[aye5882]

hey all. i was wondering if any of you know a good pair of portable speakers for the ipod 5G. the price point is ~$100 and it can't be too big since i'll be packing it in a suitcase when i leave the country (this fri). i've checked out all those speakers they have at the apple store, the jbl's and altec's but they're just way too expensive for me. i just need something that sounds pretty good that will fill the room.

i just bought the Memorex iMove Mi3005 Boombox with Remote Control from target for $100 but i'm a little disappointed w/ their sound. is this the best i can get for $100??

i'm also considering buying some computer speakers and hooking up my ipod to them... but then again, the subwoofer is pretty bulky.

any info would be great... thanks!

 

[pds6]

Even without a price limit, there is No quality sounding "suitcase portable" speaker system. One inch speakers just don't make it!

p.s.: iLounge has a good review of speakers for the iPod.

 

[Echopac]

When I travel, I take the following, are great for a hotel room, less than 100.00, and very compact, AAA's, and sound>>>> plenty of imagery and depth. They are good laptop speakers or iPod line out, pocket dock or other.
http://www.creative.com/products/pro...9&product=9022

Available at Wal-mart for 69.00

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2590407

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Echopac When I travel, I take the following, are great for a hotel room, less than 100.00, and very compact, AAA's, and sound>>>> plenty of imagery and depth. They are good laptop speakers or iPod line out, pocket dock or other. http://www.creative.com/products/pro...9&product=9022 Available at Wal-mart for 69.00 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2590407

I use something similar: link.

$69.99 from Newegg.

They're not audiophile quality by any means, but they are a lot better than my laptop speakers.

 

[nsjong]

There are a bunch of selections at audiocubes.com

So you can see which one looks good for your needs.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Echopac When I travel, I take the following, are great for a hotel room, less than 100.00, and very compact, AAA's, and sound>>>> plenty of imagery and depth. They are good laptop speakers or iPod line out, pocket dock or other. http://www.creative.com/products/pro...9&product=9022 Available at Wal-mart for 69.00 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2590407

I use those very same ones. Although I picked my pair up for ~20$ new and sealed at a very nice closeout. Great sound and features. Dual A/C and battery and decent sound. Great build too.

 

[Overheat]

The Cyruslink Linkdock is meant to be one of the best iPod docking units around for that price

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Echopac When I travel, I take the following, are great for a hotel room, less than 100.00, and very compact, AAA's, and sound>>>> plenty of imagery and depth. They are good laptop speakers or iPod line out, pocket dock or other. http://www.creative.com/products/pro...9&product=9022 Available at Wal-mart for 69.00 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2590407

I also recommend the Creative Travelsounds. They offer great sound for a small environment (i.e. hotel room) and fit into a suticase without any problems. I have also used them in outdoor environments such as on the beach, camping and in the park and it they sound great.

 

[<GNEFF> killbot]

If you are willing to go up a bit in size the Tivoli PAL has a line-in and the sound is mighty fine.

 

[Blueiz]

I have the ones at this link... best sound I have heard and I've listened to them all (or so it seems).... I really am amazed at the sound quality... They are a little larger than most, but I have no trouble carrying them in my luggage and I travel alot.... Costco usually has them for under $100...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855999721

 

[DJ_JonnyV]

Funny the timing of this thread as I'm leaving this weekend on a trip to Hawaii, and wanted to bring the 5G along and a portable speaker rig for some tunes while hanging out in the condo we're staying at. In a beer-induced impulse buy, I ordered a JBL On-Stage II directly from Harman Audio (my first mistake as this can be purchased just about anywhere else for closer to a $100 than their MSRP and 2nd mistake was ponying up for overnight shipping when it's widely available at BB and other stores). Fired it up last night and it sounded decent for what it is. Mids and highs especially, sound pretty clean, but there really is no low end at al with this thing. It's a nice, tight little package, and the RF remote is a nice touch, but the sound was somewhat lacking in overall sound quality.

Soooo, I picked up a Logitech mm50 today at Costco for about $75ish, and this baby has it hands-down over the JBL. First, from a features standpoint it still has a remote (IR instead of RF), internal rechargeable battery, 3-D sound option (more later), and a nice carrying case. Overalll it's a a little bigger than the JBL. But, really where it's better is the sound. Just doing some quick side-by-side tests (all music is 256 MP3), the mm50 blows it away for the most part. Depending upon what I'm listening to, the 3-D sound enhanceer needs to be turned off. On hard rock (e.g. Audioslave) and techno (e.g. Basement Jaxx) the 3-D adds some distortion to the low end, but on some hip-hop tracks I played, it rounded out the low end nicely. The 3-D can be controlled from the remote btw. It's a much fuller sound than the JBL. JBL might be a littler better on the highs, but that's about it.

One other thing to note - I recently picked up a Griffin hard case shell for my ipod, and it docked fine in the JBL with it on, but I had to remove it when docked to the mm50 FWIW. mm50 is a keeper!!!

 

[4metta]

Take your iPod inside Best Buy. (Just get it stickered at the door) and connect it to all the speakers they have on display so you can hear them all. They have quite a selection.

 

[DJ_JonnyV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta Take your iPod inside Best Buy. (Just get it stickered at the door) and connect it to all the speakers they have on display so you can hear them all. They have quite a selection.

Excellent advice!!!

The more listen to this little mm50, the more I like it. Is it audiophile quality? No. But, it works very well for what it is, and has some great functionality...really digging the rechargeable battery today when packing things up around the house.

 

[nelamvr6]

I'm actually more interested in portable speakers that don't require an iPod, without an iPod cradle built in. Unless these speakers can also accept other inputs.

I frequently use my iPod as a source, but I'd like to also use my computer for streaming Internet radio.

 

[DJ_JonnyV]

I was at a BB out here in CA today (on vacation) and they had a Monitor speaker unit and Mirage unit that looked quite interesting. I know each's regular speaker lines are well-regarded. I know the Mirage has a line in as well as the ipod dock, but not sure about the Monitor. Athena has an offering now as well, and should have some of the same features (don't know about sound differences) as Mirage as they are out of the same company bascially.