Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100
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Win a Bluetone 100 Bluetooth Speaker from Cambridge Audio and TUAW
You may remember my review of Cambridge Audio's Bluetone 100 Bluetooth speaker last month. The Bluetone 100 is a 100-watt true stereo speaker that delivers the best sound I've ever heard out of a Bluetooth speaker, and it earned a four star rating out of four stars possible. Well, thanks to Cambridge Audio and TUAW, you're going to have a chance to win one of these amazing speakers valued at US$299.99. As usual, it's easy to enter our giveaway. Here are the rules: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before October 27 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing and will receive a Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100 speaker valued at US$299.99 Click Here for complete Official Rules. \Loading...\
Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100: Room-filling, thrilling sound
If the recent glut of Bluetooth speaker reviews on TUAW is any indication, it might be time to change our name to "The Unofficial Bluetooth Speaker Weblog". We've reviewed quite a few low-end Bluetooth speakers, including the surprisingly good $26 Inateck BP2001, but we rarely see speakers at the other end of the spectrum. Today I'm looking at the Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100 (US$299.99), a 100 Watt speaker designed to let you fill any sized room with pure amplified sound. Specifications Dimensions: 13.9 x 7.2 x 4.6 inches (354 x 182 118 mm) Weight: 9 lbs. (4.1 kg) Amplifier power output: 100W Standby power consumption: <0.5W Drive units: 2 x 100mm (4 inch) Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers Input voltage: 100V - 240V (50/60Hz), AC cords for all major markets included. Design Unlike a lot of the Bluetooth speakers we review here at TUAW, the Bluetone 100 isn't designed for portable use. It doesn't have an interior battery, and at 9 pounds you're not exactly going to want to drop it into your backpack for a trip to the park. This baby is designed for in-home or in-office use, and that's where it excels. The Bluetone 100 is very attractive, featuring one color - black - and a case that will be at home in any study, office, kitchen or family room. All of the controls are on top of the case; on one side are a power button and volume up/down controls, while on the other are source buttons for Aux, MP3, and Bluetooth. Cambridge Audio used a different kind of Bluetooth into this speaker. Called aptX Bluetooth, it means that it can receive high resolution music streams from devices that support that standard, or use regular Bluetooth from most other devices. Most of the owners of the Bluetone 100 will use Bluetooth to stream music to the speaker, but there are RCA and 3.5mm inputs on the back if you'd prefer to connect some other device to it. The Bluetone 100 uses patented Balanced Mode Radiator speaker drivers (two at 4 inches diameter each) that move both in and out like traditional drivers, and also horizontally. There's a Class D amp pushing power to the drivers, and built-in digital sound processing ensures clean and loud music. Functionality With speakers and headphones, the proof of quality is just how good the sound is to the listener. As usual, I'll throw out my caveat that how my ears discern sound from a particular source is not exactly how your ears are going to hear it. What I may think sounds great, you may think is dull and lifeless. Setup is quick: you just plug in the Bluetone 100 and a tiny LED in the front speaker grill goes from red to flashing blue indicating that it wants to pair with a device. With a tap on the device name in Bluetooth settings, it's paired. Select the Bluetone 100 from AirPlay, and you're ready to go. As you'd expect from Cambridge Audio, the Bluetone 100 provides excellent sound reproduction. There's a bass adjustment on the back of the speaker, so if you want a bit more "thump" with your music, a twist can provide it. Not being dependent on a puny battery pack, the Bluetone can really be cranked up, too - enough to upset cats. While other speakers seem to "stutter" and lose Bluetooth connectivity easily, the Bluetone 100 never dropped a connection at any time during my testing. I wondered if that was attributable to my new iPhone 6 Plus or the Bluetone 100, so I tried from an older device. To pair with the other device - an iPad 3 - all I needed to do was tap the Bluetooth button on the speaker to make it discoverable. It appears that it is all the Bluetone's electronics that are making it so stutter-free, as the old device worked just fine -- even well beyond the usual advertised 33 foot range of Bluetooth. Conclusion Anyone in the market for a high-quality Bluetooth speaker with top-of-the-line sound reproduction should seriously consider the Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100. I found nothing at all to dislike about this speaker, and it's well worth the $300 price tag. After listening to the Bluetone 100, I'm not sure I can ever go back to a portable Bluetooth speaker. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible
Cambridge Audio releases three new wireless speakers
Cambridge Audio creates speaker products that are usually quite well-received by the press and by users. Last year, the company released the Minx Go and Minx Air 100 speakers, both of which were given a glowing review here on TUAW. Cambridge Audio isn't resting on its laurels; the company today announced the release of three new speakers: The Cambridge Audio Go v2 (US$179.99), Go Radio ($199.99), and the new Bluetone 100 Wireless Speakers ($299.99) all bring the company's commitment to great audio to a new level. The Go v2 adds a built-in battery pack to last year's edition, perfect for topping off your electronics or just getting up to 18 hours of battery life. The device now remembers Bluetooth pairings with up to eight devices for easy handoff and still has the amazing Digital Signal Processing technology of the first version. Go Radio (seen at the top of this post) adds both an FM radio and NFC Bluetooth pairing to the original Minx Go, and also has the big battery of the Go v2. But the best-sounding speakers in the new batch are the Bluetone 100 Wireless Speakers, which combine AirPlay, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatibility, 100 Watt Class-D amplification, and two 4-inch wide-dispersion balanced mode radiators with the Cambridge Audio DSP technology for loud, crisp, and fill sound quality. We'll have a review of the Bluetone 100 Wireless Speakers soon.
