House of Marley Get Together 2 XL evaluate: loud, proud, and made for a crowd

MSRP $400.00

“Loud enough for a party, stylish enough for your home.”

Pros

• NIce construct with sustainable supplies
• Great and loud sound high quality
• Wireless and fairly cellular
• Stereo and multi-speaker pairing
• Decent battery life

Cons

• Shoulder strap would’ve been good
• App cannot arrive quickly sufficient
• Mics solely work at quick distances

When it involves discovering a Bluetooth speaker, it’s much less a matter of the place to seek out one, and extra what sort of measurement you’re searching for. Do you want one thing moveable to take with you wherever or one thing large that packs a increase you’ll be able to take pleasure in at louder volumes? House of Marley (HoM) gives the latter, with a touch of the previous within the Get Together 2 XL, a much bigger speaker you should utilize wirelessly, and to a point, with mobility in thoughts — regardless of its 12.6-pound body.

It’s additionally the loudest in HoM’s lineup, to not point out among the many costliest at $400. Its mere identify implies this large man can deal with serenading a crowd by blasting out as much as 60 watts of energy. If you have got the inclination to play some louder tunes in a wide range of areas, HoM needs you to get along with others to take action.

I’ve lengthy admired the main target HoM applies in utilizing sustainable supplies to craft its units, particularly bamboo. It is probably not actual wooden right here, however to me, utilizing bamboo instead harkens again to how wooden was as soon as a mainstay in constructing audio system in previous eras till plastics left them behind. Seeing it in one thing fashionable is aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. The firm’s Rewind material seems like a pleasant complement, whereas the Regrind silicone and recycled aluminum inside present that reusing supplies can result in one thing each useful and interesting. Even the packaging is totally recyclable, freed from any plastic.

The Get Together 2 XL has two one-inch tweeters, two four-inch woofers, and a big passive radiator located within the again. The dimensions are modest at 7.52 x 17.72 x 7.09 inches, and whilst you can moderately transfer it round, it’s the form of speaker you would possibly merely find yourself leaving in a single spot more often than not. The sides have slits with built-in rods, ostensibly to connect a shoulder strap. HoM doesn’t really make one however indicated to me that it might be coming someday in 2023.

It is clearer why HoM put in a number of plugs, masking North America, Europe, the U.Okay., Australia, and New Zealand. If you ever needed to take this speaker with you on a visit, you’re all set with native plugs. Mind you, there’s an added benefit in taking the wall charger and corresponding plug with you to any of these locations to additionally cost different units throughout a visit — particularly when the charger has two ports, one USB-A and one USB-C. Why purchase an adapter when this factor will do? With USB-C and USB-A charging ports on the speaker itself, there are much more choices for juicing your units.

HoM doesn’t make issues difficult right here. You flip the speaker on, it goes into pairing mode, you pair it together with your cellphone or laptop, and also you’re good to go. As of now, there is no such thing as a app to make use of with it, as the prevailing Marley app isn’t suitable with the Get Together 2 XL. The firm informed me that may change in 2023 when it is going to launch an app to work with a wide range of its merchandise, however I bought no different particulars.

As I began listening to music on the speaker, I learn via the short begin information to go over a few of the options and capabilities and seen a few issues. The major energy and quantity knob has an LED round it to point standing. It blinks blue when in pairing mode, stable blue when linked, crimson when in Aux mode by way of the Aux-In port within the again, and blinking crimson when charging by way of the USB-C port. Press the EQ mode button subsequent to it to cycle via three modes: signature, bass enhance, and acoustic.

The corresponding colours didn’t match, although. The information listed inexperienced for bass enhance and purple for acoustic. For me, in observe, they have been in reverse, and once I introduced this to HoM’s consideration, they acknowledged it was a mistake affecting the primary batch of audio system launched however {that a} firmware replace would align the modes with their corresponding colours for all upcoming shipments. It’s not instantly clear whether or not or not you’d see the identical situation I did, however in case you do for no matter purpose, you understand why. With an app, this may be a straightforward repair HoM might roll out to everybody, however as-is, the corporate might want to rectify it another means.

The different buttons are easy, with play/pause flanked by observe repeat and skip buttons. Since you should utilize the Get Together 2 XL as a speakerphone, you’ll be able to take calls and chat hands-free. While the microphones are respectable, they aren’t far to the diploma of, say, an Amazon Echo Studio or Sonos Move. The speaker’s Bluetooth vary is 30 toes, whereas the microphone vary — no less than for readability — is significantly lower than that. Beyond 10 toes, callers have been telling me I sounded slightly too distant, so I discovered the most effective outcomes have been both up shut or inside a 10-foot radius.

