In 1994, he laid the foundations for the system that was later known as the Bluetooth Wireless Technology, enabling connections between a seemingly endless array of devices. He started his career with Ericsson, remaining there until becoming CTO of Tonalite BV, a privately-owned company addressing wireless wearable products.
History of Bluetooth Speakers – From Analog to Bluetooth Speakers
The loudspeaker is comprised of a flexible diaphragm (cone) connected to the acoustic horn’s throat. The design of cones earlier after the invention used materials such as paper, leather, and thin metal sheets. Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor, also developed a stylus and diaphragm device that was used in the first talking pictures but not with great success. Cinema owners in France placed speakers made by engineer Leon Gaumont at the back of the screen.
By the year 1919, Gaumont developed the Eglephone speaker that can amplify sound to around four thousand people. Researchers from Bell Laboratories and General Electric were developing electrostatic and direct radiator speakers.
Then in 1940, Walt Disney launched Fantasound, which was a sound system that utilized three audio channels, as well as 54 speakers. For home users, bookshelf speakers were launched, and the gramophones were replaced by woofers and tweeters.
In 1965, Philips launched a compact cassette tape that utilized a low fidelity monophonic speaker. Bluetooth, originally created by Ericsson more than 20 years ago, allows a number of devices to connect to each other wirelessly. It is a high-speed wireless technology used to connect devices such as smartphones, speakers, headsets, laptops, etc. Over short distances, up to eight Bluetooth devices can pair via this technology, which enables them to exchange data.
Every device uses a microchip with an antenna to send and receive signals, and software to process the communication between the hardware. The antenna sends short-range waves that, unlike the infrared wireless technology, do not require an unobstructed space between the receiving and transmitting devices. Bluetooth consumes an almost insignificant part of your battery, saving power and allowing you to use your device for a longer period of time. From the large and clunky units, consumers can now buy Bluetooth speakers that can fit in their pockets.
And the best thing about it is that the speakers of today provide clearer and better sound compared to the days of Wee Small Voice.
The History of Wireless Speakers
But before the clash of smart speakers evoked, Thomas Edison had no idea that his experiment that involved tinfoil-coated cylinder with two needles would result in today’s plethora of audio of music recording and ultimate audio experience. As the turntable can be traced back in the late 1800s, it was until the 20th century when an audio component became relevant in every home. It may be considered parallel to today’s internet since radio revolutionized the way society consumed music.
The primary role of this technology mainly evolved in improving the home audio quality. Harman Kardon took the challenge of developing the first stereo receiver that combined the radio tuner with broader FM bandwidth, pre-amplifier, and amplifier into a chassis. It was originally designed for DJs at radio stations to play jingles, commercials, and record singles. This development combined a receiver, speakers, turntable and some kind of cassette player into one package. You owe Philips the credit for creating the cassette tape and bringing analog platform with a more suitable audio solution.
The portable radio-cassette player with loudspeaker instantly starred in most outdoor listeners.
Sony led the frontier for companies that contributed the digital audio transition back in the 80s. Back in 1994, Larry Schotz applied for a patent for a digital wireless speaker system. Like any other success stories, the concept of wireless speakers had some difficulty coming into existence.
Today, as smart speakers arch their way through home entertainment, it becomes more evident how far we’ve gone in the field of audio experience.
Wireless speaker
The receiver is positioned where the listener wants the sound to be, providing the freedom to move the wireless speakers around without the need of using cables. The receiver/speaker unit generally contains an amplifier to boost the audio signal to the loudspeaker; it is powered either by batteries or by an AC electric outlet. The signal frequency range used by wireless speakers is generally the same as that used by cordless telephones – 900 MHz. Many wireless speakers feature variable transmission channels that can be set using a tuning knob to overcome potential RF interference with other nearby wireless devices, such as cordless phones or baby monitors.
Some wireless speakers add a passive radiator to improve low frequency reproduction and achieve deeper sound. Some speakers may benefit from the NFC system to facilitate pairing with the source device.
The higher end models add an LCD screen to make it easier to select and store radio stations. Most wireless speakers have a built-in microphone, which allows to receive and make calls using a mobile phone in hands-free mode.
With the development of voice assistants, manufacturers have integrated the ability to pair them with their devices. This way, commands can be passed to the speaker via the integrated microphone, which will then be executed by the voice assistant.
