Specktone’s Retro iPod Speaker System

Speck, known for its wide variety of excellent iPod cases has branched out into the increasingly crowded iPod speaker market with its new SpeckTone iPod speaker system. Can the system compete with the Bose Speaker system? Let’s take a look!

The SpeckTone is a minimalist, Modern piece of design that will fit nicely into any room. Unlike the bulky offering from Apple, the SpeckTone doesn’t dominate the room. It has a lovely retro feel, much like Motown album art of the 60s. It is available in a number of colors too. Our review unit was a white, and looked smart in various rooms.

Getting the SpeckTone going is as simple as plugging it in. Once plugged in, you simply place a compatible iPod (iPod video, iPod with color display, iPod 4G, iPod mini, iPod nano) into the top of the Specktone and hit play. You will be rewarded with a surprisingly rich sound. Further investigation reveals that Speck has put a very nice nice base underneath the unit. The only control is a delightfully analogue-feeling volume dial surrounded in a subtle splash of green light. The unit also acts as a charger for your iPod, so it can play all night.

The only negative we found about the unit was it’s rather large power supply. Perhaps it was inspired by Apple, which tends to release compact products (ie, the Mini) with rather large power bricks. This is unfortunate because if you don’t have a place to hide it, like on a kitchen counter, there isn’t much one can do about the decidedly unhip cord.

Overall, we were very happy with the Specktone, testing the unit using classical, jazz, rock and hip-hop the unit sounded rich for such a small, and affordable unit. Another benefit of this device is that, unlike certain other aftermarket speaker systems, it looks darn good. All in all we highly recommend the Specktone speaker system. You can buy it for $149.99.