Here is the latest offering from iHome and that too just when you thought that the world of speaker systems is finally stuck in a rut or has been thwarted by Bose. This is the iH51, priced at $150.This is basically a pair of satellite speakers couples with a subwoofer and with an additional iPod alarm clock-slash-radio-slash-dock charging base. The iH51 delivers a much superior experience than the iH70.  

The iH51 is a streamlined version of the iH52 which was released by iHome almost two years ago. At that time, iHome had bunched together similar parts- a subwoofer, twin speakers, an iPod clock base and remote control for the price of $200 and which became quite popular. The iH51 downsizes these parts to a little extent. The twin-driver satellites are now made available in a 2.25” single-driver version. The subwoofer is 4” and the iPod dock has a comfortable 15 rather than cumbersome 18 buttons.

  Read the rest of this entry »

Unlike earlier, this time around Apple has left the dock out of the box purchase. Instead it is now offering an updated official alternative, the iPhone 3G Dock for a price of $29.

 Like the earlier docking stations released by it, the iPhone 3G Dock by Apple is again made of plain white plastic with a rubber lining at the bottom. This allows you to stand your iPhone 3G on any surface that is flat. Instead of using the device’s headphone port, you can now use the Dock Connector port for outputting audio. Still present is the pass-through Dock Connector function that facilitates connection to the iPhone 3G’s USB cable (included in the pack) and wall adapter. It has been provided with special ventilation for uninterrupted speaker phone use. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year there was much excitement about Logitech’s release of Pure-Fi Anywhere as a sort of second iteration of mm50, a portable iPod speaker with an in-built rechargeable battery.Pure-Fi was an improvement on the old design with better looks and a better remote control. However, as was the case with the other speakers available in market at that time, Pure-Fi too lacked support for the interference-generating Apple’s iPhone.

 The new Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 for iPod and iPhone counters the problem of the droning buzz in the iPhone with a shield-replacement. Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 greatly resembles its predecessor. You have an iPod/iPhone dock, four speaker drivers, a 10 hour rechargeable battery, a 13.35” wide, 3.7” tall and 1.6” deep black or white plastic enclosure and a clear plastic layer on the front, much like Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the power of two at its best and most important of all-at it’s cheapest! It is rare that a relatively new and much lower priced speaker system is able to almost ‘embarrass’ its expensive competitor when it comes to how much more it can deliver and at half the price. The Jensen JiMS-525i does just that, putting the Polk’s similar i-Sonic ES2 to shame.

 The Jensen JiMS-525i is a docking station that is compatible with both the iPod and iPhone. The competently priced speaker system is well endowed with features with HD Radio and AM and FM tuning. Also included is a video output option. The design of the system although conservative is nevertheless appealing to the eye. The user-friendly Jensen has remote control buttons that are easy to figure out. Even the HD Radio is easier to tune on this unlike its earlier released competitor. It also includes AV cables and dual arms. Quiet a bargain!  Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it, ‘Wireless’ these days seems to be a buzz word. Our society is a society on the go that demands all their creature comforts in true fashion. We want our internet, our photos, and our music when we want it and where we want it. For many people that means as they move at a breakneck pace to get from one place to the other they still want to have their electronics. Music and the iPod are the most recognizable forms of technology consumers need and must take with them. The CES 2008 figured as the place to get information about wireless iPod speakers and the latest technology. Read the rest of this entry »

They really are among the most popular iPod speakers on the block. They small, they’re compact and you can carry them around in your hand so no wonder everyone just loves them!

JBL’s On Stage Micro, the portable iPod docking sound system means you can enjoy the music from your iPod anywhere and everywhere and guess what? The audio quality is just great! What’s more, you can use these speakers to listen to CD players, MP3, laptops and PCs and satellite radio thanks to its stereo mini jack connection. The great thing about these speakers is that the sound is absolutely clear and you also get the most amazing bass. This is all thanks to the IR remote and the two Odyssey transducers. Read the rest of this entry »

Every which way you turn, there’s a speaker that’s just popped up for the iPod. However, never mind just how many speakers are launched, there are very few like the XtremeMac Tango X2. These are speakers in another league altogether and as far as the others are concerned, there is no competition at this level.

When it comes to sound quality or to the finish and fit, there are really very few to take on the XtremeMac Tango X2. This speaker set was revealed for the first time at the CES 2008 and the company is justifiably proud of its latest creation, specially designed for the iPod. Read the rest of this entry »

The BlueAnt M1 speakers are touted as the most ingenious Bluetooth Stereo Speakers on the planet. CES Las Vegas 2008 is the roll out platform for these phenomenal speakers. The BlueAnt M1 gives hi-fi enthusiasts the quality sound they have longed for. Engineered to enhance the lower midrange and maintain the crisp, clear high frequencies, these speakers provide music lovers with what they crave - detailed reproduction of any musical form. The secret is BlueAnt’s anti-distortion circuitry power subwoofer. Read the rest of this entry »

Speakers like never before were introduced by Sierra Sound in the August of 2007. The attempt was to find a happy merger between new portable speakers and the traditional audiophile speakers. Their idea was that the speakers should allow listeners to access their digital music and enjoy the experience of dynamic sound in a user friendly but totally integrated manner.

