JBL Charge 4 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker


JBL Charge 4 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker

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This is a great price for this, buy buy buy. I have a Charge 3 so I can’t quite justify a 4 right this second but this is an awesome price and the Charge line is amazing.

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I agree! I have and love my Charge 3. Otherwise I’d get this too.

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If you need to justify why you need a second or third, this is your answer.
These JBL speakers can connect to each other. It can allow a left/right speaker set up OR you can blast the same music from both simultaneously giving a better music situation for parties. I’ll be purchasing a second one today

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Two questions:

-Is the stereo signal an actual L/R split from the source (assuming the source is stereo) or is JBL doing something with a mono signal. I saw some other bluetooth speakers advertised stereo but it was in fact two mono signals.

-Does the stereo pairing work with a computer? It seems like you need an App to do it and there’s not much info on how this works for a computer. I want these speakers to replace my bose soundlink mini on my home theather projector setup. I use bluetooth to connect to a wireless speaker near the screen and really want a stereo setup. The laptop runs in the movies so I’d need to connect through that.

As far as I know after searching the last time this speaker went on sale, it has a mono driver and is not stereo. You have to pair two of them to get stereo sound. This from PCMag’s review:
“Underneath, the Charge 4 employs a racetrack-style driver, measuring 1.9 by 3.5 inches and delivering mono audio. The side-firing passive radiators help push out a greater sense of bass depth, and the system outputs 30 watts of audio and a frequency range of 60Hz to 20KHz.”

My son used to work for Harmon, the parent company of JBL, and got me one at his discount price, which was just a bit better than this price.

The sound quality from this is amazing.

I do wish the volume control worked in 1/2 the steps it does so I had finer control over the level. The level I would like is in between 2 values for most of my listening environments. Having said that, I brought it on a pontoon ride last summer and we could easily hear the music over the motor even at full speed.

As stated on the box and specs, the battery lasts a very long time.

As I understand it, linking multiple speakers requires the JBL Connect+ feature, which this has. I don’t think the Model 3 has that. Someone would need to verify if this is true or I’m high. The side of the box says “Wirelessly links 100+ JBL Connect+ compatible speakers together.”

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to quote the first review on Amazon:

The JBL Charge 4 has one giant flaw that frankly makes all other positives about it basically irrelevant to me. It’s a mono speaker. Meaning other than the two bass woofers on the sides, there’s only one speaker built in. It’s not even in the center. Do yourself a favor and buy the Charge 3. It has stereo speakers instead of this mono garbage.

JBL is not the only company to deliberately hide this mono information in the specs. There are several large bluetooth speakers that you would assume were stereo but which are not. It confuses me as to why people would want one of these when they are not even putting out stereo sound? Oh well. Moving on now.

Being a portable speaker any stereo separation would be hard to notice. I don’t know why it should be considered when the opportunity of having 2 speakers are inches apart

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BlockquoteThese JBL speakers can connect to each other. It can allow a left/right speaker set up OR you can blast the same music from both simultaneously

My kid has one, which I’ve been using for a couple of months. I had no idea you could link two together for added goodness.

The kid (14) never uses it and was just last night trying to talk me n into paying him full price (he got his for 150. He wants that JBL with the lights on it. Not gonna happen now. When I saw it here for 99.99, I took it as a sign form the universe that it was time to pick one up for myslef. He wanted the full $150 he paid for his.

Then today on woot, I was able to pick that new speaker AND grab a pair of Samsung U-Flex Wireless In-ear Headphones with Microphone for just a couple of bucks more than the kid wanted for his JBL 4.

So re the dual set up. Everything plays in sync? No sound issues? Easy to set up? And do you need any extra software to make it work? Or is it ezpz to connect to blue tooth and just go? I run Linux on every thing in the house, which is why ask. Don’t do Mac or MS software based apps.

I guess if you’re an audiophile I can see that being less than optimal but I use the one we already have daily and it sounds great to me. Music, podcasts and for better sound watching stuff on my laptops. I love it. It’s loud and easy to use. I do wish it had a few more functions built in to it but I’m like that with everything.

So I should buy another charge 3? Not that I need it. I thought about getting another speaker, can’t remember the name but it played sound around the whole tube (stands on short end) but then I realized I prefer the sound to go in 1 direction so I can play it loud and not bother my neighbors (as much).