High end Bluetooth Speaker bargain heads up

[watchcollector1]

This Samsung Vl550 / VL5 bluetooth speaker tuned by AKG (part of Harman Kandon group) was originally launched at £599 around 18 months ago. All the reviews I've seen say that the sound is great even at that price. It's a Which best buy with 85% (again reviewed at full price).

Now it's available at £200 new from some sellers and £159 from this Ebay seller (no affiliation so I can't vouch for them).

I just purchased one from Currys Ebay site for £200 and can confirm the sound is superb. Now it's gone up to £500 at Currys but like I say still available for £200 or less elsewhere

Clearly it's not been successful given the discounts so what's the downsides? It's large (1/2 metre width) and heavy (5kg) and mains powered only so more of a speaker for a table for a shelf or wall mounted. Unlike most bluetooth speakers it has stereo sound not mono though.

Also I believe wifi connection only works with a Samsung phone but still has bluetooth and aux connection for other phones.

At this price it's a no brainer for the sound though!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F264399280023

Review:

https://www.hifichoicemag.com/conten...reless-speaker

[burnside]

Looks good, could you link it to a smart tv and use it as an extra speaker / soundbar?

Best,

Ben

[broxie]

Reviews and comments here - https://www.avforums.com/threads/sam...irect.2241204/

[burnside]

Thanks.

I haven't got a Samsung TV but would look to link it to my Hisense TV, Alexa dot and iPhone.

It looks pretty good at the reduced price.

[watchcollector1]

Also reviewed as a sound bar alternative here:

https://youtu.be/ywWnkXkdHXk


If you were planning to wall mount it up high bear in mind that it has quite a large power pack on the mains cable about a metre from the speaker and then another metre of cable from the power pack to the plug.

[burnside]

I'd probably have it on the floor in front of the TV or in the fireplace.

[burnside]

Ordered one for £159.99, worth a punt at that price!

[PhilipK]

This Samsung Vl550 / VL5 bluetooth speaker tuned by AKG (part of Harmon Kandon group)

Both Harman and AKG are now just brand names and are wholly owned by Samsung.

[burnside]

Phillips,

Thanks, what do you think of the speaker?

Best,

Ben

[watchcollector1]

Both Harman and AKG are now just brand names and are wholly owned by Samsung.

Samsung bought the whole company not just the brand names.

[hogthrob]

Samsung bought the whole company not just the brand names.

Shades of Victor Kiam there (if you remember him!)

[Brian]

Thanks for the heads up

just ordered the VL350 for 89£

what a deal

B

[watchcollector1]

Thanks for the heads up

just ordered the VL350 for 89£

what a deal

B

Fantastic price! Please let us know how it sounds as I'm thinking of getting one for the kitchen.

[Brian]

Fantastic price! Please let us know how it sounds as I'm thinking of getting one for the kitchen.

Mine has arrived and I had a play around today with amazon music from the iphone via bluetooth to the VL350.

1st impression for classical piano and light orchestral is good high end sound but perhaps a tiny bit light on Bass.

Rock music is Good clear sound not too bright and quite stable as volume increases - it is a heavy box so it doesn't bounce around on my desk.

For a kitchen I would say ideal - it is about 8" square give or take and the puck remote control is magnetic so can attached to the fridge or whatever. I got the grey.

The adapter and cable are "white" and there is a wall mount bracket.

There is no mini USB cable in the box for charging the puck - so you will need one of those.

for 89 £ I reckon it is a good but and I may consider another one.

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.


B

[burnside]

Good to hear.

My VL550 arrives tomorrow according to shipping info. Looking forward to setting it up and putting a bit of classical music on while I bang through my emails of despair!

[watchcollector1]

Mine has arrived and I had a play around today with amazon music from the iphone via bluetooth to the VL350.

1st impression for classical piano and light orchestral is good high end sound but perhaps a tiny bit light on Bass.

Rock music is Good clear sound not too bright and quite stable as volume increases - it is a heavy box so it doesn't bounce around on my desk.

For a kitchen I would say ideal - it is about 8" square give or take and the puck remote control is magnetic so can attached to the fridge or whatever. I got the grey.

The adapter and cable are "white" and there is a wall mount bracket.

There is no mini USB cable in the box for charging the puck - so you will need one of those.

for 89 £ I reckon it is a good but and I may consider another one.

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.


B

Thanks for the information. Glad it worked out. Did you get the V351 (grey)?

I am tempted to get one or maybe even another Vl550.

Have you tried linking it up to a smart speaker like Alexa? Just curious as to how much it improves the sound for music.

[Kitz]

There is Bluetooth and then again Bluetooth . I use an Arcam-rBlink feeding a Primare amp and Audio Physic speakers and it sounds fab , but then my ears are older than average.



Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app

[David_D]

Daft laddie question! Can I cast radio and podcasts from an iPhone to these?

Thanks

[Brian]

Daft laddie question! Can I cast radio and podcasts from an iPhone to these?

Thanks

If you are listening to anything on an iphone - turn on bluetooth.connect to the speaker by pressing the bluetooth button on the speaker for 5 seconds/ connect up will be spoken by the speaker and voila whatever you are listening to will be through the speaker.

B

[David_D]

Thanks!

If you are listening to anything on an iphone - turn on bluetooth.connect to the speaker by pressing the bluetooth button on the speaker for 5 seconds/ connect up will be spoken by the speaker and voila whatever you are listening to will be through the speaker.

B

[Bondurant]

Can you not just connect them via Bluetooth?

[watchcollector1]

Can you not just connect them via Bluetooth?

I can but wifi is supposed to be better for sound quality, plus I wanted to have multi room functionality.

[hafle]

So any feedback having used them for a bit? (vl550)

I've placed a cheeky bid for one as the cheap as chips creative job I have is pretty darn naff, but at this kind of price point I'm not after something that'll drop connection and so on!

[hughtrimble]

So any feedback having used them for a bit? (vl550)

I've placed a cheeky bid for one as the cheap as chips creative job I have is pretty darn naff, but at this kind of price point I'm not after something that'll drop connection and so on!

I've found it very good indeed for casual audio, and great for TV but only when using the optical audio connection (Bluetooth and WiFi result in too much lag, though this is a known issue for lots of similar tech when you have the keen reference point of lip synch).

I'd buy again at the sub 200 I paid. It's honestly a good looking device too, which is an added bonus on top of the sound quality (again, for the heavily discounted price).

[hafle]

I've found it very good indeed for casual audio, and great for TV but only when using the optical audio connection (Bluetooth and WiFi result in too much lag, though this is a known issue for lots of similar tech when you have the keen reference point of lip synch).

I'd buy again at the sub 200 I paid. It's honestly a good looking device too, which is an added bonus on top of the sound quality (again, for the heavily discounted price).

Thanks for that.

[Bryn]

Apologies for necroing this thread, but I've just bought myself one of these Samsung speakers (a VL350) and am also trying to work out how to play things over the wifi. Did anyone work out how to play stuff other than Deezer and TuneIn (neither of which I use) from the SmartThings app?

[hughtrimble]

The remote puck for my Samsung AKG VL550 no longer connects to the speaker - it suggests it's paired, but doesn't actually do any volume control or muting. It flashes white like it's waiting to pair, whilst the speaker states it is paired. Paired it four times now, with the same result.

Anyone else had this issue with any resolution?

[watchcollector1]

The remote puck for my Samsung AKG VL550 no longer connects to the speaker - it suggests it's paired, but doesn't actually do any volume control or muting. It flashes white like it's waiting to pair, whilst the speaker states it is paired. Paired it four times now, with the same result.

Anyone else had this issue with any resolution?

Have you tried recharging it?

[hughtrimble]

Have you tried recharging it?

Thank you for the suggestion - I have now done so, but no change unfortunately.

[watchcollector1]

Thank you for the suggestion - I have now done so, but no change unfortunately.

Have you tried the reset button in the Puck and / or the troubleshooting guide in the manual?

[burnside]

I believe I can use a cable (aux) or Bluetooth to link it to my TV.

[junglebert]

It's worth bearing in mind that bluetooth speakers and headphones offer inferior sound quality to their cabled counterparts. That's why all high end speakers are used with high end speaker cable. However if you're willing to sacrifice sound quality in favour of convenience, bluetooth is for you.

The word High End is often used incorrectly for eg this subject. If you want to know about what defines a high end speaker look no further than: http://www.avalonacoustics.com/

Indeed, high end, and Bluetooth don’t go together.

[burnside]

Very nice but as I can't see a price I'm guessing they are a little outside of my budget.

Hopefully the Samsung speaker will give a good account of itself.

[watchcollector1]

It's worth bearing in mind that bluetooth speakers and headphones offer inferior sound quality to their cabled counterparts. That's why all high end speakers are used with high end speaker cable. However if you're willing to sacrifice sound quality in favour of convenience, bluetooth is for you.

The word High End is often used incorrectly for eg this subject. High End and Bargain are incompatible concepts. If you want to know about what defines a high end speaker look no further than: http://www.avalonacoustics.com/

Agreed bluetooth will always be a compromise, that's why I normally connect with an aux cable, although the VL5 still sounds great over bluetooth too.

In terms of wider audio this isn't high end but that's a whole other world. I meant more high end in comparison to other bluetooth speakers (although I know they can run into thousands too).