HoM’s Get Together 2 XL isn’t a sensible speaker, however you’ll be able to type of make it one by urgent the play/pause button for 2 seconds to lift your cellphone’s voice assistant. Its utility is restricted by the exact same factors I made about cellphone calls, so whilst you can entry your assistant, you’ll be able to’t speak to it from too distant. Plus, it’s a guide course of, in that you need to press the button on the speaker because the mic isn’t at all times listening for wake phrases. All of that is pretty just like the Sony XG300, a wonderful speaker for taking audio with you, but it doesn’t journey fairly as far when utilizing the mics for speaking.

Once the music performs, it turns into apparent how loud this factor can go. HoM went for a booming soundstage to justify the aim behind this speaker, which is why I bought the impression the signature EQ mode is extra bass-friendly. Bass enhance takes that up a notch, including an actual rumble to the sound that cuts down the highs slightly so as to add the additional oomph. Acoustic mode is fairly good for orchestral and guitar tracks, although it additionally turned my desire for podcasts, as a result of the tuning clearly emphasizes voices greater than the others tended to do.

I used to be fairly stunned by how a lot readability HoM managed to use all through. It has some extent the place distortion begins to set in, but the crackle and sibilance weren’t as audible as I might’ve anticipated at such excessive volumes. Assuming you have been to maintain quantity from the default 50% and keep inside vary to 80%, you’d be hitting the sweetest spots. Above that, issues get actually loud, and possibly it’s greatest for both bigger indoor areas or taking it outdoors. The Get Together 2 XL isn’t all that ruggedized with its IP65 safety, so I wouldn’t essentially carry it to the seashore however would really feel completely fantastic with it within the park or yard, pool or no pool.

If you wish to get even louder, you’ll be able to stereo-pair two of those audio system collectively for correct left and proper channels. Another possibility is to make use of Multi Pair Mode to synchronize two or extra of them collectively, particularly if it’s essential cowl a wider space and house them out. I didn’t get to check out any of the pairing setups, so can’t inform you precisely how loud or efficient they’d be, but it surely’s nice that you’ve that selection. While not terribly troublesome to handle primarily based on the directions, an app would’ve simplified the method much more.

If you have been seeking to go actually loud for comparable prices towards two of HoM’s audio system, the Soundboks Go is made for outside occasion conditions greater than this speaker is, and you can too pair greater than a type of the identical means via an app. Not to say Soundboks makes a shoulder strap for it, although the Go is significantly larger than the Get Together 2 XL.

As a lot as I loved listening to HoM’s speaker, I additionally favored the way it regarded, feeling it was a pure match for any room décor. Again, being a fan of bamboo, the wood-like paneling within the entrance is nearly like mashing up retro and fashionable styling collectively. That’s one thing different louder Bluetooth audio system don’t at all times have.

At first, I thought of placement close to a wall outlet as essential however then dithered on that afterward once I began transferring it round. It’s not a very cellular speaker to select up and set down wherever. Its footprint simply doesn’t make that simple to start with, however I might work with charging it in a single place after which positioning it elsewhere the place proximity to an outlet didn’t matter.

HoM charges battery life at as much as 20 hours per cost, however for one thing that will get this loud, that’s by no means going to occur. It was exhausting for me to quantify battery life given how usually I used to be adjusting quantity, however on a scale of 60-80%, I reckon you’ll be able to count on about 16 hours on the quieter facet and 12 hours on the louder one. It can even change in the event you’re utilizing the speaker’s USB-A or -C ports to cost a cellphone or different cellular machine. I’m throwing out approximates, so these numbers might range, however I wish to mood expectations because the firm talks up battery life lots for the Get Together 2 XL. The excellent news is it expenses up comparatively shortly. I went from empty to full in about two hours, solidifying my selection in leaving the speaker away from an outlet.

At this worth vary, the Get Together 2 XL earns its maintain as each a louder Bluetooth speaker and a lovely audio machine that matches in nicely wherever you wish to put it. You are paying additional due to how loud it might get, and to justify the $400 you’d need to spend on it, you want to have the ability to pump up the amount with some regularity. If you’re routinely going to pay attention at decrease volumes, there are many options that received’t burn as large a gap in your pocket.

It additionally is dependent upon whether or not you need ancillary options. Do you care about speaking to your voice assistant hands-free? Would you favor a speaker with an app accessible now, relatively than ready for one? Would you have got most well-liked a shoulder strap got here included within the field? All legitimate factors, however they don’t finally detract from what the Get Together 2 XL can ship, so if audio muscle in a pleasant body is what you take note of, this one received’t disappoint.

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