Some motherboards may also have the following connections (not pictured) for 4, 5.1, and 7.1 speaker setups. Now…I reported on my initial impressions a couple of weeks ago. But two weeks in, I thought I would share greater insight. I've tested hundreds of mini Bluetooth speakers over the last 15 years, and because there are so many good ones, it's hard to declare one model as the best overall. That said, a couple of models do stand out, including the Bose SoundLink Flexand two speakers it inspired: the Anker Soundcore Motion 300 and Tribit StormBox Flow. None of the three chosen drivers seem to present any audible cone breakup, even at ear-splitting volumes. (And, yes, you can split your ears with these.) This is delightful. Electronics:Home Audio Stereos, Components:Speaker Parts and Components:Speaker Building Components

First off, as I mentioned in my original post about them: they can handle gobs of power, just like an American speaker should. They absorb power in a way that a Large Advent or Polk Monitor 10 should…and then some. A McIntosh SS amp (not to mention a 200wpc one) is a great partner to these speakers. I have them attached to the 8 ohm taps. The passive radiator design allows the bass to scale with volume.The (nee) SoundScape 8’s were always a design that intrigued me, and it seemed that their combination of size and driver selection (especially the RAAL ribbons) might be the right mix for my sunroom. There are two modes in the room - one about halfway in, and one at the far end opposing the speakers. The ceiling has two skylights (with ~2' spaces leading up to them) that add to volume (which you also cannot see in the photo). I have a (not very scientific) theory that the skylights' breakup of the ceiling space is key to how this room sounds as good as it does. If you sit halfway in, you get a surreal, in-your face performance experience. If you sit at the far end, where I sit 99% of the time, you get a rather "large-scale" performance. But what I did not expect was that the drivers also present several distinct opportunities for credible toe-in options that present equally compelling soundscapes (oh!) for different performance demands. Bigger speakers tend to sound better, delivering bigger sound with more bass. But going bigger means they weigh more, which can make them a little harder to carry around. So you have to balance size with performance if you're looking for something that's easily portable. If you're interested in a larger portable speaker, one feature worth looking out for is a built-in handle. Durability

The sound of the combination was amazing – but the MA8900 is a decidedly airy and analytical amplifier – and the Hawks’ MB Quart titanium tweeters were a tad too harsh a match at higher volumes. But…I had to ask Jim: with a 9.5” woofer (and a single one, at that), were these speakers going to be distractingly large in my room? As it turned out, they were a fair amount taller than the SS 8s. I hemmed…I hawed. I wondered: with a baffle supporting a 9.5” woofer, what was going to happen with diffraction effects from the diminutive tweeter and midrange? Jim was a little coy, but he shared, “We are likely to chamfer the cabinet edges so that the wider front baffle will be no issue.” I never knew what this chamfer was going to look like until he revealed the initial design several weeks ago. This is the ideal speaker choice for your microbit projects as it will work directly with the Audio cable for the BBC microbit. Consumer Electronics:TV, Video and Home Audio:TV, Video and Audio Accessories:Home Audio Accessories:Audio Cables and Interconnects You're only seeing about half the room. It's 11x22. Arguably, the Totem Hawks were a tad too small for the space.Yes. It is ok to plug in and disconnect speakers while the computer is on and running. Most operating systems today also show a pop-up notice when speakers are connected to and disconnected from the computer. Test the speakers Generally, everything that is good sounds good – if not better than good (edit: by good, I do mean amazing, I hope you know) – on the SS 9.5s. Very little sounds bad. Sure, there are recordings that sound bad. But they are still listenable on the SS 9.5s. You might not want to crank them up, but you can enjoy what’s there. These are the times when I am glad for the MA8900’s tone controls. Pity those who don’t have tone controls.

I could go on, but I don’t have much more time to write. I have yet to find a classical disc that sounds bad with the SS 9.5s. The full range of instruments and delicacy on each of my classical recordings is well-presented. Consumer Electronics:TV, Video and Home Audio:Home Audio:Home Audio Components:Other Home Stereo ComponentsElectronics:Home Audio Stereos, Components:Speaker Parts and Components:Other Speaker Parts and Comp. While the speaker drivers remain the same, the Qualcomm chipset that powers the speaker has been upgraded (the speaker uses Bluetooth 5.1), bumping the sound quality up a tad, particularly at higher volumes, with better digital signal processing. It remains one of the best-sounding mini Bluetooth speaker models, with richer more tonally balanced sound than other Bluetooth speakers its size -- and it should sound good, considering its elevated price point. To connect speakers to a laptop with no sound out port, insert the mini plug into the headphones port. Speakers with a subwoofer Like many audiophiles, I had been growing weary of the sound of metal dome tweeters anyway. The MA8900 was just so amazing in every way that I thought it needed a better, but less analytical, partner.

When choosing a Bluetooth speaker, what it really comes down to is size and price. If you're looking for a very portable speaker, you'll want to get something very compact, but remember that smaller speakers usually produce less sound and bass than larger ones. So while there are plenty of mini Bluetooth speakers that deliver bigger sound than you might expect, they do have their sonic limitations. For a lot of people it's a question of finding a speaker that's not too big or too small -- one that travels well but also is capable of producing good sound for its size. But finding the best portable Bluetooth speaker also comes down to your budget.I should note that I grew up listening to my brother’s setups in the 1970s, which were first powered by Large Advents, replaced with Polk Monitor 10s. If you read me, I have an affinity for non-ported designs, and I like bass that scales with volume.) Consumer Electronics:TV, Video and Home Audio:Home Audio:Home Audio Components:Stereo Component Combos But: Jim was in the process of designing a new speaker that he felt might be a worthy replacement. He had no name for it, but he had been experimenting with a mixture of drivers from the SS 8 (the Accuton midrange), the Song 3 Encore (the Eton midrange) and the Song 3 BeAT (the Satori beryllium tweeter and the Audio Technology Midrange), among others. Oh, and this just might mean that the chamfers on this design that Jim and I talked about last year – more than just a new design language for Salk – are indeed a successful element.