Best audio quality speaker under 400€

[Roms]

Hello,

First of all, sorry for my english. I need advices to choose a home speaker under 400 € with this criteria :

- Audio quality is my main point. I am not an hardcore bass lover, I am looking for something well balanced to listen every kind of music (I can listen Mozart and five minutes later Muse, AC/DC, ambient chill etc ...). I understand that I will not have a sound quality of very expensive speakers, but my goal is to find the best quality possible under 400 €.

- Portable : the speaker will be always in my home and garden, so I will not go outside with it but I will like to moove it in the house, reason why I will prefer one with battery (at first I thinked about Stanmore 3, Sonos Era 100 or Audio pro c10 MKII, but after thinking I prefer a portable one).

- And powerfull enough, I will at least 60 watts.

- I don't neead any voice assistant or things like that, for me it is only music.

One month ago I bought a Teufel Boomster, and I was really happy with it, the sound quality was really goog (I precise I am looking for sounf quality, but I am not an audiophile "professional"), unfortunatly it appear to have some build dysfonction (sometimes bass just "disappeared" and comme back few minutes later, and the battery had a default, I just can listen music at 50% volume about 4 hours ...), so I have to return it. ANd I don't want to buy it again, because If I can have more power it will be great. But without these dysfunction, it will be a really good speaker.

So now I am a little loste and I don't know what to buy, I am thinking about :

- JBL boombox 3 : it seems to be awesome when I read review on all points, but if we speak only about sound quality (not power, or bass boom, but really about quality), is it good ? My only concern is that it is not really "interior looking", but I can deal with that if the rest is good.

- UE Hyperboom : again it seems really good, but I read it is a bit "outdated" compared to the JBL (and more pricey in the same time) ?

- Marshall Tufton : this one for me is the opposite of the JBL, I really love the look, but does it sounds good ? And maybe it is a bit outdated too ? And my last concern is about the one year garantee, I read that some people have problems just after that, don't know if it true however.

What do you think about these models ? Or maybe have you other ideas ? Thank you a lot.

 

[delta76]

Elac DBR62 can be had for 350EUR quite often. don't think you get better than that. look for an used AVR in your local market and you're golden. it's probably as good as it gets under 400€. You would have to pay significantly more to have noticeable difference

 

[staticV3]

Elac DBR62 can be had for 350EUR quite often. don't think you get better than that. look for an used AVR in your local market and you're golden. it's probably as good as it gets under 400€. You would have to pay significantly more to have noticeable difference

Maybe read past the first paragraph. OP wants a single box that's battery-powered and portable.

 

[Roms]

Thank you a lot for your help, but I just check, it is not "portable" (no battery + 2 speakers), It seems really good as book shelve speakers, but I would like to move my speaker often in the house and the garden.

 

[staticV3]

@Roms I'd recommend the Vifa Helsinki or Vifa Oslo.

 

[kemmler3D]

I used to be in the portable speaker business myself.

Other than our own flagship product, the Vifa and (believe it or not) House of Marley speakers always made the best impressions in our subjective testing. I'd put HOM over Vifa based on my past experiences, but haven't checked out the Vifa line in a while. For sheer listenability I would actually recommend the Bag of Riddim 2 or similar if you can find it.

The only speaker that ever frightened me, as a competitor, was an Anker prototype under their Zolo brand. It sounded seriously good in-room. But I only ever saw it at (IIRC) CES and I don't think it ever hit the market.

 

[staticV3]

The Harman Kardon Onyx line might be a good option as well.
Alan Ross did a nice review of the entire series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eAoQWSnms1M

 

[Deleted member 48726]

The Harman Kardon Onyx line might be a good option as well.
Alan Ross did a nice review of the entire series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eAoQWSnms1M

Have heard that one in a store. It sounds very good!

 

[kemmler3D]

Good call, the Onyx Studio has consistently had good reviews although I don't know if I ever demoed one in the office.

 

[Roms]

Thank you a lot for your answer (this forum is really active, it is pleasure).

I checked the Vifas, but I don"t know why here in France they are expensive, and more than 400 €. And I am not sure if they have more than 60 watts.

I have seen the Onyx before, I like the design and I have seen ggod review about son quality. I forget it because it is 50 watts "only", but maybe I have to think, if the sound is so good maybe I can deal with the power. After all, the Boomster is 42 watts, and it was "enough" for our 45m² living room, I just would have like to get more power, but sound quality is the first point. Just one point that aware me is that lot of review say that the Onyx have lot of directivity in the sound (you nee to face the speaker to have best experience), I don't know if it is a problem or not. But the price is really Nice (250 €).

