So, my wife wants a portable style ipod dock or small boombox with ipod dock for her iphone 3g... anyone have any suggestions? Do these all sound like crap?

Ooh, I'd also like to know. My mom wants something for her iPod Touch.

I would stay away from a few brands like Apple and Bose from the start. These brands are not synonymous with sound quality and usually expensive throughout their product lines. I would tend to look at any electronics manufacturers (Sony, Phillips, Panasonic etc) to see if they have any cheap offerings (they probably won't sound that great). For a more expensive sound dock I would look at speaker manufacturers (Klipsch, B&W etc). I'm afraid what this would cost, it will probably sound halfway decent for what it is.

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=4360

I assume you're looking at iPod docks with built in speakers, as opposed to just plain iPod docks with a line out, which work just fine and sound great.

Altec Lansing also offers a bunch of portable audio systems for the iPod. Might be worth researching.

Hi terzaghi,

Since you want portability, you should check out some of the systems from Tivoli Audio and Cambridge Soundworks. Since both of these companies benefited from design from the late brilliant engineer, Henry Kloss, the founder of Advent speakers, the "K" of the original KLH, and inventor of the video projector, I think you'd find a system that would sound much better and more neutral than systems from Altec Lansing, Panasonic, etc.

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/catalog/index.html

I've owned portable systems that Kloss designed as far back as the late 1960s, and they were always superior in transparency and musical fidelity to competitors.

Regards,

Alan

I have seen Yamaha/Denon, Onkyo all make reasonably portable players as of late.

My wife has the Bose sound dock and as far as sound quality from a portable goes it is not too bad, I really can't complain too much about it. It does the job with a pleasing sound albeit in true Bose fashion, not much high and not much low.

Our new oak entertainment stand has a built in Ipod dock.

Jamo, Kef and Monitor Audio are in this market as well. Surprised to see these names making sound docks.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...icle3594525.ece

Yes, she wants something that has speakers built in and is fairly portable.

The cambridge soundworks system looks great but I called them and they said it has problems playing music from the iphone apps like pandora and last.fm... which is not good since that is mostly all my wife uses.

I asked if she just wanted to get an ipod dock for my denon3808 (or use an aux cable) but she wants something that can be moved from the office to the bedroom, ect.

I will look more at the suggestions from here and make a decision soon.

Thanks for all of the info.

These are just speakers w/amp that you can plug any ipod into.

No fancy docking features or anything and I've personally never heard them- but they have been recommended to me and they sure appear impressive.

For the price of some of the docks, I think these come into play and probably have better sound.

Anyone heard these or otherwise have an opinion based on research or hear say? http://www.genelecusa.com/products/

From all I have read Genelac makes impressive subs, no idea on speaker/monitor sound quality.

Could you just hook some audiobytes straight into an ipod or would there be a lack of power to drive them?

Axiom doesn't sell the M0s (the AB speakers) separate from the amp; this is a good thing, since the amp has the crossover for the audiobytes in it.

Genelec studio monitors are used in many professional setups.

If price isn't an issue, how about a B&W Zeppelin ?

I've heard the big one, and it was pretty amazing, though definitely not portable. And not cheap. I haven't seen nor heard the "mini", but it might be more the size you're looking for.

never knew the crossover was external from the m0's... good to know!

Hi David,

I got one of these Tekkeon units for my iPod Touch 2G last year and have been very pleased with it.

Plugs into any receiver, so it's portable. Charges the iPod. Several connections. Plugged into receiver, receiver to TV and the menus come up on the TV screen. Comes with remote. Also plays video on TV connected with component cables. Very cool.

For some other ideas, just plug "ipod dock" into the search box on Newegg.