Brookstone is known for making interesting gadgets and they don’t disappoint with their own indoor/outdoor wireless speaker. If you needed a reminder that this wireless speaker is built to be weather resistant you are reminded of it’s capabilities right away by the floating buoy-like shape the speaker is encased in. Inside the case is a 5 inch woofer and a 1 inch tweeter and a blue mood light to add to the overall coolness factor.
Everything you need to control the Brookstone Wireless Speaker are built directly into the case, including the power button, volume control, and a bass boost button. You may find that the bass boost option is not necessary depending on the type of music you are listening to. Occasionally it may overpower your music making it a little bass heavy. You can simply turn it off if you find this is the case. You can also turn the mood light on and off directly on the speaker. The built-in handle at the top of the speaker makes it easy for you to relocate from the deck to nearby the pool. Moving the wireless speaker around is made easier by using 8 D batteries to power it, or if you don’t want to deal with the batteries you can plug it in to the wall outlet. The design of the speaker pushes the sound out omnidirectional, so you get the same level of sound from 360 degrees around it. There is also an aux input directly on the speaker so you can plug your MP3 player or iPod directly to the speaker without even using the wireless technology.
The transmitter for this system operates in the 900MHZ band and is rated for a maximum range of about 150 foot. You won’t likely see that kind of range unless the transmitter and speaker are within direct line of sight with one another but you can still get a solid distance away from the transmitter and still have quality sound. The transmitter connects directly to your music source using either a standard 3.5mm audio connection or RCA cables and employs Phase Lock Loop technology to cut down on interference. There are 3 channels that you can switch to on both the transmitter and the speaker if you need to adjust for a device in your home that might somehow be interfering. The transmitter does not run on batteries so you will need to plug it into a wall outlet. Once you have everything hooked up and powered on the speaker and transmitter will automatically tune in to one another provided you have the channel setting the same on each one.