Macally TunePro iPod speakers review

Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of all?

16 January 2008 9:00 GMT / By Darcy Fairbottom

An iPod speaker is just an iPod speaker isn't it? A box with a grill on it to cover the speakers, a place to plug in your iPod and if your lucky some blue, or maybe red lights to give it some excitement.

Well that's we thought until we opened the box on the Macally TunePro speakers. When I first opened this box, I loved the ergonomics of these speakers. They come as one unit and look really sleek.

It is wide but very narrow so although it takes up a lot of "across space", consumption of "depth space" is limited.

Gone are the speaker's grills instead replaced by a mirrored effect that thanks to NXT speaker technology hides them out of the way.

But sound has been compromised. The speakers are both in the front and back of the unit giving a superb sound quality.

We tested the speaker system with the iPod nano, but as standard you get a series of docks in the box.

For those looking to use this unit as an alarm clock to wake them in the morning there is a choice of two alarm times so that the clock can be used by two different people at the same time and three different settings to be woken up to; buzzer, radio or iPod.

I did have to consult the user guide to first set the alarm and functions. It's disappointing as we would have expected such a simply designed device to be obvious in its operation, but it was easy after that.

As for performance the speakers perform well with a good balance between bass and treble. When I turned the volume up to a very high level, there was no distortion at all with the sound, which I normally find with the smaller speaker systems. The bass quality was absolutely brilliant and stayed that way. The mirrored front of the speakers vibrated in time with the music at all volumes which I thought was great as the speakers were dancing along to my favourite tunes, but this may be more frustrating for those that like the speakers to stay looking sleek and solid.

Verdict

So what do we think? Well the only real catch is the size. It's very large for a bedside alarm clock and if you have a small bedside table, as I do, there's not a lot of room for anything else, such as a glass of water (without running the risk of tipping it all over the speakers).

Of course the sensible thing would be to move it elsewhere in the room, but strangely there is no remote control for it and you wants to have to run across my bedroom to put the snooze button on, certainly not me.

A fantastic sound and great look but does it fit? And I miss a remote being a lazy new century girl!

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Macally
Price as reviewed: £80
The good: Sound, design
The bad: Speakers vibrate at high levels, no remote control
Quick verdict: A fantastic sound and great look but does it fit? And I miss a remote being a lazy new century girl!
Score