In this case, the enclosure is completely submersible in water to a depth of 1 meter for half an hour. Its main disadvantage is poor adhesion to the shower wall, which can cause the unit to fall off.
The mounting bracket is the safest system to fix the speaker, but requires drilling a hole in the wall.
history of the bluetooth speaker timeline.
27, 1898, for an improved loudspeaker with nonmagnetic spacers to keep the air gap between the inner and outer poles of a moving coil transducer.
A little history of Bluetooth
It covers everything from audio for wireless headphones and speakers, pairing gaming controllers and keyboards, tethering internet connections, and even occasionally transferring files over the air. At the time, it was designed to replace RS-232 telecommunication cables, a much older standard conceived in 1960, by using short-range UHF radio waves between 2.4 and 2.485 GHz. Although this occupies very similar frequencies to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth has always been designed as a much shorter range and lower power alternative. In 1988 the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed, which to this day publishes and promotes the standard and its subsequent revisions.
Bluetooth SIG initially only included Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba, but reached 4,000 members by the end of its first year. The Bluetooth 1.0 specification also officially launched that year, leading to the release of the first Bluetooth-equipped chipsets, dongles, mice, wireless PC cards, and mobile phones in 2000.
The first Bluetooth mobile phone was the Sony Ericsson T36, but it was the revised T39 model which actually made it to store shelves in 2001. It offered customers a 101 x 54 Monochrome LCD display, tri-band GSM connectivity, WAP internet, and enough memory to store up to 1,000 contacts.
The RS-232 standard was widely used as a computer serial port, catering to internet modems, printers, mice, data storage, and a host of other peripherals. As its proposed replacement, Bluetooth was designed as a flexible packet-based protocol with a wide selection of profiles to suit these applications and more. The 1.0 specification offered peak data speeds of just 721 kbps and connections couldn’t reach much farther than 10 meters. Once you factored in real-world performance, longer-range connection quality, and the rather hefty header packets, the actual data rate available to applications was notably slower.
The standard originally offered profiles for wireless voice and headsets, dial-up networking, fax, and file transfers. It’s the cornerstone of mobile and console gaming controllers, a key component in modern smart home equipment, fitness trackers, and mesh networks that are increasingly useful for industrial applications.
Probably the most common use for Bluetooth in modern products is audio, yet the original standard was never designed for anything close to full bandwidth music.
721 Kbps is enough for a good voice compression codec, even once you discount the header overheads and diminishing real-world speeds at distance, but such limited bandwidth couldn’t hope to cater to anything close Hi-Res audio today or even CD quality at the time. Bluetooth was originally conceived with wireless voice calls in mind but not high-quality music streaming. The Bluetooth specification has undergone numerous revisions since 1999 to improve the standard’s data speeds and connection quality, feature set, and to help accommodate all these new use cases and markets.
Most recently, Bluetooth SIG has been focusing on audio, mesh networking, lower energy profiles, and a longer range for IoT. Bluetooth 5.0 introduced Slot Available Masking to reduce interference with 4G LTE by scheduling data transmissions.
The table below shows when these major features were introduced, and how typical use cases for speed and range have evolved over time. Rather than evolving in a single path, the standard has split into Low Energy and Classic segments since version 4.0. Classic continues to provide a higher data rate for products requiring a constant connection, such as your headphones. The latest Bluetooth 5 revision continues down this path, splitting its improvements for Classic and Low Energy.
This update places a heavy emphasis on boosting the range and data rate of its low energy and long-range options. There is also an equally wide selection of radio power options that offer ranges varying from very short to over 100 meters, and these aren’t locked to any particular standard. It caters to everything from file sharing and device pairing, to wireless music and industrial applications.
Today, the standard is perhaps facing its biggest fork yet, with a dual focus on retaining backward compatibility while also powering increasingly low-energy IoT devices and broad communication mesh networks.
The History of the Speaker
Edison has issued a British patent for a system using compressed air for an amplifying mechanism for his phonographs. Thomas Edison, Magnavox and the Victor Talking Machine Company (maker of the Victrola wind-up phonographs) all developed advanced and well-performing horns. Jensen and Pridham were denied patents, so they changed their target market to radios and public address systems. The two were able to adjust the properties of coils until they lowered the frequency at which the cone’s radiation impedance became uniform, thus replicating noise.
