RV001 - Intempo EE1145BLK Stereo Bluetooth Speaker Review

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first in my review posts where I'll be reviewing everything from games, movies and books to other items.

Today, I'm going to be looking at an offering from Intempo that is their EE1145BLK bluetooth stereo speaker...

Intempo EE1145BLK

The Intempo speaker is sleek in its design, housing two speakers powered at 3W per side giving off a stylish look that would look neither out of place in a home nor in a garden. It runs off a rechargeable 600mAh lithium ion battery that lasts from between three to four hours' use at higher volumes.

I picked this one up at B&M for £9.99, half the price I was originally looking to pay for a speaker to play music from my phone through. I must admit, for the longest time I had been sceptical about using the bluetooth connection to play music until buying a fitness bracelet forced me to depend on it to upload the stats to the app.

This particular device is rich in its bass and can handle a tremendous variety of music styles as well, from classical and pop to much harder rock and heavy metal. Though the volume might not be as loud as some might require it, for me it is highly sufficient when I'm moving about my flat. I am yet to test it in noisy, outdoor environments so cannot really comment on that just yet, but expect an update as and when I have done that.

Setting up is easy too with the handy quick-start leaflet that is actually helpful for once. You simply turn the speaker on and, thanks to a pre-recorded voice from the speaker, it tells you what state it is in whether ready to connect via Bluetooth or not.

There are three function buttons on the unit itself; power, volume up and volume down and they double up in function as follows:-

• The power button acts as a "call answer" function giving you a useful hands-free speaker as well as a music speaker;
• The volume up key skips forward a track; and
• The volume down key skips back a track

However, a cautionary note I will add here is that to change the volume, the manufacturers have opted to tie that function to a "long-press", or press-and-hold, of the relevant volume button meaning that you can accidentally skip a track when you only wanted to change the volume.

Where the Intempo speaker struggles, and this is a complete surprise to me, is on the low end as there is quite a fair amount of distortion from both speakers. Normally, I would have expected this to be at the top end when the music coming through is too loud for the tiny speakers to cope with. However, there is quite a lot of crackle that can be very disconcerting and distracting if you are too close to it.

What I recommend to cope with this is that you simply keep it a reasonable distance from wherever you are as when the music picks up in volume, you don't notice it and the sound is completely fine, it's sharp, crystal clear and has a very deep bass to it. Just don't expect miracles for a speaker that costs, as of this review, £9.99 from B&M.

As far as connections go, you have the options of using an auxiliary cable, which is a bonus should you not wish to utilise the bluetooth connection as not all speakers provide this functionality. Admittedly, I am yet to test this product with a wired as opposed to a wireless connection to see how that affects things like total play time comparing the two.

What I do like, though as a bonus, is the fact that the speaker even have a USB slot for either hooking up a USB compatible music device or even a USB stick to play through. It's quite versatile in respect to the connection options. Charging is done via a micro-USB port on the back and the speaker comes pre-packaged with both a micro-USB charging cable and an auxiliary cable, which I think is a nice touch.

It is available on Amazon to buy for £12.99, so if you are looking for a budget speaker that performs but is not too expensive then I would go for this particular product, just choose B&M as you save £3!

If, however, you are a sound connoisseur, then maybe it'll be worth paying a little bit more for a more expensive model as the distortion can be quite a distraction if you are too close during the quieter parts of the music you listen to. I cannot vouch for any of those more expensive models in the Intempo range, just this one, yet I wanted you to be fully aware of what you are getting yourself in for should you decide to part with your hard-earned cash.

For more on this product, see the link provided at the top of this review before I move onto my final rating.

Final Rating

This speaker, then, with its low price and good performance for the money I paid for it, is one that I would recommend for the casual listener. You will be able to set it up in no time and will be bluetoothing your music your home in no time at all!

So what's my verdict?

4 out of 5

If you want a speaker that will play your music quite well around the home then go for this one as at this price, I cannot really fault it. Personally, I would have liked it if the battery lasted a little longer, but then that all depends on how loud you have the music.

===TLP===