# Smart speaker questions.



## Dave7 (10 Apr 2022)

I came close to getting one before realising I needed eg Spotify and as I don't listen to that much music decided against it.
Our grandson has now loaded Spotify to my phone as part of a family package. So.......
1. Anyone recommend a good smart speaker.
2. Do I bluetooth music from Spotify to the speaker.
3. Anything I need to watch out for ?


----------



## Tenkaykev (10 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> I came close to getting one before realising I needed eg Spotify and as I don't listen to that much music decided against it.
> Our grandson has now loaded Spotify to my phone as part of a family package. So.......
> 1. Anyone recommend a good smart speaker.
> 2. Do I bluetooth music from Spotify to the speaker.
> 3. Anything I need to watch out for ?


Depends how much you want to spend Dave. We’ve got a couple of “ “ Alexa” speakers from Amazon, which work quite well ( our four year old granddaughter came to visit a while back, walked into the room and said “ Alexa, play radio six music “ 😁
Visited our daughter in Edinburgh recently and they have Sonos speakers which I was very impressed with. I downloaded the Sonos app to my phone, and being on the same wireless network as the speakers I could send music from my phone to any particular speaker ( or all of them ) 
We’re probably going to get Sonos ourselves as Mrs Tenkaykev was very impressed ( and IKEA do table lamps that contain a Sonos speaker )


----------



## Venod (10 Apr 2022)

We have a Yamaha setup that is very good, a main amp with speakers and subwoofer in the living room with smart speakers in the kitchen and bedroom.

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/contents/audio_visual/musiccast/index.html


----------



## Arrowfoot (10 Apr 2022)

Your grandson would be the best bet for good advice. These things are in their zone of interest.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (10 Apr 2022)

Option 2, pair phone with speaker. You do this once. Then use the Spotify app when you want to listen to some music.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (10 Apr 2022)

Tenkaykev said:


> Depends how much you want to spend Dave. We’ve got a couple of “ “ Alexa” speakers from Amazon, which work quite well



When I visit a mate with a smart speaker I say “Alexa, play pinky and perky full volume”. The speaker can’t hear him trying to stop it and he has to unplug it in the end. Amuses me anyway.


----------



## MontyVeda (10 Apr 2022)

You truly are merciless, Ming!


----------



## Venod (10 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> I came close to getting one before realising I needed eg Spotify and as I don't listen to that much music decided against it.



You can stream other things from your phone to a smart speaker, radio stations podcasts etc, connect the smart speaker to your wifi and phone to wifi for best quality, Bluetooth can also be used if speaker has it.


----------



## Dave7 (10 Apr 2022)

Venod said:


> You can stream other things from your phone to a smart speaker, radio stations podcasts etc, connect the smart speaker to your wifi and phone to wifi for best quality, Bluetooth can also be used if speaker has it.


You had me as far as the 1st sentence .
1. Without using my phone can I just instruct eg Alexa, play Smooth Radio.
2.I don't know what a podcast is.
3. Re wifi to speaker/phone etc I will get my granddaughter to sort that.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (10 Apr 2022)

MontyVeda said:


> You truly are merciless, Ming!



I am hoping if I do it often enough it’ll start suggesting similar music such as Rupert the Bear and other classics.


----------



## SpokeyDokey (10 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> You had me as far as the 1st sentence .
> 1. Without using my phone can I just instruct eg Alexa, play Smooth Radio.
> 2.I don't know what a podcast is.
> 3. Re wifi to speaker/phone etc I will get my granddaughter to sort that.



A podcast is just a recorded show of some description.

Heaps of the things available via Spotify. You should easily find something of interest if you feel inclined to take a look.

Don't forget that headphones jacked into your phone will sound pretty decent with Spotify as a source.

I do most of my curating with some full size studio quality headphones jacked to my phone or tablet and the sound is more than OK.

Decent unit, run Spotify or Tunein radio to it from your phone. 

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/amazon-echo-4th-generation


----------



## Tenkaykev (10 Apr 2022)

SpokeyDokey said:


> A podcast is just a recorded show of some description.
> 
> Heaps of the things available via Spotify. You should easily find something of interest if you feel inclined to take a look.
> 
> ...



