Wireless Speaker Testing and Results

Testing Methodology

The Groovy Duo’s were tested for approximately 55 hours with a variety of Bluetooth devices. Devices that were tested and paired included: Sony Xperia P (phone), Dell 3840 (tablet), and a Broadcom Bluetooth adapter (Win 7, 64-bit). To test the audio quality several genres of music were selected to delineate what type of range the speaker modules could provide (note that the frequency response was not provided in the specifications). Due to the design of these modules, the Groovy Duos actually sound best in the open air with all reflective sound surfaces at a distance (with the exception of the surface it is sitting on).

Results

The Groovy Duo seems to have a rather long pairing process; such as holding both power buttons for 5 seconds until an audible beep and flash is seen, then hold both play buttons up to a minute to initially pair the two together. This is necessary for stereo sound: the main module receives both left and right channels and then links the right channel to the other module. Pressing and holding the Bluetooth button allows pairing up with a device or PC.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well this is where the complications come in. If you have more then one device polling the Duo while it is playing, the quality of the broadcast is severely affected. This took quite a while to figure out before physically removing the Bluetooth adapter from the PC, and disconnecting the Bluetooth in the phone. This cleared all the interference up for the signal source (the Dell tablet in this case). At this point a repairing of the previous mentioned devices was successful and all operated properly.

Due to having a total of 6 watts (RMS), music has a very distinct clarity to it especially in the mid-range and highs. So much, in fact, that those frequencies had to be reduced (with the lows boosted of course) to get more of a “flat” sound, closer to a what you would expect from a small studio monitor (which it was unjustly compared to, but just to adjust the frequency response as close as possible). The volume has a built in limiter so there is no way one can wreck the Duo’s and surprisingly enough for the size, there is no distortion at full volume. You won’t be blowing the doors off with these; however, at full volume, you will definitely have to raise your voice to be heard over them.

Under real-world testing, the units charged up to full (red to green LED power light on back) in about 3.2 hours. Playtime is a mixed bag with results from 6.5 hours to over 8, depending if it is in standby mode or another Bluetooth signal is recognizing (but pending to connect) the device. The timed results were from plugging the twin micro USB power cord adapter directly into an A/C module. It may be possible to charge them from a standard USB port but it is not going to charge fast or provide enough current. If either of the batteries run all the way down, on the next power up it is more then likely an initial repairing of the speaker modules will be needed. One undocumented surprise was discovered that when powering down one unit, it’s twin also powers down simultaneously.