HomePod Alternative

D

DJ in TX

Audioholic
Hi all, I haven't posted here in years, but am in need of some guidance.

To start, I am an Apple guy. We have lots of Macs, iPads, etc. I would like to get the new homepod for my den, but we are getting a new 4K TV soon and I can't justify the additional purchase right now. I'm sure plenty of people here think the HomePod is lame compared to high end systems, although for me it would have been a good fit for my needs, except for the price. So I am trying to find a good alternative.

I have a very small home theater setup in the living room, consisting of a Pioneer receiver and a pair of Paradigm Atoms, which I love and decided on from advice here many years ago. I know this is very low power system compared to probably most of you, but it works for me. In addition to TV and Movies (antenna and Apple TV), I also play a lot of Pandora. This system handles all of my audio needs in the living room. However, my den is a bit of a dead zone currently, which is where a homepod-like speaker would be ideal. I am considering the Sonos One, but I also have an AirPort express that I thought I could make use of here. Seems like I could pair it with a good powered dumb speaker to get the wireless music coverage for my den, and ultimately achieve better audio than the Sonos, all while spending less. This way I wouldn't be paying for the wireless/smart capabilities that are not imperative for me.

With that said, I am on the hunt for a good powered speaker, $100-150 (or less) that offers really good room-filling (or close to it) sound. My concern for the Sonos is that it may not be able to fill the room as much as I would like. It's a large open space, den and kitchen together, 14 x 40. Surely there are some good standalone speakers out there for my Franken-HomePod that would be better than the Sonos One.


I would appreciate any advice.


Thanks,
--Derek
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
I would say the google Home Max would be closest to the HomePod. It’s also, like the HomePod, geared more towards audio quality than smart features. Although it’s loaded with those too.

I’ve been pretty pleasantly surprised by the Amazon Echo units and would readily recommend those as I have one, my parents have one, and I know a few people who have them so I’ve had experience across the product range.

I’ve only dealt with Sonos sporadically and they’re good, but I think when I do make the move to a smart speaker it will be google or Amazon. I’m an Apple guy too, but until Apple gets their crap together and allows far more integration with the HomePod it’s just more of a waste than anything IMO.
 
D

DJ in TX

Audioholic
I would say the google Home Max would be closest to the HomePod. It’s also, like the HomePod, geared more towards audio quality than smart features. Although it’s loaded with those too.

I’ve been pretty pleasantly surprised by the Amazon Echo units and would readily recommend those as I have one, my parents have one, and I know a few people who have them so I’ve had experience across the product range.

I’ve only dealt with Sonos sporadically and they’re good, but I think when I do make the move to a smart speaker it will be google or Amazon. I’m an Apple guy too, but until Apple gets their crap together and allows far more integration with the HomePod it’s just more of a waste than anything IMO.
Yes the Home Max seems like good sound as well, but still gives me the same concerns as homepod, good sound at a high price. Def seems more versatile than homepod, although I am not in need of a lot of the streaming sources it would provide. If I had any of these smart speakers it would be an interesting experiment, but not imperative right now for me. And sacrificing the "smarts" can potentially get me more sound for my money, which prompts my powered dumb-speaker search. I have had google marathons only to end up empty or finding speakers that had mixed reviews.

Any ideas for a powered dumb speaker with really good sound $100-150?
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
Hmmm Well

Amazon Basics Large Bluetooth Speaker

Amazon has a Bluetooth speaker that isn’t too bad. It’s not going to blow your socks off SQ wise, but it’s pretty decent. It’s portable and you can hardware into it too.

Amazon Tap - Portable version of the Echo and you can enable the no touch option as well to talk to it. The nice thing is that it will connect to Bluetooth but also give you the option of using a Spotify/Amazon Prime Music/Pandora membership with it directly instead of having to go through a secondary device.

Bose Soundlink Mini II

One of my students had one and it actually sounded pretty good. Don’t know much else about it, but we were outside on the soccer field and it got loud and played fairly cleanly.

