Testing and Results

The MT-20 connected to my phone without a problem. Turning it on for the first time, it automatically entered pairing mode. My phone soon picked up the bluetooth signal and connected to it in just a few seconds. The MT-20 would also automatically pair itself back to my phone the next time it turned on without having to reconnect manually.

Because the Mobile Theater MT-20 came with a 3.5 mm line-in cable, it could connect to a computer, a mobile phone, or any device that has a 3.5 mm output jack. This means the speaker could still stream audio from a device, like a TV, that does not have bluetooth capability. The built-in micro-SD slot was useful to play music off a micro-SD card. You could also cycle between micro-SD, line-in, or bluetooth by pressing the bluetooth button.

Sound Quality

The MT-20 provided decent sound quality with its two three inch satellite speakers and the seven watt subwoofer. Low to medium volume levels sounded good overall, but there were noticeable cracking and rattling in the higher volume range especially while in movie mode. In music mode, the rattling only happened occasionally with a higher volume. I did expect a crisper sound experience as the sound quality was okay overall, but it sounded somewhat flat. The built-in subwoofer did add some punch, which surprisingly shook my desk even at a lower volume level.

In movie mode, the subwoofer really kicked in to enhance the overall surround sound experience. The only problem about that was the noticeable cracking and rattling noises caused by the drivers at higher volume levels. At this price category, I was expecting only pure sound without any sort of rattling noises. Perhaps later in the future, I may add a layer of Dynamat on the interior of the speaker just for laughs, although opening the MT-20 would void the one year limited hardware warranty.

Battery Life

In terms of battery life, I was also able to get about 10 hours of run time playing several movies, music, and computer games. The longest I got it to last was a little more than 15 hours with the volume turned down very low. The MT-20 was able to last a few days without recharging when using it on and off several times a day. Because the 3000 mAh battery lasted much longer than most of the competing bluetooth speakers, I was hoping to see a USB port to charge portable devices, like a smartphone. Not a major concern, but just a nice extra feature to have.

One weird problem I did encounter was the amount of time it took to charge the speaker. The website stated it would take approximately four hours to fully recharge the MT-20. Once fully charged, the charging indicator LED would change from red to blue. Well, I had the MT-20 plugged in the wall for 48 hours straight and the charging indicator was still red. It did not affect the run time of the speaker, so perhaps the battery was full but there was some kind of flaw with the charging system; at least only on my unit, hopefully.

Let’s go into my final thoughts and end this review with my conclusion in the next section.