any audio experts here? looking for small home stereo, wifi or bluetooth

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bdmicarta

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Feb 16, 2012
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I used to be interested in stereo equipment and for a long time I had receiver, turntable and speakers. These days it seems like the consumer market is mostly into streaming music. My wife would like a small stereo system with small bookshelf speakers. So I'm wondering what the options are.
It seems that you can find bluetooth speakers that you stream to using your phone or tablet, no separate receiver involved. I thought I might also find small receivers that you could stream to, maybe even receivers with wifi that connect to your home wifi network and do their own streaming.
I bought her a bluetooth speaker from BestBuy that looked like it would work for her and have reasonably good sound quality but she rejected it. She thinks she needs 2 speakers but I'm not sure if she understands what goes along with that as far as placement in the room and listening location. Usually people who aren't into sound equipment want the speakers placed where they look good or where they fit with the decor, not where they sound the best and if you aren't going to place them properly then does it matter if you have 1 speaker or 2 speakers?
 
I'm a big fan of the Google Nest speakers. I have them all over the house constantly playing Spotify, or casting an audio book to them. Also great for setting timers, asking Google random questions (hey Google how many ml in 8oz?, hey Google tell me a joke), etc. You just have to be fine with the fact that Google is likely listening to everything you say or do, and my plans for world domination will be foiled at a critical moment due to them always listening.

Have a couple of the Nest minis (Kitchen, living room, bedroom) and they sound decent. In the family room we have a pair of the Nest audios connected in stereo - these sound a lot better than the minis. Have them also connected as a home group so we have the option to listen to the same thing throughout the house. If you're not after audiophile quality, I think they're a pretty good bet due to their versatility.

Other than that, I'm sure BestBuy or similar would have small bookshelf style systems that would fit the bill. A lot of them now have Bluetooth at least as well.
 
I have tried 3 Bluetooth speakers playing uncompressed sound files ripped from CDs with my laptop. All three speakers sounded considerably better with a wired connection than with Bluetooth. Streaming also degrades sound quality. But it is true that most people are unaware of sound quality, just as they are unaware of knife quality.

My wife has tried streaming on her phone, but when you get lots of spam calls, that means a lot of interruptions to the music. She has gone back to radio.

Yes, misplaced stereo speakers can sound worse than a mono speaker. But you can often compensate for less than ideal speaker placement by aiming the speakers carefully and/or adjusting the balance controls, of course, especially if you have a fixed listening location. If you wander around the room and have omnidirectional speakers, it's pretty much impossible to get the sound stage right. But again, most people don't care.
 
Not an expert and I don't have expensive speakers. I just like clean sound.
What's your budget?
In general, wired gives better, cleaner, sound than blue tooth. Most music players still provide a headphone jack. You can plug speakers into it.

I normally use computer speakers with a separate base unit (referred to as a 2.1 system). Gives a nice full bodied sound. This limits me to one room at a time. If I want to wander, I use wired headphones.
>Logitech makes a pretty good inexpensive wired three speaker system for about $75.
>Klipsch makes a very nice one for about double that.
 
knarfeng said:
I normally use computer speakers with a separate base unit (referred to as a 2.1 system). Gives a nice full bodied sound. This limits me to one room at a time. If I want to wander, I use wired headphones.
>Logitech makes a pretty good inexpensive wired three speaker system for about $75.
>Klipsch makes a very nice one for about double that.
Click to expand...
This is a possibilty- she could leave an ipad there to provide the sound signal.

For now she decided to try the single B&O speaker that I bought for her. I think it has a lot of advantages for her- she can carry it from room to room and listening position relative to a pair of speakers is not critical. Of course it won't give the additional quality of stereo speakers. If we need to go beyond this single speaker then I'll look for one of those you mentioned.
 
We have a centrally located Sonos speaker, and a separate mobile Sonos (I want to say it's called the Sonos Move). They can work in sync to act as a stereo, or they can be used separately. It works really well in our relatively small house.
 
bdmicarta said:
This is a possibilty- she could leave an ipad there to provide the sound signal.

For now she decided to try the single B&O speaker that I bought for her. I think it has a lot of advantages for her- she can carry it from room to room and listening position relative to a pair of speakers is not critical. Of course it won't give the additional quality of stereo speakers. If we need to go beyond this single speaker then I'll look for one of those you mentioned.
Click to expand...
There is recorded music for which stereo doesn't matter, i.e. monaural recordings: electrical (microphone) recordings from 1928 and later, recorded with acetate disc cutters and originally issued on 78 rpm phonograph records; and electrical recordings from 1946 and later, recorded on Teldec tape recorders and issued on monaural LP and 45 RPM phonograph records before 1958. Those of us who formed our musical taste back then know there is a lot of great music in this category which sounds better played back on one big speaker, the bigger the better. The bigger the speaker and the louder you play it, the better the music sounds — if you can resist the temptation to play at a volume which damages your hearing. You need to keep it under 85 decibels. Listening to a big speaker, you won't get the exact decibel level without lab equipment, so here is a simple test. Normal conversation is around 60 decibels. Talk to a friend with the speaker at your preferred volume: if you need to raise your voices to understand one another, turn the speaker volume down.
 