I see that’s on offer from Amazon, £60 at the moment


----------



## Phaeton (10 Apr 2022)

Depends what you want to do, we too have a couple of Alexa's or should that be Alexi? it's easy to walk into a room & say "Alexa play xxxxx from Spotify" Or "Alexa play Radio Y" they are good enough quality for what we want. We also have a Bosse Bluetooth speaker which goes outside when we have a BBQ or sometimes when I'm watching TV on the laptop in the garden for better quality sound. 

As with anything sound related it's horses for courses & depends how deep your pockets are.


----------



## Colin Grigson (10 Apr 2022)

If you value good design I would recommend our wireless B & O … a little pricey but great sound and looks great (in my opinion) …


----------



## Electric_Andy (10 Apr 2022)

I bought my partner a Tribit wireless speaker, think it was £40. Anker do a pretty good one for the money as well. That's it you want a budget one which is small and lacks bass.

My partner also has Sonos, I find the interface hideous and complicated, it often has a mind of it's own and decides to alter the volume on it's own. The portable Sonos speaker is great though


----------



## tribanjules (10 Apr 2022)

Ming the Merciless said:


> When I visit a mate with a smart speaker I say “Alexa, play pinky and perky full volume”. The speaker can’t hear him trying to stop it and he has to unplug it in the end. Amuses me anyway.


I do same on teams calls with baby shark. Used to ambush my ex boss regularly


----------



## roadrash (10 Apr 2022)

Ming the Merciless said:


> I am hoping if I do it often enough it’ll start suggesting similar music such as Rupert the Bear and other classics.





Dont forget the smurfs


----------



## JtB (10 Apr 2022)

Electric_Andy said:


> My partner also has Sonos, I find the interface hideous and complicated, it often has a mind of it's own and decides to alter the volume on it's own. The portable Sonos speaker is great though


I’ve got Sonos speakers throughout the house and I’ve never had the volume change by itself, also once you get them working I think the interface is pretty good. However I was forced into setting up 2 independent systems in my house because the 1st Gen Sonos speakers are not interoperable with the latest Sonos speakers and that was a real pain to get working reliably. I’m also very careful not to allow software updates to occur automatically since they can sometimes mess things up. I think Sonos speakers sound good especially when you have a number of different speakers (e.g. sound-bar, sub-woofer and surrounds) working together. They are expensive though especially when considering that they have such a short life expectancy before going un-supported (as does anything internet related). They can also be a bit of a pain from a reliably perspective if there’s interference, but touch wood I’ve not had any dropout issues for quite a while.


----------



## fossyant (10 Apr 2022)

You coud always bluetooth up your old hifi - got this done on the Tape2 input on my big JVC system. Just a small bluetooth receiver. I also have a fair number of Anker Soundcore products.

The Soundcore Motion Boom is very good, even more excellent paired for full stereo.


----------



## Venod (10 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Without using my phone can I just instruct eg Alexa, play Smooth Radio.



Yes


----------



## derrick (10 Apr 2022)

Ming the Merciless said:


> When I visit a mate with a smart speaker I say “Alexa, play pinky and perky full volume”. The speaker can’t hear him trying to stop it and he has to unplug it in the end. Amuses me anyway.


Does he not know there are volume buttons on them.


----------



## Electric_Andy (11 Apr 2022)

JtB said:


> ’ve got Sonos speakers throughout the house and I’ve never had the volume change by itself


Yes they probbaly work well for everyone else! My partner has the bridge/amp(?) in the dining room which runs ceiling speakers, and also has the portable speaker in the lounge. I find it a real faff because often I find a song I like and it starts playing in the dining room when I want it in the lounge. Also it has come on in the middle of the night at full volume, and other times won't respond to volume controls at all. Probably not set up right or something. I just find a Bluetooth speaker much simpler, as it doesn't have it's own interface.

I've got cheap Bluetooth receivers set up to my ancient stereo in the garage, and to my AV receiver in the lounge. Both work perfectly and I would say with 2nd hand amps and budget floor standers, produce a much better sound for half the price of the Sonos setup.

But horses for courses....


