Bluetooth Audio Receiver/Amplifier - Model 300 Black

After reading several good reviews about this little gizmo, I figured I would give it a try.First of all, it is small. Small, as in about the size of a deck of standard playing cards. (No, really, it's that small!) It came packaged in a plastic bubble type package -which was very easy to open. Of course, there is an AC to DC power adapter, and instructions. The connections are self-explanatory and simple. Hook up your speaker cables to the spring loaded terminals, plug the power adapter cable into the unit FIRST (avoiding mentioned arcing in other reviews), turn the volume knob all the way down, and plug it in. That simple!The speaker terminals are fairly stout. I had 24 Ga wire lying around so that is what was used, but they will easily handle 18 Ga cables. I hooked the unit up to a set of Technics front/main speaker towers (two 6" drivers, one tweeter in each) and it sounds pretty darn good. I do plan on replacing the cheesy 24 Ga cables later, but curiosity wouldn't allow me to wait.Pairing is fast and simple. There is an audible pop when it pairs, but once it does, there is no background noise. I have only used my iPhone up to this point, and at about 25 feet it cut up a little, but I have the receiver sitting way back in a corner at about waist level. I moved it about a foot away from the corner and it cut out less. Ideally the unit should be placed in a more central/line of sight, and higher location than where I presently have it, but like I stated earlier, this was a trial run.I must mention that when the unit does not have a bluetooth signal, it goes to "sleep". There is a very bright blue LED on the face of the unit which indicates that it is paired. When it is not, the blue LED is off. When you want to activate the unit, all you have to do is pair it to your device. No buttons, knobs or switches. Simple and fumble free. Did I mention that the LED is VERY bright?The quality of sound was notable with no background hiss or white noise, and the volume was reasonable. I listened to various types of music and could hear small details in the sound. Audiophile, maybe not but the sound quality was still impressive. I set the unit at about 75% volume and used the volume control on my phone to adjust. I did not max the volume on the unit (yet). I will try that when I get some decent speaker cables connected. After about an hour of constant operation at moderate volume, the unit felt barely warm to the touch.At this point, I have already considered purchasing more units for other parts of my house. The simplicity of installation and operation of this device is refreshing. There are no other connections on the unit other than the four speaker terminals on the back, with the power jack, volume knob and one LED on the front.

As others have pointed out this unit is compact, reasonably powerful and sounds good. A somewhat minor point...I could not find anywhere where the speaker terminals were marked left and right. I guessed that the right one was right! My installation was outside so I installed the unit in a metal enclosure extending the antenna outside of a hole in the bottom. In this configuration, range was very poor. Even when the unit was outside the box the range was barely tolerable (maybe 20 feet, line of sight). My solution was to purchase the TP-Link TL-ANT2408C external Wi-Fi antenna (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the same frequency). You will also need an apapter since the antenna is RP-SMA and the antenna connector on the amp takes male SMA connectors ("SMA male Jack to RP-SMA female coaxial cable connector converter adapter for Mobile signal booster repeater" purchased on Amazon). With the new antenna the range is outstanding and since the antenna base is magnetic I just stuck it to the metal enclosure so it will be super simple to move the gear inside for the winter. By the way, I used a metal enclosure because the unit does throw off some heat (bought a 30 amp disconnect from Home Depot for $6 and tore out the guts). The amp is inside the box and the conduit contains the speaker wires (see photo). The AC adapter is in the box above.

I was excited when we first plugged this in. It worked great. Sound was good, volume was good. Finally getting some use out of my old JBL speakers. Well, that was the last time it worked. Unfortunately, it was a Christmas gift, so we had it more than a month for returns. I just tooled with it again today to see if I can get it to work, but it will not pair because it doesn't even show up to pair with. The light on the front does not turn on either. It is getting power as the speakers pop when I plug it in. But the bluetooth is gone. DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM.

I built a small Bluetooth boom box based on this little powerhouse, using five pairs of small, low wattage speakers of varying impedance. The speakers were used... pulled from various devices that I was throwing out, such as obsolete mobile device docks, clock radios, and mini stereo systems. I e-mailed the company and got confirmation that this amplifier is stable down to at least 2 ohms, and wired the speakers to take full advantage of this.The results were incredible and far beyond what I expected from such a physically small (and fairly inexpensive) amplifier. At very high volumes, I get zero distortion and unbelievable volume, with no hiss during quiet or silent segments of music. Even after hours of playing this thing loud it doesn't get very hot. I am so impressed with the performance of this amplifier I call it the "magic box". The big, clear sound and tiny size defy much of what I've learned in my experience in the audio industry.Be warned, however, that unfortunately the Bluetooth reception leaves much to be desired. The range is very limited from what I've experienced. It seems like 8 to 10 feet is the max range to get an uninterrupted signal from my iPhone or iPad. Any further, and I get some intermittent cut-off in the music. It is very sensitive to line of sight, even at closer ranges. I have found that simply changing the angle or direction that the iPhone is facing in some instances can cause a brief moment of silence.One more gripe, just a slight annoyance, is the loud BEEP emitted once your device has been successfully connected to the amplifier. It's loud and unpleasant, and I think they could have made it a little more subtle.You might ask, then, why 5 stars? I feel like the audio performance eclipses these minor inconveniences, and overall this unit turned out to be way more than what I expected at this price.