Bluetooth Speaker suggestions please

[Oldboy]

Hello all,

Not entirely sure this is the best section for this but as it's nearest to HiFi and there is no dedicated section I decided to put it here in the hope that you good people could be of some help.

I'm looking for a good bluetooth speaker system for my kitchen so that I can stream music from my new LG G3 mobile phone and hopefully from my laptop too, I've looked at both the Bose Soundlink mini and Ultimate Ears Boom as potential solutions but both seem extremely small and I'm concerned the sound will be equally small from such a small speaker.

Would either of these be suitable to fill a rather small kitchen or should I be looking at something a little bigger for a fuller and more convincing sound or would either of those speakers I suggested be suitable? I would like a good room filling sound having previously used a Logitech S715i for kitchen duties but now I've moved away from apple devices I've sold it and want to replace it with something else more suitable so I can use my phone as a remote and to select my tunes.

Ideally aptx would be on board for better sound quality and I've noticed that neither the Bose or UE speakers carries the codec and with so many speakers out there I'm finding it hard to choose a suitable system, the only other speaker to come to mind was the Cambridge Audio Minx Go but with a new version now available and not yet being reviewed I've ruled it out for the time being. I have a budget of £200 but could stretch a little further for the best solution.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[Oldboy]

Bump. Anyone??

 

[nopiano]

Bump. Anyone??

Regret I cannot advise from direct experience. The closest in my experience and ownership is the AudioPro All room Air One, which has everything but bluetooth! It is rather good though.

Have you seen the suggestions and links here:-

http://www.whathifi.com/news/best-bluetooth-speakers-to-buy-in-2014

 

[richardw42]

I bought a Nad Viso 1 for my kitchen, to strem from my iphone or ipad using bt. Unfortunately I need to get round to sticking it on ebay.

As my kitchen is laid out, there's only one logical place to put it (It's pretty big). On a worktop next to a floorstanding oil fired boiler, which whenever it fired up interfered with the bt signal.

I can say that its the best portable (?) speaker I've owned, better than a B&W Zeppelin and the Sonos Play 3/5 Ive replaced it with the Bose Mini, as it can go on the windowsill, but its nowhere close. Its a quality product, but I genuinely feel it should really be under £100.

I bought my gf a very similar sized bt speaker for xmas by Edifier, it was less than £60 and admittedly not quite as good as the Bose isnt a million miles behind.

 

[richardw42]

Also if you don't want Airplay, go for the Mark 1 Viso as it can be got for about £150.

 

[bigboss]

I really liked Bose SoundLink III (not the mini one). Certainly one of the best Bluetooth speakers I've heard.

 

[bigboss]

Bear in mind that Bose have a 30-day no quibble returns policy. You can get the SoundLink Mini and demo it in your kitchen. If you think the sound is tiny, simply return it. No point in assuming and second guessing how it may sound.

 

[Oldboy]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and sorry for the late reply.

I finally got round to testing a few of the speakers out in person this week and all through my LG G3 phone so they were used with my own music and I have to say that I wasn't impressed by my choices. The UE Boom has virtually no bass but is good with treble and mid range and doesn't go anywhere near loud enough and the Bose Soundlink Mini is a great speaker with surprising bass from such a small device but again doesn't go loud enough.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to look at something bigger than these weedy speakers and the idea of a Nad Viso 1 appeals (be it the original or the newer AP version) and will be the next one I try to get an audition of but I'm now pretty sure I'm going to have to up my budget to get the kind of room filling sound I desire.

I was hoping the new Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100 might have been the solution I was looking for but the What Hi-Fi review doesn't paint the picture that it's a device I would be happy with and with the only stockist being Richer Sounds and my nearest store some 60 miles away I don't deem it worth my time and effort to go all that way to demo one so I'm left with the prospect of needing to double my budget to the £400 mark so with that in mind can you suggest something else to consider apart from the Nad Viso that I could demo please?

Thanks everyone for the responses and I'm so glad I demoed the UE Boom and Bose Soundlink Mini as I know now that neither are really suitable for my requirements.