Here’s a bold start to my review: JBL’s PartyBox 710 is the best “portable” speaker I’ve ever used.
This is a 800w speaker that dominates. It’s big, incredibly loud, looks great and most importantly, sounds fantastic.
The 710 fills a niche gap in the market. It’s a speaker that’s loud enough for semi-pro events, gym classes and/or massive parties – while still being user friendly enough for anyone to navigate.
Plug it into a power outlet, connect to it via Bluetooth and that’s it. The music is blasting and sounds great.
Pros
- Brilliant audio quality
- Easy to maneuver
- Loud audio that doesn’t distort
- Easy to use
- LED lights make it stand out
Cons
- Heavy
- Needs to be plugged in at all times
Price
JBL’s PartyBox 710 costs $1,200.
The 710 is unique. It’s a semi-professional, large and loud speaker that’s easy to use. PA systems, like the $1,500, DAS Altea Active 15″, are the only speakers I’ve used that match the volume of the 710, however they aren’t nearly as user friendly.
By the end of my time with the PartyBox 710, I found myself thinking that $1,200 for a speaker like this represented good value.
Design
The way JBL marketed the 710 is a little confusing. It’s important to know that this isn’t a portable speaker. The 710 needs to be plugged into a power supply.
The PartyBox 710 is an 800w speaker. It has 2x 70mm tweeters and 2x 216mm woofers. It’s big.
At 28kg, it’s also heavy. To accommodate this, there are two wheels on the bottom of the speaker and wide handles on the top, making it easy to drag into position. Just beware of stairs.
With its 39.9cm width, 43.6cm depth and 90.5cm height, I was expecting the PartyBox 710 to be a burden. It wasn’t, it’s easy to maneuver.
Everything about the 710 feels well built. It’s sturdy and doesn’t wobble when using it vertically. It also has rubber feet on the sides so you can lay it down horizontally. It’s IPX4 water resistant too, meaning it will survive gentle splashes of water but you don’t want to get it soaked or put it underwater.
To accompany the sturdy build, the 710 also stands out. Inside the speaker grille are LED strips and lights that form a figure-of-8 shape. The colour scheme of these lights can be changed with a dial on top of the speaker and it looks great, making the speaker stand out.
Sound
It goes without saying, the PartyBox 710 is a loud, speaker. It’s an incredibly loud speaker. At full volume I could easily hear the audio standing over 250 meters away.
With that much volume I was skeptical about how the audio would sound, I was expecting it to distort at high volumes. Impressively, it doesn’t distort at all. The sound isn’t only loud, it’s very good quality. Even with Bass Boost turned on, bass heavy tracks like Tarantula by Pendulum didn’t distort the mix. It sounds fantastic.
This is a speaker made for parties, and big parties at that. After a short amount of use, it was obvious that the 710 is geared towards a more bass heavy mix, however I found it easy to get a nice neutral sound for more placid songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel.
It’s a well-rounded speaker with a large soundstage. I couldn’t find any song that didn’t sound great.
The 710 is what I would call a “semi-professional speaker”. While you can use it at home, it’s probably too much speaker for domestic use. At half volume my neighbours could easily hear every note of the music I was playing. I’d suggest the 710 is better suited for gym classes, or work events, or even a small concert.
Ease of use
One of the PartyBox 710’s biggest strengths is how easy it is to use. Plug it in, connect to it via Bluetooth or AUX and you’re away.
The 710 doesn’t require an in-depth setup, a variety of cables or a permanent fixture. It’s simple and that’s what makes it so great. You can take it anywhere and it’ll work (provided you have power)
On the back of the speaker is a myriad of ports. There’s a port to plug in a guitar, 2x mic ports, each with their own volume controls, a USB port and two ports to daisy chain the 710 with more speakers. It’s a good amount. It allows you to use the PartyBox 710 for other things than simply playing music. You can use it as a PA system or a guitar amp.
When you plug in a microphone or a guitar, on the top of the speaker the Karaoke controls engage. These allow you to alter the amount of eche, change the bass amount and the amount of treble.
To add to the fun, there are three dedicated buttons on top of the speaker where you can play random noises. You can play a DJ scratch, a dog barking, people applauding or booing and other options in the PartyBox app, all while the music’s playing.
App
You can pair the 710 with the JBL PartyBox app via Bluetooth.
The app provides the same controls found on the top of the speaker. Volume, karaoke options and everything else.
The app doesn’t do much to change the user experience, other than its best feature which allows you to change the colours, style and pattern of the LED lights.
Other than that I didn’t use the app unless I wanted to control the speaker from a distance.
Verdict
JBl’s PartyBox 710 is quite simply a brilliant speaker.
It’s the loudest speaker I’ve ever had in my home and it’s booming audio doesn’t affect the sound quality.
It’s probably a bit too much speaker for regular at home use, as even at quarter volume you can probably expect the neighbours or noise control to be knocking on your door. It really hits its stride at events or in places where you need loud music like a gym or work event.
It’s well made, unique and easy to maneuver. There’s no other speaker on the market like the PartyBox 710 and while $1,200 might seem expensive when compared to smaller portable speakers, it represents good value if you have an event coming up where you need a quality loud – and easy-to-use – sound system.