Klipsch Groove Bluetooth Speaker

  • A bluetooth speaker for those of discerning tastes
  • 8-hour rechargeable battery will last throughout your Bach-themed pool party
  • Splash resistent, but is it splish-splash resistant?
  • Surprisingly hefty (1.7 lbs), which speaks to its build quality if not its portability
  • Dimensions: 4.5” H x 5.5” W x 2.65” D (about the size of a stack of 6 CDs, if you know what those are)
  • Model: 1062378 (We give companies a hard time for including superfluous alphanumeric strings and hyphens in their model numbers, but relying on numerals alone can muddy your search results with ladybug clipart)
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Branded

For some reason the wireless speaker market is dominated by cheap, decent-sounding, garishly decorated options from no-name brands. Higher-end bluetooth speakers like this Klipsch seem anomalous, even out of place.

But why?

When did we all agree that our portable speakers — unlike our household sound systems or even headphones — should be shitty? Why does this seem like a relatively “high” price for a standalone wireless speaker when it would be dirt cheap for a regular Klipsch speaker?

Similar phenomena can be found in various forms throughout retail. Paying $8 for a crappy battery pack from a brand with an incongruously capitalized name like BIOdeenZ or UMiWatt has become so normalized that paying $30 for a better one from a respected company seems outrageous.

Yet in some areas brand recognition remains crucial. Everybody knows a $50 blender from, say, Blendophilia won’t blend for shit compared to a $500 Vitamix blender. In fact, the brand name carries so much weight in that realm that the product drops altogether from the name and a “Vitamix blender” becomes simply, emphatically a “Vitamix.”

If anything, the brand name for speakers should carry more weight since so much depends on the quality of the sound they produce. Two competing speakers can have nearly identical features and specs yet sound drastically different, so brands like Klipsch stake much of their reputation on crafting beautiful sound.

Online reviews can help inform purchasing, of course, but in the case of products like this they mostly protect against buying a lemon. This Klipsch has solid Amazon reviews, which is great, but what does that really tell you about warmth of sound, tonality, and other things audiophiles talk about?

The best way to test the sound quality of a speaker, of course, is to listen in person. But these days that’s pretty much out of the question unless you’re willing to pay a hefty brick and mortar premium. You need a recommendation from a trustworthy source.

Our own @moose fired up one of these Klipsches and was impressed by the sound quality. And lest you think him a mere huckster, @moose once described knives we were selling as the “crappiest [he] had ever seen.” @moose calls 'em like @moose sees 'em, and this speaker gets the @moose hoof of approval.

You (presumably) wouldn’t buy a new home theater system from a company called SonickMost for $25. You’d trust a known, well-respected brand. Why behave otherwise when buying a bluetooth speaker? Oh, because you’re planning to strap it to your BMX bike and blast the Fuel discography while cruising around the neighborhood? Fair enough.

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