----------



## SpokeyDokey (11 Apr 2022)

Electric_Andy said:


> Yes they probbaly work well for everyone else! My partner has the bridge/amp(?) in the dining room which runs ceiling speakers, and also has the portable speaker in the lounge. I find it a real faff because often I find a song I like and it starts playing in the dining room when I want it in the lounge. Also it has come on in the middle of the night at full volume, and other times won't respond to volume controls at all. Probably not set up right or something. I just find a Bluetooth speaker much simpler, as it doesn't have it's own interface.
> 
> I've got cheap Bluetooth receivers set up to my ancient stereo in the garage, and to my AV receiver in the lounge. Both work perfectly and I would say with 2nd hand amps and budget floor standers, produce a much better sound for half the price of the Sonos setup.
> 
> But horses for courses....



Indeed, horses for courses.

I only know two people who have Sonos dotted around their houses.

The flexibility is really good and the interface seems simple enough. I like it tbh but it is easily emulated elsewhere - here we use the dts play-fix system via an Arcam rPlay and it is spot-on.

The new 5's can throw out a lot of pretty decent sound but at 1k for a pair seem well overpriced. Our Dali Oberons at £800 sound way punchier.

The biggest issue of Sonos speakers that I listened to is when used at low volume. The sound just disappears as they shift a relatively small amount of air.

So, not for me although for a great many people they offer a fantastic, albeit pricey, total home solution.


----------



## Electric_Andy (11 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> 1. Anyone recommend a good smart speaker.
> 2. Do I bluetooth music from Spotify to the speaker.
> 3. Anything I need to watch out for ?


Getting back to your original questions; it depends what sound quality you want and what features you want or can live without.
My partner is happy with any old speaker, she doesn't often have it loud and doesn't seem to notice when I say it's tinny or lacks bottom end! She likes the fact that she can take it out to the garden, or in the kitchen etc. If that is you, then yes Alexa is very handy with the voice control. Alternatively you could buy one of the £25-£50 small speakers which create a nice sound but obviously the speakers are small so you're very limited in terms of a "big sound". 

You get what you pay for, but saying that the Tribit XSound is only £24 and personally I couldn't believe how good it was for the size and price. It also has 10 hours play time, and is showerproof. But you can really choose anything you want; the JBL Charge 5 is currently £130 if you want to spend that much. The "Ultimate Ears Boom 3" also gives out incredible sound; my mate had one and ended up using this all the time instead of his bookshelf speakers and old stereo, as the sound quality was on a par. But that's also north of £100.

The other option is to just Bluetooth transmit to whatever speaker set-up you currently have. Will only cost you £15 or so for a transmitter and IME they are extremely good if they've got a good line of sight to your phone.

The other option is something like this which I was considering. They have a built in Amp, and built in bluetooth, so all you have to do is stream your music to them. Of course they need to be plugged in.


----------



## icowden (12 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> 1. Anyone recommend a good smart speaker.
> 2. Do I bluetooth music from Spotify to the speaker.
> 3. Anything I need to watch out for ?


1) Yes, I can recommend a good smart speaker.
2) No - if you want a smart speaker bluetooth is not needed. Bluetooth will work with a dumb speaker that has bluetooth functionality.
3) Some smart speakers are a bit trickier to set up than others.

The cheapest and most ubiquitous smart speaker is the Alexa Echo. The Dot is very reasonable and actually delivers a fair amount of punch for its size, although you won't be running a disco in a large lounge with it. Alexa can integrate with Spotify although there is a little bit of setup to do so that you can say "Alexa - Play the best of Phil Collins" rather than "Alexa - Play the best of Phil Collins on Spotify". 

The rival to Alexa is of course the Google Nest, although the experience will be broadly similar.
The premium audiophile option is Sonos with built in Alexa (although note that Alexa does not have full functionality inside a Sonos) - although at times the actual Sonos interface can be annoying if you have Alexa set up you don't have to use it. 
Other brands are also available with Alexa or Google built in.

One of the advantages (or not) of Alexa is that if for example the rest of your family have Alexa's you can create an Alexa group which will allow you to use them as a rudimentary intercom - the disadvantage is that your grandchildren can have fun by asking their Alexa to play spooky music on Granddad's Alexa.

Sonos, Echo etc can all be grouped so that you can gradually add more speakers throughout your house should you want to do that. Sometimes it's quite nice to have a speaker in the lounge and kitchen so that you can listen to music as you move through the house.

The key question is how loud do you need the music and how much do you want to spend?