I also see that Harman Kardon will launch in september a new go + play model, and the old one had good review too, so maybe could be interesting (more power than the Onyx).

I will check HOM in detail, but I can say that I already like their "wood" design.

 

[kemmler3D]

Thank you a lot for your answer (this forum is really active, it is pleasure).

I checked the Vifas, but I don"t know why here in France they are expensive, and more than 400 €. And I am not sure if they have more than 60 watts.

I have seen the Onyx before, I like the design and I have seen ggod review about son quality. I forget it because it is 50 watts "only", but maybe I have to think, if the sound is so good maybe I can deal with the power. After all, the Boomster is 42 watts, and it was "enough" for our 45m² living room, I just would have like to get more power, but sound quality is the first point. Just one point that aware me is that lot of review say that the Onyx have lot of directivity in the sound (you nee to face the speaker to have best experience), I don't know if it is a problem or not. But the price is really Nice (250 €).

I also see that Harman Kardon will launch in september a new go + play model, and the old one had good review too, so maybe could be interesting (more power than the Onyx).

I will check HOM in detail, but I can say that I already like their "wood" design.

I can give you one piece of strong advice about portable speakers. The watt numbers are worse than useless, ignore them. Whether they are accurate, made up entirely, or just inflated (usually the latter two) they don't tell you anything about how loud the speaker goes. (they never mention sensitivity, do they??) My company was fairly honest in terms of wattage, but our competitors were lying about watts so much that my CEO eventually decided to publish peak numbers only.

If you can, find some independent tests that measure SPL and/or frequency response, that's the only thing that will really help you decide other than listening for yourself.

Even in the hi-fi world, watts don't tell you too much about loudness. A large horn speaker like the Klipschorn can do >100dB SPL with around 1 watt. A small inefficient bookshelf speaker may only do about 83dB with 1 watt... a difference of around 10x SPL.

Watts are used as a proxy for loudness because consumers are trained to look for that number, and they feel that they understand there is a direct relationship between watts and loudness. Unfortunately that is only true for a single speaker, you can't compare volume across speakers via watts.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Just for clarity, 60W is only slightly louder than 45W. You won't notice a 25% increase in volume.

 

[DSJR]

There are various ways to trick the unwary as to power output. My little (gifted) Technics HD70 mini system amp was rated at 60WPC, but this was flat out with 10% distortion! The French catalogue power output spec (which seems to be into a 6 ohm load ad at 1% distortion) is 45WPC so into the traditional UK spec at 8 ohms and 1%, I'd put it at 35 - 40WPC absolute maximum, which is enough into the tiny speakers it came with and the low to moderate volumes it would usually be played at. I've been enjoying it in the second system playing BBC CD audio books which are several discs long - load up the CD changer, press play and off we go It still works too although the display is fading a little which could be a couple of small capacitors 'driving' the display illumination, I'm not sure. It's too well presented really and operates and feels like something far 'posher' than it really was back then.

The previous owner (not an audio chap at all) replaced it with a 'Tenor' all-in-one box from the John Lewis chain here in the UK. He likes it a lot apparently.

With these all-in-one style systems which are popular today, I'd suggest there's no substitute to actually listening to them if at all possible. Is there a big 'warehouse' style of hypermarket locally to you that may sell one or two of these?

I don't mean to confuse further, but on the used market, it may be possible to get a nice condition B&O 'Beosound Century' machine. I only mention it because it DID sound very nice indeed (I think the built in speakers were active) and many/most we sold had the carry-handle/aerial fitted).

 

[SKBubba]

I have JBL Extreme and Marshall Stockwell. Between the two, I prefer the Marshall.

The Marshall is smaller, but it has knobs for volume, bass and treble. The sound is more "natural". It also has an undeniable cool factor.

The JBL plays louder and has more bass, but it's actually too much bass and gets "boomy". And because it doesn't have bass and trebel controls you have to eq it from the source. Plus the off/on and volume controls are molded in to the housing and are the same color, making them hard to see. Also, they are hard to press and operate erratically, making it hard to control volume and easier to accidentally put it on blast. The only good thing about the design is that it's probably a little more more weatherproof.

Battery life and charging times are excellent for both.

If I have to buy another portable, it will probably be a bigger Marshall.

P.S. The Klipsch Groove XXL looks interesting.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Thank you a lot for your answer (this forum is really active, it is pleasure).

I checked the Vifas, but I don"t know why here in France they are expensive, and more than 400 €. And I am not sure if they have more than 60 watts.

