14 Best Powered Speakers of 2019

The main focus should be on the audio quality because you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a speaker that doesn’t produce music up to your standards. There are multiple specs you can look into to determine if a speaker outputs high-quality audio:

• Frequency response: having an ultra-wide frequency response is ideal because this allows the drivers to produce more notes in a beat. Therefore, the music will have a lot more detail and sound lifelike. The average frequency response is 20 Hz – 20k Hz, which is great as the highs and lows have depth. However, if you want more detail consider a wider frequency response.
• Built-in EQ: having a built-in equalizer is a huge bonus because you can tune the audio to your preferences. Most powered speakers have dials that you can turn to increase/decrease the treble or bass. Moreover, if you’re unsure of how to tune the drivers some speakers come with audio presets.
• Power: make sure to check the power of the speaker because this determines how loud the drivers can output music. Above 500 watts is great since this means the audio can get super loud. However, you must make sure that you’re looking at the RMS power and not the peak power. Having high RMS is more important than peak power because RMS tells you how load the music can get consistently without distortion.

The speaker brand is super important because this is a good indicator of how good the audio device is going to be. Going with a well-known brand is ideal since they will have a good track record of producing excellent products. Also, bigger brands tend to give out long warranties for free, which means you’ll save money as you don’t need to purchase one separately.

You can go with a lesser known brand, but make sure to do the research beforehand. You can find out whether or not if the speaker is good by checking online reviews and reading what experiences other people had. Make sure that the majority of the reviews are positive because otherwise, the product isn’t good. Also, you can watch online unboxing videos to get an idea of what to expect upon ordering.

The method you choose to connect to your speaker plays a big role since some methods are far better than others. Here are some of the main connection methods you’ll use:

• Bluetooth: playing music with Bluetooth is one of the best methods because you require no wires and only a Bluetooth device. Check the Bluetooth version because the newer ones have better connections and longer ranges. Also, make sure that you keep the Bluetooth device and speaker near each other for stable connections.
• AUX: for non-Bluetooth devices you can connect with an AUX cable, which delivers high-quality audio depending on the wire. However, make sure that the cable you use has no tears and is made from premium materials because otherwise, the transmitted sound waves can get distorted.
• USB stick: some speakers will let you insert a USB stick to play music. Depending on the size of the USB stick you can store thousands of songs.
• SD card: much like the USB stick you can store thousands of songs onto the device to play music. However, if the speaker doesn’t have a shuffle feature the music will play in order every time you turn on the speaker.
• RCA: with RCA cables you can connect to a stereo, which presents you with multiple methods of connection. Connecting to a stereo is super easy because it usually only requires two RCA cables.

The speaker should be easy and practical to use since you don’t want to spend time figuring out how to use the device. Some speakers have LED screens with buttons at the front, which tells you the status of the speaker and lets you customize the audio. Also, you can take the front grill off the speaker to reveal the drivers to give a unique look.

Furthermore, purchasing a speaker with a remote control is a nice bonus since you can use it to adjust the volume, tune the drivers, and shuffle between songs.