Previous attempts to make the loudspeaker produced unacceptable muffled sounds, but Rice and Kellogg solved the problems that led to nice, crisp audio. This kind of speaker was fine for public address systems offered in 1921, but the sound quality wasn’t good enough for motion pictures just yet.
It used an electromagnet to drive a large paper cone that reproduced the original sound, as it vibrated under the influence of the amplified signal. In 1924, Brunswick Balke Collender Company introduced the first all-electric home phonograph, in cooperation with RCA, Westinghouse, and General Electric.
In 1939, a very large public address system was mounted on a tower at Flushing Meadows during the New York World’s Fair. In 1943, Altec Lansing introduced the 604, which was the famous Duplex driver that dramatically improved sound quality and performance. Altec’s “Voice of the Theatre” loudspeaker system hit the market in 1945, and it offered better clarity and coherence at high volumes, which was important in movie theaters. It was immediately tested by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and made it film house industry standard in 1955.
Today you have many choices of the best center channel speakers for home theater available that can provide you great sound quality and bass. Subsequently, this led to continuous developments in speaker enclosure design for audio quality improvements.
Best Bluetooth speakers 2021: portable speakers for every budget
It’s nothing to do with shortage of options – every online manufacturer from Apple to Ultimate Ears is vying for a bite of the Bluetooth cherry and by association, your hard-earned cash. We’ve done the heavy lifting and rounded-up our pick of the best Bluetooth speakers across all shapes, sizes and prices to ensure you discover a product you’ll be over the moon with. It may sound obvious, but the number one piece of advice we always offer when looking for a Bluetooth speaker is to avoid opting for the first model that catches your eye.
JBL Xtreme 3 JBL’s rugged wireless speaker serves up a sonic surprise Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 13.9 x 29.8 x 13.4cm Power: 100W Features: Bluetooth v5.1, PartyBoost for multiple connections to PartBoost enabled JBL speakers, IP67 rated Connections: 3.5mm, USB-C, USB-A out TODAY’S BEST DEALS Prime £279 View at Amazon £299 View at Richer Sounds £299.99 View at argos.co.uk Reasons to buy + Rugged build + Impressive detail and dynamics + Strong sense of timing Reasons to avoid – No smart features – No hands-free for phone calls
Yes, it’s rugged, it’s IP67 dust- and waterproof certified and you’d be forgiven for thinking at first glance that it might be more preoccupied with the amount of bass it’s producing rather than musical quality. The JBL Xtreme 3 gained five stars across the board during our rigorous in-house testing, never appearing out of its depth no matter how complicated the musical arrangement.
Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 13.8 × 26.9 × 4.7cm Power: : 2 x 25W Features: Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX, apt X HD, USB-out for device charging, battery life of 30 hours Connections: 3.5mm aux, dedicated mains charging port and adapter with UK, EU and US adapter plugs TODAY’S BEST DEALS £299 View at Richer Sounds £299 View at Peter Tyson Low Stock £329 View at Audio Visual Online Reasons to buy + Excellent clarity + Impressive bass weight + Classy build and finish Reasons to avoid – No daisy-chaining for multiple Katch G2s Although portable enough to be your travel speaker (and boasting a stylish retractable travel handle and a 30-hour battery) the Katch G2’s dedicated mains charging port and adapter with bundled UK, EU and US adapter plugs makes it an easy fit for your lounge too – and once there, it’ll sound as detailed, clear and expansive as this money can buy. It’s at the pricey end of the market, yes, but it’s a stone cold stunner, delivering excellent clarity, impressive bass weight and good looks in spades – so much so that we recently handed it a What Hi-Fi? If all you want is a portable Bluetooth speaker that sounds as good as you can currently buy for around £100 ($100, AU$119), you’ll be hard-pressed to better the fantastic Flip 5. Assuming you don’t mind the lack of an aux-in port or inbuilt microphone (as seen in the Flip 4), you’ll almost certainly be wowed by this speaker’s sonic chops. Tribit Stormbox Micro A fun and bubbly Bluetooth speaker that’s serious when it comes to sound Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 9.8 x 9.8 x 3.5cm Power: 9W Features: water/dustproof, Bluetooth 5.0, stereo-pairing mode Connections: 3.5 mm stereo TODAY’S BEST DEALS Prime £42.99 View at Amazon Reasons to buy + Mature, musical sound + Surprisingly weighty bass + USB-C charger Reasons to avoid – Short battery life