I have seen the Onyx before, I like the design and I have seen ggod review about son quality. I forget it because it is 50 watts "only", but maybe I have to think, if the sound is so good maybe I can deal with the power. After all, the Boomster is 42 watts, and it was "enough" for our 45m² living room, I just would have like to get more power, but sound quality is the first point. Just one point that aware me is that lot of review say that the Onyx have lot of directivity in the sound (you nee to face the speaker to have best experience), I don't know if it is a problem or not. But the price is really Nice (250 €).

I also see that Harman Kardon will launch in september a new go + play model, and the old one had good review too, so maybe could be interesting (more power than the Onyx).

I will check HOM in detail, but I can say that I already like their "wood" design.

I wouldn't chase power figures when buying such a portable unit. Most of them are bogus anyway or measured with 10 % distortion..

Have you considered B&O? They make great portable speakers.

 

[StefanSweden]

Perhaps Audio Pro has something you like?

 

[kemmler3D]

I have JBL Extreme and Marshall Stockwell. Between the two, I prefer the Marshall.

The Marshall is smaller, but it has knobs for volume, bass and treble. The sound is more "natural". It also has an undeniable cool factor.

The JBL plays louder and has more bass, but it's actually too much bass and gets "boomy". And because it doesn't have bass and trebel controls you have to eq it from the source. Plus the off/on and volume controls are molded in to the housing and are the same color, making them hard to see. Also, they are hard to press and operate erratically, making it hard to control volume and easier to accidentally put it on blast. The only good thing about the design is that it's probably a little more more weatherproof.

Battery life and charging times are excellent for both.

If I have to buy another portable, it will probably be a bigger Marshall.

P.S. The Klipsch Groove XXL looks interesting.

The Klipsch looks suspiciously similar to a unit they sold back in 2013-2014 or so that ran on D batteries. If they haven't improved the sound since then, I would not buy it.

 

[SKBubba]

The Klipsch looks suspiciously similar to a unit they sold back in 2013-2014 or so that ran on D batteries. If they haven't improved the sound since then, I would not buy it.

Yeah, haven't heard them, just going on specs. Wonder if they even make them? I'd be curious enough to give them a listen if I ever saw them at Best Buy or something.

(Also, it appears that bluetooth speaker batteries are thankfully a solved problem. No more D cells! I won't miss them.)

 

[kemmler3D]

Klipsch may make their own BT speakers, or at least, if they make any of their plastic speakers, there is no reason they couldn't make those ones. They've been doing the Promedia 2.1 speakers for 20-some years now, so I would be surprised if they couldn't get a mold for that speaker together themselves.

Now, I can't speak to what may have been outsourced when, but if they're making any of their plastic parts I don't see why they wouldn't make those.

 

[Roms]

Hello and thant you all for your advices. I better understand what is "watts".

For B&O yes I have seen their speakers, but they are too expensive for my budget.

So I am looking for enough loudness, I don't need too much, but I don't want less loud than the Teufel Boomster. With the better audio quality possible, portable (battery to move it around the house) and under 400 €. If it help, I don't need to complex features, for exemple it is not a problem if there is no app, no eq etc ... because for me it means simplicity, just to power on the speaker and to to listen music (If I have complex eq etc ... I know myself, I will use more time to setting it than to listen it ), and as I said I don't need voice assistant (I already have a Google nest for that), for me this speaker is only focus on music listening.

Since yesterday I consider the Harman Kardon onyx studio 8, it seems to check all boxes I am looking for. Can't be sure about sound quality and loudness that said. But the quality / price ratio seems very good.

In my searchs, I think to forget the JBL Boombox 3 because of what you said about sound "type", I read that it is more on the boomy side that on the quality balanced side. I am still thinking about the Tufton because the look is awsome and it has good reviews, plus with this one I think I have understant that loudness shouldn't be a problem, but I am affraid about the 1 years garantee and about peoples complain that their tufton does not work anymore very soon after (I don't understant this one years garantee as all others manufacturers give 2 years or more). For the price I am a little concern.

If it help to compare, I can had that I already have a Soundcore boom plus for outside and garage, really good for the price it cost, loud more than enough but more boomy than good sound quality. Really cool for party that said. To give an idea about power, this one is loud more than enough for our living room, no need more, but I would like more sound quality. What I like with the Boomster is that the sound is great, whan we listen our favorite music, it seems we hear details we didn't hear before, really cool (but on the inside we juste had a JBL flip 4 until the Boomster, so I guess the JBL is to small for that).

Unfortunatly no, I live in a small town and there is just a "medium" size shop, but they only sell JBL. But the next week we are going to Bordeaux for vacation, maybe I can go in a big store. But I am not sure they will have some "exclusive" brand as Klipsch, Vifa etc ... Just Only JBL, Marshall, Bose, maybe Harman Kardon etc ...