A dozen tests conducted in a lab have come to the conclusion that Sierra Sound is by far the best in iPod speakers you could possibly get in the market today. The iN studio 5.0 is a smart speaker system and is undeniably the best available today. The tests showed that the iN Studio speakers 5.0 not only sent out sound as it should sound but it held the quality through an entire range of sounds with no breaks in bass levels and no treble tinny sounds. Read the rest of this entry »

The Geneva Sound System has its good qualities and its bad. The good includes that this multi-purpose home stereo holds an iPod dock, CD player, and FM radio along with a large furniture-grade wood cabinet with a perfect gloss of paint. It has two line inputs, bass and treble controls, a decent stereo separation and a full-size remote control. However, it’s extremely expensive, has no digital inputs and is about the size of a microwave. Read the rest of this entry »

The iH9 is a reasonably-priced, feature-laden bedside clock that sounds, looks and feels good enough to be worth $100. Sure, it wouldn’t monopolize the market, and displace XtremeMac’s more luxurious and more expensive Luna, but its price does prove a point, as does the product itself.

The iH9 comes equipped with 2 pre-installed AA batteries, three dock adapters, a newly massive wall power-adapter, an Infrared remote control, an auxiliary audio cable, AM and FM antennas, as well as, an 18-button remote. The controls include a full iPod track, repeat, shuffle, and navigation controls, access to all of iH9’s features. And a snooze button that is programmable to feature through 1-60 minute intervals. So if you need to snooze for an hour, and have your dreams interrupted again, voila! Read the rest of this entry »

It was bound to be introduced at one point or the other. The Blue Raven Maestro 1070 Apple iPod Speaker System is sleek, stylish and merely retails for $200. It is suggestive of the Apple iPod Hi-Fi and features a 12-button remote control, an auxiliary cable, and a video-out port. This allows users to control iPod features with the remote. So you can sit back and use it, without having to get up too often. It even enables a user to use the system with other audio devices thanks to the cable, while the video port allows you to play iPod videos onto your television screens.

The Blue Raven Maestro 1070 also has backlit speaker controls, a five-inch center subwoofer, two three-inch speakers, 70 watts of total power, and an iPod dock that is more than universal. Read the rest of this entry »

Anthony Gallo Acoustics’ Nucleus Reference 5LS speakers would cost you around $122 per inch. And yes, it’s not a small little speaker. These ‘little fellas’ are six and a half feet tall. So now at $122 per inch, it comes up to around $19,000 for the pair. And yes! Each cabinet has eight mid-range and seven tweeters up-front and 12 subwoofers at the back. Sound worth it? Well, let’s ask your neighbors.

Well, we aren’t going to the butcher’s shop to chop up the big guy based on how much we got and take it home in bits. We got to take the whole guy home. These $19,000 speakers would make many people feel like midgets. Yes, the specifications are ‘mind-blowing’ for all these kinds of high level audio kits. This is something that any audiophile would sit and drool over and wish he could plug up the monster to a tiny iPod Shuffle, and wonder what the neighborhood would feel. Well, let’s hope the neighborhood has good taste in music and sound, and isn’t filled with insomniacs with shotguns who got to wake up early in the morning. Well, not like anyone could ‘hear’ those shotgun blasts. Read the rest of this entry »

Was the Audioengine a mere one-off? A one-hit wonder? ‘Of course not!’ and that you’d hear from the speakers themselves, when you plug them up, sit down and wonder whether your eardrums can really go pop!

Audioengine 2, is a notch up, powered with twin speakers, and is accessible in lustrous black and white, is about one-third the size of the Audioengine 5. These speakers are top-notch quality and a surprise by itself, considering that these little guys can really fill a room full of music. Read the rest of this entry »

Klipsch designed the iFi™ system to make the fashionable Apple® iPod® experience sound even better than it does. And with the quality of music in mind, it has just done exactly that. With the iPod-dockable home stereo system available, the award-winning iFi is apt for use in a den, bedroom, office or a dorm room. The sub/sat setup includes a dock cradle and a long-range radio frequency remote.

It is designed perfectly, incorporating an audiophile-quality performance with brilliant aesthetics, making sure that technology can keep up all of our listening habits, and our prior possessions. Read the rest of this entry »