‘Party’ speakers

[Harleyboy]

Hi,

I’m thinking of getting one of those single woofer party speakers as my current ipod docks (B and W Zeppelin) dont really cut it when were having a party. I am sure the quality is not great but volume possibly more important, especially when it’s outside.

They seem good value and convenient too with bluetooth for a couple hundred quid. Anyone got any experience or recommendations?

[vsonix]

Hard to advise without some rough idea of what models you're looking at, how big the space you have to fill is, if you have potential neighbour issues etc.

I'm not a big fan of all-in-one type units of any kind and know I could spend a budget of £200 on building a banging system that will happily rock a large-ish party room just using stuff from eBay and facebook buy and sell groups - for for example I recently picked up a pair of Eltax floorstanders in perfect condition for £50, combined it with a couple of good quality but cheap Chinese power amps from eBay (£25 the pair) and matched them with a 12" sub from a home cinema setup. Total cost including cables, less than £150 but the sound quality and presence is epic.
Then again you might just want something convenient all in one box lol

[Harleyboy]

Yeah, i had some epic Mordaunt Short floor standers a few years ago but times change and i downsized! Space wise, our main room is about 40’ long and open to the garden. A one box solution that can literally be wheeled outside is a lot easier than buying separate kit and setting up etc. Not really looked at specific models just a general ebay browse but not sure if total crap!

[vsonix]

All depends what you want to listen to.I love house, techno, D&B etc so I like a system that has a full amount of thump and sub that can be felt but not have to be super-loud, whereas a lot of all-in-one things are aimed at kids into pop and hip hop, stuff with vocals etc so it's more about perceived loudness than full, smooth, powerful sound.

[C&C]

Harleyboy said:

Yeah, i had some epic Mordaunt Short floor standers a few years ago but times change and i downsized! Space wise, our main room is about 40’ long and open to the garden. A one box solution that can literally be wheeled outside is a lot easier than buying separate kit and setting up etc. Not really looked at specific models just a general ebay browse but not sure if total crap!

Do you have a (downsized) hifi in the main room still?

If so, another option may be to install a set of all weather speakers on the external wall just outside the (I assume) patio doors to the garden, and run it from the hifi indoors. No need to wheel a separate box outside, and also one thing less to store when you're not using it.

We have a hifi in the room that opens onto the patio, and added a separate amp to a line level output from the pre-amp to that system, then installed a pair of B&W WM6 outdoor speakers on the wall outside. Basically they then play whatever music you're playing on the hifi inside, but you can independently adjust the volume. Can't fault the speakers - they've been installed for over 11 years and still work perfectly.

[TheRainMaker]

I would get something like this

https://www.studiospares.com/Headphones-and-Speake...

[rxe]

I have a JBL "Xtreme" that makes an absurd amount of noise for a very long time on a single charge. You can chain them together if you want more coverage. It's not "hifi" but you can get it wet, it sounds good enough, and if someone is worrying about "dynamic resolution etc" at a party, they are dull.

Some of the range can be thrown in the pool if you are having an underwater party.

[budgie smuggler]

Sony make bluetooth speakers for this purpose.

I don't own one, but they use them for classes at my gym and they seem fine. Pretty loud and quality is adequate.

I think it's this...

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/hi-fi-systems/g...

[vsonix]

rxe said:

if someone is worrying about "dynamic resolution etc" at a party, they are dull.

I suppose it depends how central to your party the music is - is it just background muzak or are many of your guests present because of the fact you have garnered a rep for having good DJs and playing good music at your shindigs.
It's important to have stuff that can cope with the kind of music you want. If you're playing electronic/dance music ideally you want to be able to feel the thump but still hold a conversation over the top without shouting, and in general, cheaper systems aimed at people listening to rock and pop tend to have too much mid and boxy bottom end that gets louder but loses quality as it does so.

[speedking31]

The Gadget Show did a review, might be worth watching.

[LotusMartin]

After a party nightmare last weekend with a couple of Bose Revolve+ speakers (really let us down ) I'm looking for something a bit more beefy We used spotify on an iPad which worked reasonably well - but the speakers were not enough and once the batteries died they wouldn't charge/hold pairing which sucked - ended up plugging in my daughters guitar amp which just about got us through.

Room at the moment is a triple garage sized (375sq ft + 12ft high) stone room with vaulted ceiling but I'm hoping what I buy will suffice for our 'Party Barn' project, when we convert the 800 sq ft (20ft high) threshing barn. both are mostly stone/concrete with tin/wood backed roof

No neighbours within a mile + so that's no issue - don't really want bleeding eardrums though!

I know little/nothing about audio - I'm guessing I need 2 fairly big speakers (size is no issue) and maybe a sub plus amps?

I'm hoping to keep it to a couple of hundred using ebay/facebook ads but no idea what I'm looking for.

Any pointers?

[Gary C]

if you can afford it, lots of Sonos speakers around the garden give great, highly synced sound. You can fill the garden with sound without having to have one speaker stupidly loud and as each speaker is perfectly synched with the others you dont get odd effects.

Only problem is, they dont do weatherproof units, so you have to run about getting them in if it looks like rain.

There is the Sonance outdoor speakers I believe but not looked at them. Think they need the Sonos amp rather than running on the Sonos wifi network.

[LotusMartin]

Gary C said:

if you can afford it, lots of Sonos speakers around the garden give great, highly synced sound. You can fill the garden with sound without having to have one speaker stupidly loud and as each speaker is perfectly synched with the others you dont get odd effects.

Only problem is, they dont do weatherproof units, so you have to run about getting them in if it looks like rain.

There is the Sonance outdoor speakers I believe but not looked at them. Think they need the Sonos amp rather than running on the Sonos wifi network.

I think the Bose Revolve+ paired in party mode should suffice for the garden, I'm looking more for an indoor 'Disco' setup.

[Gary C]

LotusMartin said:

Gary C said:

if you can afford it, lots of Sonos speakers around the garden give great, highly synced sound. You can fill the garden with sound without having to have one speaker stupidly loud and as each speaker is perfectly synched with the others you dont get odd effects.

Only problem is, they dont do weatherproof units, so you have to run about getting them in if it looks like rain.

There is the Sonance outdoor speakers I believe but not looked at them. Think they need the Sonos amp rather than running on the Sonos wifi network.

I think the Bose Revolve+ paired in party mode should suffice for the garden, I'm looking more for an indoor 'Disco' setup.

Sonos in party mode works great indoors too