[Review and Teardown] Arctic Coooling S113BT Bluetooth Speaker

[iamdarkyoshi]

I bought this speaker because it was 74% off, and it no longer no longer is.

 

My comparison will be against my own homemade portable speaker. My homemade unit has a 30W amplifier, and this unit has a 6W amplifier. 

 

Mine

 

Arctic cooling

 

 

So first, how does it sound?

 

So for only 18 bucks I didn't expect a whole lot. But I was surprised. It isn't quite as loud as my homemade speaker, and the highs do not sound as clear, but it still goes quite loud. 

 

The passive radiators are on the back, rather than the front, like mine is. If you put this thing in the corner of a big room, you will be pleasantly surprised. My DIY unit does best with low frequencies in free air, and this one does very well when it has a place for the bass to bounce back and resonate.

 

It does sound kinda plasticy, the sound you get from using a plastic speakerbox. My DIY unit was made from 7/8in particleboard and reinforced with cross braces inside. This is why the batteries and amp had to be mounted externally.

 

What is the build quality like? How is it constructed?

 

Its construction is quite average for today. The speaker grilles are clamped around a piece of plastic, and rather annoyingly, that piece of plastic is SUPERGLUED to the box. This means that although you can get into the box without breaking any stupid glue (The screws are accessible with a thin screwdriver) you will need to pry the front cover/grille off to gain access to the electronics. VERY DISAPPOINTINGLY, the second speaker I got had a messed up cloth between the front grille and plastic thingy. See the teardown, second to last image. It looked ugly from the front so I had to remove it.

 

The halves of the box have a rubber seal around them, which does a very good job sealing the boxes together. The speakers and radiators are glued in using what is probably some sort of epoxy. The wires are very well sealed with some sort of silicone or something. The box halves are decently thick. The outer rubber can be removed by just pulling it off. It is attached with double-sided adhesive.

 

Features? Battery life?

 

First, you can pair it using NFC. Just place your NFC capable phone or tablet on top and it pairs it. RIP Apple users, lol.

 

The page claims an 8 hour battery life. I have not tested this, but the battery looks capable of it. 

 

It has a red and blue LED indicator that is really quite derpy. The front panel has a hole for it to shine through the mesh, but the springy arms on the buttons present a much larger hole, and it just looks dumb.

 

It can be charged using micro USB, and it can play at the same time. It also has a 3.5mm input for devices without bluetooth. Both USB and 3.5mm audio cables are included, as well as a carrying case. The case is quite nice.

 

On the front panel are three buttons, volume up/down or long press to skip tracks, and a pause/call button. It has a microphone so you could potentially make calls with it.

 

Now for the teardown!

 

I wont be posting the images here because I do not see a need to annotate them. Here is an imgur link for the album so I do not need to destroy my sanity adding images here.

 

 

Results?

 

For the price, it cannot be beat. Its a pretty good speaker for less than 20 bucks delivered.

 

Be sure to pick one up, when they are on sale!

[GoldSrc]

Which amp does your homemade one has?

[iamdarkyoshi]

Which amp does your homemade one has?

I used the pam8610 which is a 10Wx2 at 8 ohms and 15Wx2 at four ohms. Really quite incredible amp.

[GoldSrc]

I used the pam8610 which is a 10Wx2 at 8 ohms and 15Wx2 at four ohms. Really quite incredible amp.

Thanks.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Thanks.

speaker is on sale again. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855959008

[GoldSrc]

speaker is on sale again. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855959008

Thanks but I'm the kind of dude who likes to buy stuff and build things for myself, like your homemade one.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Thanks but I'm the kind of dude who likes to buy stuff and build things for myself, like your homemade one.

So am I

[refinedskillz]

What keyboard is that?

[iamdarkyoshi]

What keyboard is that?

Saitek Eclipse II