Not much space left on your office desk? Struggling for room in the kitchen? Missing your music? A Bluetooth speaker could be just what you need.
You’d be hard pushed to find a more talked about category in electronics of late than the Bluetooth speaker. As more and more of us use our mobile devices and laptops as digital sources, a portable speaker can be a great way to listen to your music in places where space for bulky electronics is an issue.
With new companies appearing almost overnight, flooding the market with new and unproven products, it’s reassuring to see the old-guard of hi-fi bringing their many years of experience to what is a very new field. One of the biggest and best, Monitor Audio are undoubtedly well placed to lead the way, and it’s no surprise to see them take away What Hi-Fi’s ‘Product of the Year’ award for best wireless speaker under £200 with our subject today, the S150.
“For the money, the Monitor Audio S150 is a remarkable wireless speaker.” What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision Award Winner 2015
Based around the design of its bigger brother, the S200, this S150 features a smaller cabinet but has all of the impressive attack and grip to boot. The cabinet design is the same, with its stylish curved top housing the power control and LED. Alongside the Bluetooth connectivity is an industry-standard 3.5mm jack connection, ideal for connecting older equipment or saving on battery if Bluetooth is too much of a drain on power.
With a total output of 40 watts, the S150’s C-CAM tweeter and twin 3” bass drive units are able to pack a substantial wallop that easily belies its diminutive size. The fact that the rear of the unit is also home to a passive radiator definitely helps give a satisfyingly weighty bass performance. All told, there’s not a great deal more that Monitor Audio could have squeezed in.
Compatible with Bluetooth 4.0 ‘aptX’, the Monitor Audio is able to dig out more information from your music when played from compatible devices. With sound that’s creeping ever-closer to that of CD, this latest iteration of Bluetooth narrows the gap between playback from separates and that of portable devices. And Monitor Audio haven’t stopped there. Their onboard Digital Signal Processor (DSP) features algorithms designed specifically for this speaker, and the S150 has been tuned to make the most of its speaker arrangement.
All of this means that the S150 is able to confidently perform across a wide range of genres, with Classical handled as deftly as House, with all the nuance required to make the most of the former when required, and all the punch and attack needed to get you up and out of your seat when the funky stuff comes on.
To find out more about the Monitor Audio S150, click here.
Author: Chris, Liverpool store