Oppo Sonica

Oppo makes a Bluetooth speaker now and it’s supposed to be pretty good based on what I’ve read. Above the budget though at $299

Audio Engine B2

Also above the budget @ $225, but supposed to be a really good Bluetooth speaker and comes in nice wood finishes

You could also just set up a pair of speakers and add a BT adapter between the speakers and the amp. This would let you control volume from your phone or other device.
 
D

DJ in TX

Audioholic
Hmmm Well

Amazon Basics Large Bluetooth Speaker

Amazon has a Bluetooth speaker that isn’t too bad. It’s not going to blow your socks off SQ wise, but it’s pretty decent. It’s portable and you can hardware into it too.

Amazon Tap - Portable version of the Echo and you can enable the no touch option as well to talk to it. The nice thing is that it will connect to Bluetooth but also give you the option of using a Spotify/Amazon Prime Music/Pandora membership with it directly instead of having to go through a secondary device.

Bose Soundlink Mini II

One of my students had one and it actually sounded pretty good. Don’t know much else about it, but we were outside on the soccer field and it got loud and played fairly cleanly.

Oppo Sonica

Oppo makes a Bluetooth speaker now and it’s supposed to be pretty good based on what I’ve read. Above the budget though at $299

Audio Engine B2

Also above the budget @ $225, but supposed to be a really good Bluetooth speaker and comes in nice wood finishes

You could also just set up a pair of speakers and add a BT adapter between the speakers and the amp. This would let you control volume from your phone or other device.
You bring up a good detail here, I never considered volume control before. If I have a dumb speaker with an aux in, that I then connect my airport express to, how is volume controlled? DO dumb speakers all have a volume control on them?

Also, you mention Bluetooth, but I don't necessarily need this if my Airport Express is handling the transmission. Does this change anything?
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
You bring up a good detail here, I never considered volume control before. If I have a dumb speaker with an aux in, that I then connect my airport express to, how is volume controlled? DO dumb speakers all have a volume control on them?

Also, you mention Bluetooth, but I don't necessarily need this if my Airport Express is handling the transmission. Does this change anything?
So you want sound to route through your airport express? I’m pretty sure none of the speakers mentioned will do that and most things outside of the smart speakers are BT only. I haven’t run into many “dumb” wireless speakers that route sound through the Wi-Fi rather than BT. Unless you’re routing sound through something else with airplay I don’t think anything I’ve mentioned or that you’ve mentioned as far as “dumb” speakers will connect to your Wi-Fi except maybe the Amazon Tap.

Maybe try this?
https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/23/affordable-airplay-speakers/
https://www.cnet.com/topics/speakers/best-speakers/airplay/
 
D

DJ in TX

Audioholic
So you want sound to route through your airport express? I’m pretty sure none of the speakers mentioned will do that and most things outside of the smart speakers are BT only. I haven’t run into many “dumb” wireless speakers that route sound through the Wi-Fi rather than BT. Unless you’re routing sound through something else with airplay I don’t think anything I’ve mentioned or that you’ve mentioned as far as “dumb” speakers will connect to your Wi-Fi except maybe the Amazon Tap.

Maybe try this?
https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/23/affordable-airplay-speakers/
https://www.cnet.com/topics/speakers/best-speakers/airplay/
Yeah, I ran across those articles also. A lot of them are way too expensive. I may give the August products and the Amazon Echo a look. I guess I just had in mind something that was a bit larger and looked more like a traditional speaker, as the bigger drivers would provide bigger sound.

As for your comments about wireless, the reason I said Bluetooth was expendable is because my attempt to find this dumb speaker would only be pairing it with my airport express. it would just need to get its power via AC, and as long as it has an aux in then I would use airplay over airport express.

As for my own question about volume, now that I think about it, volume would just be controlled via iPhone in whatever app I was using to airplay with.
 
D

DJ in TX

Audioholic
I've actually had a reversal here. I do hate having an airport express that is in a closet not being used, but after reading a ton of HomePod reviews and new user first impressions, I'm just going to hold out for a few months and scrape the money together somehow. Its really what I want, so I'll figure it out and be much happier.

Thanks for all the input
 
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