It’s hard to imagine a home decor, backpack or personal taste that the Tribit Audio Stormbox Micro couldn’t merge in with happily. Although a speaker of such dimensions is obviously limited in terms of bass weight, it does remarkably well; close your eyes while listening and you’ll picture a bigger product. Take note, Ultimate Ears: a little-known brand called Tribit Audio just produced a budget belter of a Bluetooth speaker. JBL Charge 5 Updated specs and subtle tweaks for JBL’s fifth-generation Charge Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 22 x 9.6 x 9.4cm Power: 30W + 10W tweeter Features: waterproof, Bluetooth v5.1, power bank, voice assistant integration Connections: USB-C, USB-A TODAY’S BEST DEALS Prime £159 View at Amazon £159 View at Richer Sounds £159.99 View at argos.co.uk Reasons to buy + Clearer and more detailed sound + Wider soundstage + Updated dustproofing Reasons to avoid – Nothing at this level
Its predecessor carried an IPX7 rating, meaning it could handle being submerged in water to a depth of 1.5m, but the IP67-rated Charge 5 builds on that durability by also being fully dustproof. Thanks in part to a new 10W tweeter and racetrack-shaped driver, the Charge 5 is currently as good a sound as you can get in a portable Bluetooth speaker design for under £200 ($200, AU$300).
Throw in its classy, well made design, easy to use operation and the bonus of Alexa, and you’re looking at a Bluetooth speaker sequel that has very much been worth the wait. JBL Go 3 JBL’s newest soap-sized speaker sounds good – but the finish and battery life won’t wash with today’s class leaders Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 8.8 x 7.5 x 4.1 Power: 4W Features: Water/dustproof IP67, Bluetooth 5.1 Connections: USB-C TODAY’S BEST DEALS £29.99 View at O2 Mobiles £34 View at Richer Sounds Prime £34.99 View at Amazon Reasons to buy + Sensible treble + Fuller bass + More volume Reasons to avoid – Poor battery life – Not very durable finish
Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 22 x 9.5 x 9.3 Power: 30W Features: waterproof, Bluetooth v4.2, power bank, voice assistant integration Connections: 3.5 mm stereo TODAY’S BEST DEALS Check Amazon 148 Amazon customer reviews ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Reasons to buy + Rugged and water resistant + USB port for charging + Great sound quality Reasons to avoid – Perhaps too subtle for some
Not only is this one of best-sounding Bluetooth speakers around at this end of the market, it serves up a whopping 20 hours of playback from a single charge and, thanks to the arrival of its newest sibling, you’ll find this slightly older model discounted across several retailers. Ultimate Ears has really made a splash in the Bluetooth speaker market with a number of colourful, fun-sounding and portable models. When pressed, it restricts the bass frequencies, allowing the UE to play louder through the midrange, which in turn makes the sound easier to hear when the unit is used outdoors.
Specifications Connectivity: Bluetooth and wi-fi Power: 250W (mains powered) Inputs: analogue audio jack, Toslink optical digital audio Battery life: N/A Dimensions (hwd): 20 x 66 x 18.5cm : Weight: 5.4kg TODAY’S BEST DEALS Check Amazon Reasons to buy + Expansive, weighty and accurate + Great for larger rooms + Top-notch build Reasons to avoid – No AirPlay 2 – No Spotify Connect While the Award-winning Naim (below) just edges it for both subtlety and a slightly livelier sound, there isn’t much in it – and the Dynaudio Music 5 boasts superiority in other ways. Open up the Dynaudio app and you’ll discover NoiseAdapt, a feature that helps sound cut through a noisy room – useful during loud parties. Audio Pro Addon C10 MkII Audio Pro adds Google Cast and AirPlay 2 to a winning recipe Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 16.6 x 32 x 18cm Power: 2x20W + 40W Digital class D Features: wi-fi, multi-room, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2 Connections: RCA, sub out TODAY’S BEST DEALS £349 View at Electricshop Prime £349.62 View at Amazon £359 View at Richer Sounds Reasons to buy + Levelled-up streaming support + Greater clarity + Cleaner and tighter bass Reasons to avoid – Lacks the fun of the original
The 2021 update (sensibly titled MkII) to the three-time Award-winning Audio Pro C10 (also listed, below) adds AirPlay 2 and Google Cast to complete a multi-room home run – and gets itself a What Hi-Fi? We’re happy to report that it’s still the case today – if £500 ($500) is your maximum budget, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a speaker that comes close to the Audio Pro C10 MkII.