Piso Mojado said:
if you can resist the temptation to play at a volume which damages your hearing
Click to expand...
My wife will be listening more on a background music level. She stayed in an inn recently that didn't have television or internet but they had some form of music system in the rooms that she enjoyed listening to. She couldn't describe what it was and she didn't know the source of the music. She had 2 different small bluetooth speakers that she's owned several years. Neither of them sounded much different from the speakers in her phone. The B&O speaker that I bought for her sounds a lot better although not up to a bookshelf stereo system.
In my college days everybody wanted a serious stereo system with big speakers, receiver, turntable, etc. I had JBL speakers and the biggest Pioneer receiver that you could get at the time. If I was home and awake, the stereo was on. My wife's small bluetooth speaker isn't equal to the JBL speakers that I used to have but I'm not going to tell her that.
 
First, the free "streaming services" are not going to give you HIGH FEDELITY MUSIC. Spotify's subscription service is only $10/month and gives you much higher quality music source material which is important when streaming. I am not an Amazon Prime customer so, I can't compare their streaming to premium Spotify.

Different people will prefer different pay services but, I find Spotify Premium to be a great value for high quality music sourcing with great algorithms to help me find other artists with a similar style to my personal preferences along with some new music types I really like that I was totally unaware off.

Then there is your steaming format. Basic Bluetooth with free services is low fidelity compared to the premium formats with pay services.

Something like an IFI Bluetooth amplifier and DAC will really improve your sound quality. I personally run an iFi AUDIO xCAN Portable Amplifier with Bluetooth with headphones and it makes a huge difference in sound quality with my Sansung S22 Galaxy. Little DAC's and headphone amps like these generally start ~$100 for something good but, I haven't been in the market during COVID so, availability and cost may have changed.

Cellphone, tablet, and laptop music "chips/DACs" are not very good if you want high fidelity music. A relatively cheap DAC, either USB or Bluetooth (5.0 or one of the better formats) will really improve the music quality with a premium streaming services.

Then there are the speakers. After a point, your get diminishing returns for more money spent. A pair of the OONTZ Ultra Bluetooth speakers are a good place to start and will be ~$100 for the pair. There is no way a 2" speaker will reproduce good quality low frequencies so, keep that in mind if you like classical music or light jazz, not just hard rock music. You will want 2 speakers that are separated by at least 10 feet to provide a reasonable 'soundstage'. Also, you will want something that has an amplifier wattage of 15W or more, not to make your ears bleed but, to have enough power to catch and reproduce sound transitions without distortion at modest sound levels.

So, ~$100 for speakers and possibly $100~$200 for a DAC upgrade and $10/month for premium Spotify or similar.

From there, you move up to a streaming receiver in the $300 range with ~50W/channel with bookshelf speakers in the ~$300 and up range. The B&W 600 series with a 50W digital steaming receiver are an awesome 'bookshelf' system.

With any of these options, you need to start with your music SOURCE QUALITY. Amplifying a poor fidelity source signal with the best amplifier and speakers will never "fix" a bad source. The best source will still sound bad if you have poor quality equipment in the music chain like your normal CELLPHONE, TABLET, or LAPTOP music DAC.

Think of it like a chain. It is only as strong as the weakest link! Having a few links much stronger than the rest won't improve the quality of the chain either!
 
In my garage workshop I have a vintage Yamaha receiver and 4 Bose speakers I picked up second hand. I have my old iPhone loaded with my music collection converted to the best of my ability over time from all those years of collecting CD’s. The iPhone is hard wired into the Yamaha and powered from the wall, music set to loop. It never stops playing the loop. Everything is wired. ( if wifi was available I could use a streaming service).

I walk into the shop, hit the power button on the receiver and it just plays. When I leave I hit the power button and it shuts off. I am not looking for audiophile quality, but it sounds pretty good. I am tired of fiddling with bluetooth and music selection or services when I just want music in the shop. (Get off my lawn!)

I realize this is not exactly what you are asking for, but what works for me and am thinking of going to something similar in the house instead of the current setup in there. I imagine you could do something similar with a device like the Douk mentioned above.
 
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