp using cheap parts and electronics. There is a bit of 3D printing and soldering involved though. If you’re up to the task, check out the video’s description for the relevant links.

Master Replicas Group is making an officially licensed 1:1 scale prop replica of the face of 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s HAL 9000. The replica also doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. If you’re willing to pay extra, there’s a variant that comes with a voice-interactive wall-mounted console.

Pirelli makes half-scale replicas of its P Zero F1 tires for car builders to use in wind tunnel tests. Luxury audio maker iXOOST worked with Pirelli to make Bluetooth speakers that use the replica tires as their case. It has a 25mm silk tweeter, a 100mm woofer… and rides on an aluminum rim.