We’ve had a shimmer in our eye for Jawbone’s $200 Jambox, the itty bitty Bluetooth ‘smartspeaker,’ ever since it was released back in late 2010. So, imagine our delight now that the company has just stepped things up to a larger level with its new $300 Big Jambox. Measuring in at well over double the size of the original, the 2.7-pound speaker is still very similar in design and features the familiar perforated metal grill designs by Yves Behar — starting May 15th, you can pick one up in your choice of Red Dot, Graphite Hex and White Wave.

The larger footprint helps it to be more functionally capable than its sibling, yet it’s still small enough to carry in one hand. On top, the unit sports playback controls in addition to the requisite volume and talk buttons, while on the side you’ll find a USB connection (for software updates), power input 3.5mm jack, Bluetooth-pairing button and a power button.

To pump out the jams, the Big Jambox features an airtight enclosure loaded with a duo of active neodymium drivers and opposing dual-passive bass radiators to handle all the wub wub you can throw at it. A 2,600mAh rechargeable battery will get you roughly 15 hours of totally wireless listening time (500 on standby), but — as is the case with the original — you still can’t share that juice with your gadgets.

Positively, Android users can take advantage of the Big Jambox’s exclusive Companion app, which allows the unit to do tricks such like sync up with your G-cal to inform you about your appointments. Lastly, like the Jambox, the Big Jambox features MyTalk voice prompts / app compatibility, along with Live Audio DSP to give your sounds an immersive “3D” feel.

SOURCE via Jawbone

The All Things D conference has a long history of wrangling an impressive speaker list, and this year’s gala is no different. The outlet has just confirmed that Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the keynote speaker for D10′s opening night, just two years after the late Steve Jobs last sat down on those very red chairs in a keynote interview of his own. In fact, Cook’s sit-down will come five years after the historic Jobs + Gates discussion from D5, and we’re told that this will be Cook’s first onstage event that isn’t run by Apple or for an investor group as the company’s head honcho. Cook’s appearance will kick things off on the evening of May 29th from Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

SOURCE via All Things D

LG wasn’t very forthcoming with details when it announced its new AirpPlay speaker dock back in November, so here at CES 2012 they had decided to prove deeper info for the public.

It looks like a foot square black rubik’s cube, with glossy and matte exterior squares alternating around the outside, along with two mesh speaker grilles on the front corners. Up top is a dock that fits any iDevice and the power button, while a Smart Square screen resides on the front that’ll have touch controls when the dock ships in Q2 or Q3 of this year.

A 3.5mm input jack and a USB port are on the back, and we’re pretty sure that the dongle plugged there is where the AirPlay chip currently resides, though it’ll be baked in before it gets to market. It was hard to evaluate the thing’s sound on the show floor, but with an 8-inch subwoofer inside, the low end came through loud and clear and overall it sounded good.

We’ve seen a number of companies put a modern spin on the venerable boombox, but nothing quite like this new iP4 speaker dock from iHome. While it’s unmistakingly a boombox, it looks more like a circa-1980s attempt to create a futuristic boombox than simply a modern boombox — an unused prop from Back to the Future II, perhaps. It is decidedly modern when it comes to features, however, including a dock for your iPhone or iPod, an auxiliary input for your other devices, and a tiny remote. True to its boombox lineage, it can also be operated on six D cell batteries, and it even backs a five band graphic equalizer (updated slightly with an LCD display). Did we mention it’s also available in pink? Yey! Pinky and the brain, pinky and the brain. Look for this one to set you back $200.

SOURCE via iHome

What can you get for $300 these days? A bunch of stuff, probably, including the latest soundbar from Yamaha. The YAS-101 Front Surround System offers up 7.1 sound, a built-on 60-watt subwoofer and support for Dolby Digital and DTS. The UniVolume feature, meanwhile, helps maintain a constant level through loud volume increases during commercials. IR codes can also be sent through the speaker bar, so you don’t have to worry about it blocking the set. Seemed like one sweet sound bar for the living room to me.

SOURCE via Yamaha

Besides announcing their MeeGo N9, the gang from Espoo also announced a nifty new portable speaker to complement its slice of MeeGo. Called the Nokia Play 360, this little barrel of omnidirectional audio streams music from your phone via Bluetooth. It also makes the pairing process easy with NFC — a simple tap of your N9 or Nexus S to the speaker gets the tunes flowing. Not only that, when you get two of these sound boxes together, they sense each other through NFC and switch your sound to stereo. So, what’s the price of such aural enjoyment? It’ll cost you €149 ($213) when it ships in Q3 of this year.

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Creative has been releasing new speakers despite being quiet in the sound card world. The company has just unveiled new wireless speaker called D80, which is somewhat very identical with its sibling, the already-available D100. Of course, the difference is there, the D80 has a lower price tag, but forgo the support of battery power.

The $300 ZiiSound D5x, meanwhile, looks an awful lot like 2010′s D5, though this one plays nice with the newly announced D3x modular speaker and DSx modular subwoofer, both of which are priced at $150 a pop.

The D80 will be launching this month at $50, and the ZiiSound’s various components will be arriving this summer.

SOURCE via Creative

Even after so many years, Altec Lansing is still producing quality speakers as we speak, and the latest addition to their lineup is no exception. The new Orbit USB Stereo speaker is no ordinary speaker when it’s priced at $49.95. Despite being only 2.0, the speaker does delivery a stunning sound quality. The speaker is engineered for multimedia users with limited space, who needs an on-the-go audio solution with plug-and-play simplicity. The Orbit USB Stereo speaker significantly amplifies and enhances the sound of any laptop, netbook or computer without compromising portability and sound quality thanks to its unique, compact design that interlocks the two speakers like a camera lens and stows the cord. The speaker has one hidden internal cord storage, an LED power indicator and a retractable stand that lets you aim the sound in any direction.

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JBL is back with a couple of new home theatre speakers, their pioneer ground that they excel in. The new home theatre speakers are the Cinema 300 and Cinema 500. As usual, both speaker systems consist of four satellite speakers and a strong 150-watt subwoofer. The JBL Cinema 300 is among the smallest and most stylish that JBL engineering has ever produced. But they surround you with distinct dialogue and crisp, accurate music and effects (from voiced-matched center and satellite speakers), and all the deep, floor-rumbling bass (from a down-firing, 150-watt powered subwoofer) that you can handle.

The JBL Cinema 500 is quite similar with the Cinema 300, but also features dual-midrange centre and satellite speakers that surround you with distinct dialogue and crisp, accurate music and effects. A down-firing, 150-watt powered subwoofer adds the deep, floor-rumbling bass that today’s most exciting movies demand. The JBL Cinema 300 and Cinema 500 are priced at $499 and $699, respectively.

SOURCE via JBL

It’s been a while since I last heard of Edifier, and the company is ready to introduce a new 2.1 speaker system. Called the Prisma Silver E3350, this 2.1 speaker uses a very familiar pyramid-shaped downward firing subwoofer, resembling their certain older model’s design. There’s also a pair of very stylish and shiny satellite speakers.

The speaker comes equipped with an ergonomically designed wired controller that has a red circular power indicator, a headphone jack and an input for MP3 player or CD players. The overall design does look very classy with those polished silver color all over the speaker’s chassis and controller’s knob.

The Edifier Prisma Silver E3350 2.1 speaker system is now available for $129.99

SOURCE via Amazon