We miss the leather handle and fun, slightly rock’n’roll aesthetic and sonic presentation of the original, but we can’t argue with three options for multi-room streaming (AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast and Audio Pro’s own slick and functional app) or the levelled-up grippy bass and improved hi-fidelity performance. The Audio Pro Addon C3 isn’t just the best Bluetooth speaker at this price, it’s a stylish, wi-fi connected, multi-room capable centrepiece – plus it’s a What Hi-Fi?
It has an fantastic sense of refinement for such a small speaker, not to mention a rear-firing bass reflex port that delivers plenty of low-end grunt. This model won’t charge your smartphone but it does feature an ethernet port, giving you the option to hardwire it to your home network. The C3 supports streaming services such as Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz and Apple Music, and while there’s no built-in voice assistant, you can control the speaker via the Alexa app. Remove whatever colour grille you’ve gone for and you’ll be rewarded with upgraded and optimised midrange and bass drive units, all powered by a total of 300W of amplification.
Specifications Dimensions: HxWxD (cm): 11.5 x 21.5 x 13.5 Power: 2x 5W + 15W Digital class D Features: Bluetooth V4.0 Connections: 3.5mm stereo, USB TODAY’S BEST DEALS £179 View at Currys Check Amazon 411 Amazon customer reviews ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Reasons to buy + Full sound + Expressive and dynamic + Faultless build Reasons to avoid – Size won’t suit everyone Audio Pro tends to ignore gimmicks in favour of high-quality sound but this speaker does have the facility to charge up your smartphone or tablets via a USB port.
Specifications Connectivity: Bluetooth Power: Battery Inputs: 3.5mm Battery life: 15hrs Dimensions (hwd): 13.6 x 28.8 x 13.2cm Weight: 2.39kg TODAY’S BEST DEALS Prime £241.90 View at Amazon 8 Amazon customer reviews ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Reasons to buy + Clean, clear sound + Balanced bass + Robust build Reasons to avoid – Hefty design – No wi-fi or multi-room smarts The rugged, IPX7 waterproof exterior, 15 hour battery life and ability to charge your phone from its USB port mean it’s a great option for the beach – and you’ll probably find deals on this model thanks to the arrival of the latest iteration, the Xtreme 3 (above). And it won’t let you talk to Alexa or Google Assistant, just set a button to activate them in the manner of an earphone’s in-line remote. You get Bluetooth, wi-fi and Alexa smart assistant voice controls, meaning you can turn up the volume or play songs through Amazon Music Unlimited without lifting a finger.
The 360-degree sound and bass output is far better than one might expect for this kind of money; throw in Alexa smarts and you have a fun, energetic speaker that offers plenty of bang for your buck. Yes, it is intended to get us all invested in its virtual assistant, Alexa, but where much of the Alexa-enabled kit out there is audio based and concentrated on the Bluetooth speaker market in particular, the Echo Show 5 embraces both sound and video in its abilities to communicate.
Specifications Connectivity: Bluetooth and wi-fi Power: Battery Inputs: N/A Battery life: 16hrs Dimensions (hwd): 23.7 x 8.8 x 8.8cm Weight: 1.19kg TODAY’S BEST DEALS Check Amazon 338 Amazon customer reviews ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Reasons to buy + Dynamic, detailed sound + Enthusiastic, punchy rhythms + Precise, taut basslines Reasons to avoid – Presentation is slightly lean – Not fully featured just yet The Roam works perfectly well as a standalone Bluetooth speaker but it’s also designed to be immersed in the company’s burgeoning multi-room ecosystem. Features includes support for AirPlay 2, voice controls and Sonos’ Trueplay tech, which uses the built-in mic to tune bass and treble to suit your surroundings. Other Bluetooth speakers offer a more expressive and detailed sound but if you’re invested in the world of Sonos, the Roam is a smart buy.
Definition of Bluetooth speaker
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