Sony High-Powered BT Light-Up Speaker

In the box you get the speaker, an infrared remote, a power cord for the speaker, and 2xAAA batteries for the remote. I knew this speaker was big but the pictures didn’t do it justice, this speaker is large and heavy, it is just over 2 feet wide and a 1 foot high when set horizontally and weighs over 26 pounds. This isn’t your typical small and light bluetooth speaker but with the built in carry handles it isn’t too hard to move it around. The front has the speakers and lighting behind a metal grill and the bass port front and center. Strobes sit just to the left and right of the woofers just outside the grill but within the handle opening. Overall everything seems to be pretty well protected. The speaker will operate either vertically or horizontally and has 3 tweeters in the different corners that automatically switch to whichever 2 tweeters are upright. The bottom and left sides (depending on speaker orientation) both have nice rubber feet to help keep the speaker still and protect surfaces that it is sitting on. The right or top side (depending on speaker orientation) has the controls. You get power, volume up and down, extra bass, and function buttons along with a built in NFC tag for bluetooth pairing. Indicator wise there are LEDs for input and extra bass selection. Around the back on the same side as the controls you have the rear I/O panel. You have power in, audio in and out via RCA style jacks, speaker add and party chain buttons along with LED indicators, a single USB port that puts out 2.1A, and a cooling fan mounted just under the panel. You can connect multiple units together via bluetooth or the RCA cables to add some more sound to your environment. You can even connect it to other types of devices via the RCA inputs, I have had it connected to a Chromecast audio and the line out from my home theater receiver and it has worked well. The speaker is able to play .mp3 and .wma file extensions from the USB port. You can do this from a phone or from a USB stick. The speaker doesn’t have a screen or playback controls but the included remote does have playback controls and basic lighting controls. In order to get the most out of the speaker you really need to be using the SongPal app that is available for Android and IOS devices. The app gives you more control and visibility of USB playback, sound EQ modes, lighting adjustment, and other settings. The lighting does change with the music and you can use the app to select the best lighting for the type of music that you are playing. When I first played the speaker my initial impression was it sounds really good but not amazing. The speaker can get very loud and still sound good. After playing with the speaker for a while and in different places I have come to realize this wasn’t meant to sound amazing, it isn’t for the critical analytic listener, it is meant to be dropped down somewhere and provide good sounding background music. It is the perfect speaker for dropping down in a room when you have friends over for drinks, at an outdoor party or cookout, out in the garage, or even camping. The only drawback is that the speaker is AC powered only so you need to have available AC power. I was able to use the speaker on a portable inverter with no problem so you can still use it where a regular AC outlet isn’t readily available. Overall I really like and would recommend this speaker. It has grown on me and I know that I will be using it for years to come for many different parties and events where I want to have music and easily just come in and drop this speaker down and have a good time. Update 1/5/2017: I caught these speakers when the price was lowered for a bit so I picked up another one since I liked mine so much. It was pretty easy to add to the other speaker to make one the left and one the right.