JBL Boombox - Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black

4 year review!!Okay so I use this every single day. I listen to loud white nose when I fall asleep. This speaker has been amazing since day 1. I am now at the point where it needs to be plugged in all the time or it will disconnect randomly from blue tooth. Battery still lasts quite a while and I’ve used it as an emergency power bank during hurricanes several times. Goes with me everywhere I travel. Has been used as my main source of audio when I have had cars without sound systems. For its age and the price, very hard to beat. Only complaint is the glowing blue light on the power button is annoying at night but that’s it. Planning on buying again when this one stops working completely. Might take another year or two.

Delivered on time as expected and the sound output is AMAZING

Context of this review: observations from testing multiple genres directly after unboxingThe speaker fully accomplishes what it was designed to do: deliver maximum volume with maximum bass at minimum distortion in any location. This product is meant for large spaces and parties, and the sound is therefore crafted for this environment. You need to expect a generally warm sound. JBL has produced a chonk speaker which naturally emphasizes bass frequencies through the sheer size of the side speakers. Other devices would be better for appreciating balances and appealing to certain audiophile needs, but this path is not the speaker's main intention, and this needs to be acknowledged. Keep in mind, the sound quality and clarity is still fantastic; it just sounds slightly warmer and less crisp than some of its colleagues because the lower frequencies are more supported. It is a boombox after all, and I honestly haven't yet found a product that better blends volume, clarity, and portability. Consider it like a knight build in an rpg game; very well balanced, but slightly more effort has been invested in health and strength stats than intelligence because it'll need to primarily tank through large enemies but still be versatile.That is this speaker. It is your knight. It outperforms the other knights at knight things. I believe the knight to be better suited for me because of its versatile abilities. Like apple jacks. Other cereals might have brighter colors, but apple jacks is completely superior in flavor, mascots, and general existence. If you disagree about the cereal, I look forward to reading about you in Jane Goodall's next research paper.How certain genres/artists sound on this thing:Adele - absolutely fabulousAndrew Huang - excellentGeneral rock songs - the kicks and lower drums will be heavyish, and crispness may be lost depending on how well the initial track was mixed and the speaker placement60s Jazz - the walking bass will become pronounced. Everything is very clear in the rest of the parts, but you might notice a differenceVoces8 Lux album - excellentKanye's "Use This Gospel" - slapsReally anything EDM, Hip-Hop, or other electronically produced music - total bangerModern country - actually pretty good, kinda surprised meThe pyramid fight scene from Transformers 2: this would make a great bootleg home theater sound systemKeep in mind that the sound is affected by where you place the speaker. Bass reverberates, so if you put it in time out in the corner facing towards the center of the room, both side speaker will reverberate off the walls and become amplified; the high frequencies will stand no chance. I found that the best audiophile setup is to place the speaker in the center of a room at mid volume on an elevated, small, hard platform (like a coffee table). If you want max bass and wish to disregard the well-being of nearby living organisms, put it at full volume on outside mode in the corner of a bathroom with tile flooring. Public restrooms also work well for bass testing, and people in stalls will be unable to interfere. If they are the kind of people to immediately get up to confront you, run; the speaker is not worth it.I purchased this product when it was heavily discounted ($270). I could have alternatively purchased 20 shirts, a stained recliner, a college textbook, or 252 chicken quesadilla melts from taco bell. I believe this boombox to be the most worthwhile of these choices. Oh and you can throw it in a tub and it will be fine. The quesadillas would not have been fine.I hope this review and its general babbling are somewhat helpful.

We need a portable stereo for our portable projector for movies and whatnot. We have some portable speakers, but they are inconvenient to use and not all that loud (even though we syncs up 3 of them). We almost bought a smaller portable system until we saw this on sale. This is waaaaaay louder than those and very clear. Now we know very little about stereos, but to us non-experts, this was nothing short of phenomenal. Flat out, this is amazing.Setup was easy. While the instructions leave something to be desired, simply connect via Bluetooth and download the JBL connect app to update the firmware. It does it itself in 20 or so minutes and you need to do nothing.First off, we tried all kinds of music. We did rap and rock, holiday and musical numbers for hours (we listen to a wide variety of music, so we wanted a speaker to do well with all these genres). Everything was crystal clear. Not needing huge bass, we used it on the inside setting. I do like having an EQ but I didn’t find that I HAD to have one, so I decided to sacrifice that here and I don’t really miss it because it sound so good. The sound quality was better than our quite expensive home theater/stereo setup we bought nearly 10 years ago made by a well known, high end competitor. When used as a sound bar with the projector it was amazing and could be heard far away by all. Perfect for projecting outdoor sporting events and movies. Wow. Simply wow.Some people have said it is big and heavy. I don’t really find this at all. It does not seem heavy to me, and I think that is because the design is well done. You carry from the handle and it is well balanced, unlike some of the competitors out there where the handle is on the back or a side. Very portable. I used to have a boom box in the 80s and 90s and they were never this small and maneuverable. This is a sleek, well thought out design. I do wish there were covers over the sides, but apparently this isn’t really an issue, but it just seems like it can be one and I do worry.This thing is incredible. We didn’t even want to stop using it the first day it was so captivating (the time spent listening to it barely put a dent in the battery life according to the app). At 1/2 volume it totally filled our 15x20 room with sound where we use it and we couldn’t believe our ears because it was soooooo clear. I cannot wait to use this all the time for movie nights, sporting events, and general outdoor listening. I may even connect it to the tv it was that good (maybe buy a second one to make into a stereo set though). Can’t recommend it enough, and we are glad we got it.

This speaker is awesome. I've used it at work for four years now. Hard use.I have it at 90% volume at all times for about eight total hours a night, listening to metal and rap with heavy bass. After four years of this it still sounds amazing.The battery isn't what it once was but that's to be expected in my opinion.

The JBL Boombox is incredibly durable. This thing can survive anything and still sound amazing. Ours survived floating 8 hours in a 102degree hot tub with the cover on!!! Turned it back on and everything worked just like the day I took it out of the box. It has also fallen off the back of a golf cart onto a paved road going 20 MPH! Mines 3 years old now and the battery feels like it could still run for days. Sound quality is top notch even at the loudest volume. I'd buy it again but it feels like I might never have to.