[Armaegis]

  I hear ya! In the grand scheme of audio systems, $500 or so is not that much. but when you look at the size of the hunk of metal or plastics you are getting, you are totally right!
Some of these options are only 200bux, so thats cheerful!

And then you have those wallet crushing monsters like the Devialet Phantom... 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Just for grins, I'd be willing to do a video of the JVC on my iPhone.
I've never done a video, but I've been wanting to, and this might just be a good enough reason.

Ok, here ya go. 
The iPhone video capture and upload to Youtube was easier than I thought it would be.
Please ignore the dent on the metal face   

https://youtu.be/Cp8Tt9czDRs

[Bob in St. Louis]

Oh... I'm 6' away when the dbl was taken.
Also, those are passive radiators on the sides, not drivers.
I tried to get it in a spot where there was no boundary reinforcement. "No cheating".
When there is some, I can use it in my driveway, 50' away and it's plenty loud.
Hope that helps.

[BobM]

This is WAY under your price range, but I bought the wife a JBL "Charge II" about a year ago.
The bass in incredible, and from an "audiophile" perspective, I'm very happy. Fill s the room with plenty of sound.
Work great outside too, but I do have boundary reinforcement in mind for placement location.
Heavy little unit too, feels like a brick.

I got one too for Christmas to bring down to Florida with us. Couldn't be happier, but make sure you are buying the real thing. There are a lot of Chinese counterfeits out there and they sound like crap.

[Bob in St. Louis]

The Chinese tend to rip off and screw up a lot of things. Copyrights mean nothing to them. 
Thanks for the heads-up.

[jriggy]

Hey, thanks for the vid Bob!

That thing sounds pretty sweet.

With all the other important projects going and coming up that pp may be the ticket...at least for now.

~J

[Bob in St. Louis]

Cool, glad I could help! 

[Bob in St. Louis]

*BUMP*

Curious what you bought and what you think of it.
That JBL I recommended is less than half the price I originally paid for it. A steal as far as I'm concerned.

So on the weekends, the wife and I are always fighting over who gets the speaker so today she finally caved and said "Get another speaker".
Game on. 
As much as I love the "JBL Charge II", I must expand my horizons and see what else is out there, so I bought a "Marshall".
(Yea, like the Marshall stacks) 

I'll letcha know how it turns out.
---> Marshall Acton M-ACCS-10126 <---
It's Bluetooth or corded, as shown in the image.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ohh... and it's got tone controls too. 

[vlad335]

I bought this off Amazon for $59 two months ago and it sounds excellent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J4HCBZG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Seems its no longer available now?) Great bass and very smooth sounding. SIXTY DOLLARS! What?

With this I was intrigued and purchased the JBL Extreme from Bestbuy this afternoon. I want to be able to cover a larger area.
Unfortunately, sound quality between the HyperXL and the JBL isnt even close. The JBL gets alot louder buts its all lows and highs. The bass is boosted and isnt natural sounding at all. Even my wife said, "The little one sounds a lot better." Its going back.

Now the search continues. I want the same or better sound quality as the Hyper XL but more volume.

[mca]

I just ordered a JBL Charge II to use with my Alexa Dot. Hope it sounds better than my Jawbone Jambox, that thing sounds like a tin can.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I just ordered a JBL Charge II to use with my Alexa Dot. Hope it sounds better than my Jawbone Jambox, that thing sounds like a tin can.

Good to hear, please let us know how you like it.

[mfsoa]

I have a Deep Blue  2 (brother is a Peachtree dealer) and I like it.  Wifey uses it for her yoga classes. This thing makes unbelievable bass. Good for indoors or small outdoor gigs but won't fill a stadium.

[jriggy]

*BUMP*

Curious what you bought and what you think of it.
That JBL I recommended is less than half the price I originally paid for it. A steal as far as I'm concerned.

So on the weekends, the wife and I are always fighting over who gets the speaker so today she finally caved and said "Get another speaker".
Game on. 
As much as I love the "JBL Charge II", I must expand my horizons and see what else is out there, so I bought a "Marshall".
(Yea, like the Marshall stacks) 

I'll letcha know how it turns out.
---> Marshall Acton M-ACCS-10126 <---
It's Bluetooth or corded, as shown in the image.

Hey Bob,

As much as I appreciated all the suggestions, I ended up not getting anything. The big move, set-up of new home AND prepping the old place for market took over our lives... the big rig is sounding so good in its new room and it projects quite well through the somewhat open floor plan.

I might think on this again later in the year...

Thanks for all the help guys!

[Bob in St. Louis]

No worries. Good thread anyway. I'll update with my thoughts on the Marshall, in the interest of continuity, just in case folks reference this in the future.
Hope you get things calmed down and get some more time and money to buy more audio stuff. 

[jriggy]

You called it right there, Bob! Me too! As my LIO wants to weigh more

[chgolatin2]

Wow, the prices on these things seem to be neither cheap nor cheerful !!!!!

I was thinking the same thing~ lol

[Bob in St. Louis]

Well, I've received the Marshall "Action" speaker. I must say the sound quality is eyebrow raising. It is better than the JBL "Charge II", but it's also twice the size and twice the price, so there's that.

Seems I was unaware of the fact that when you search for portable Bluetooth speakers, that you must also pay attention to the fact that they're aren't necessarily battery powered. Yes indeed, the "Action" requires a wall outlet, so portability is out the window.... 

I've got 30 days (Amazon Prime) to return it. The fact it had bass and treble adjustments, and it fills a very large area with a quality sound, I'll have to take advantage of that 30 days to determine if I want to send it back. The sex appeal of having a little piece of a "mini Marshall stack" combined with what it does do so well makes it hard to box it up and send it back just because it has a leash.

[srb]

Seems I was unaware of the fact that when you search for portable Bluetooth speakers, that you must also pay attention to the fact that they're aren't necessarily battery powered. Yes indeed, the "Action" requires a wall outlet, so portability is out the window.... 

You have to be careful of Goggle search results, but on the Marshall Headphones website under "Portable", only the Stockwell and Kilburn are listed.

The "Acton" (although I'm sure you've put into "Action"  ) is closest to the portable Kilburn.  Although both appear to have the same 4" woofer and 2 X 3/4" tweeters, the Kilburn is very slightly smaller and less powerful - 25W (5W + 5W + 15W) vs. the Acton's 41W (8W + 8W +25W).  What you get in return is 20 hours battery playback time @ 50% volume.

The Kilburn retails for $50 more than the Acton, but is available refurbished from Amazon for the same price.

Steve

[Armaegis]

Well... you could always get a portable AC power pack.