As for Podcasts they are basically an informal radio 4 programme usually. Just people chatting about whatever the podcast subject is. I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts. BBC broadcast some things as podcasts e.g. the Infinite Monkey Cage.


----------



## icowden (12 Apr 2022)

Electric_Andy said:


> You get what you pay for, but saying that the Tribit XSound is only £24 and personally I couldn't believe how good it was for the size and price. It also has 10 hours play time, and is showerproof. But you can really choose anything you want; the JBL Charge 5 is currently £130 if you want to spend that much. The "Ultimate Ears Boom 3" also gives out incredible sound; my mate had one and ended up using this all the time instead of his bookshelf speakers and old stereo, as the sound quality was on a par. But that's also north of £100.


Nitpicking here but the Tribit XSound is not a smart speaker, nor is the JBM Charge 5 or the Ultimate Ears Boom.

Bluetooth speakers are all very well but you can spend a lot of time trying to get the phone to connect to the bluetooth, and the music only plays while the phone has battery and signal. 

Smartspeakers are usually wifi connected and don't rely on a mobile phone.


----------



## Dave7 (12 Apr 2022)

icowden said:


> 1) Yes, I can recommend a good smart speaker.
> 2) No - if you want a smart speaker bluetooth is not needed. Bluetooth will work with a dumb speaker that has bluetooth functionality.
> 3) Some smart speakers are a bit trickier to set up than others.
> 
> ...


Very helpful thanks. A bit much for my simple mind.
Its mainly for the conservatory so volume is not an issue.....but sound quality is, not base, just a nice rich sound.


----------



## icowden (12 Apr 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Very helpful thanks. A bit much for my simple mind.
> Its mainly for the conservatory so volume is not an issue.....but sound quality is, not base, just a nice rich sound.


If you want to get an idea of sound quality then best bet is to find your local department store with a good audio department and have a look. They ought to have the speakers set up so that you can hear the audio.

I think all of them have pretty good sound for most normal people. I do like my Sonos speakers, but my brother in law is very happy with his Echo Studio and echo dots as are the kids. My mother and father in law have a Sonos with Alexa built in that they like - my 6 year old niece showed them how to work it, so it's pretty easy...

My only slight frustration with Alexa is that sometimes she just cannot find a track or insists on playing a different track to the one you were after no matter how you rephrase it. Happens pretty rarely though. I will say that we all use Amazon Music rather than Spotify. Sonos is particularly good at supporting all streaming services rather than just one.

The plus side to Echo is that you can make use of the smart skills - it can look up things, set alarms, tell you the weather, read out the news or any notifications / messages / emails you might have received and control any other smart devices in your house (I enjoy walking into my daughters room and asking "Alexa - Let there be light" in order to turn the lights on (she has smart bulbs)).


----------



## Julia9054 (12 Apr 2022)

We use Spotify and a Bose speaker system throughout the house. It’s great when it works. Sometimes the system crashes or requires an update - usually when Al is out of the house - the master control is from his iPad. If he ever left me, it would all stop working room by room and I’d be stuffed!
I have a little portable speaker called Ultimate Ears by Wonderboom. I bluetooth from my phone, it has a great sound, I can take it anywhere and it never goes wrong.


----------



## derrick (12 Apr 2022)

Alexa here. Have it in most rooms. Have 2 connected to descent amps. One in the Gym and one in the lounge. Does not seem to give any problems. Really handy for alarms, shopping list or other reminders. All good.


----------



## TwoStews (14 Apr 2022)

This..

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/audio-pro-addon-c5a

It's a cracking speaker and currently on offer at £169 at Currys, it's a steal for the quality of sound it produces.

I've owned high-end sound systems in both home and car and I tell you, this thing puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. 

The set up can be a bit tricky depending on your WiFi settings, and the app is pretty rubbish, but you'll forget all that when you listen to it. If sound quality trumps all else, and you don't want to spend a fortune, then look no further.


----------



## DRM (15 Apr 2022)

We have an old Bose sound wave, that was designed to connect to the old iPod connector not the modern lightning type, we bought a bluetooth unit that plugs in where the iPod went, and have managed to get it going again, I’d forgotten how good it sounded, as for an Alexa I wouldn’t have a spy in the house given, a good non smart Bluetooth speaker for me, and play music through Spotify/Apple music etc


----------

