S.o.n.y SRS-XV800 X-Series Wireless Portable Party Speaker

XV900 review I would give it 2 stars, but I can't do a separate review when they merge products on Amazon. Sound quality is ok, but only directly on axis. More than about 10 degrees off axis and the sound is muffled and indistinct. The extra "tweeters" add some extra sense of air (upper treble) but do not help clarity. Vocals are difficult to understand. The workaround is to prop the thing up at an angle and stay a good distance away from it to stay in that 20 degree sweet spot. Bass response is surprisingly poor. There is ample mid-bass (40-80hz) and upper bass (80-160hz) but nothing in the first octave (20-40hz). The port is tuned to about 39hz, and there is an electronic cutoff below that to prevent the woofer cone from flailing around. No deep bass out of a large haevy speaker like this just makes it sound like a small speaker. Portability is terrible. It weighs 58 pounds, and it is large enough to be awkward to handle. The wheels are tiny, and do little on carpeting. It is easy to carry trunk style, or it would be if it had a handle on the bottom. I was carrying it around by laying it on its back, like a trunk, then grabbing a top handle with one hand, and jamming the other hand into a bottom port and grabbing an edge inside. I could not carry it far this way because that inner edge is kinda sharp, and I could not get my hand inside the port with a glove on. The bottom is just flat slippery plastic. This was the only way that I could get it up and down stairs. The light show looks like an afterthought. The lights are pretty weak, especially since they decided to reflect them off black plastic. The lights are not timed to or triggered by the music. That made them really annoying, so I just left them off. I gave up and sent the thing back. It is not good enough for music anywhere in my house, or even outdoors. I guess it could be used with a TV if you are trying to use the internal speakers of the particular TV. Even then Sony recommends leaving the TV speakers on as well. I can hear why. As a party speaker I would be embarrassed to show up with this thing. Lackluster sound quality will only get worse with a bunch of bodies around it. otoh it would be ok sitting around a campfire. You will need a hand truck or a bike trailer to move it around outdoors. Also, unlike other Sony party speakers, it is not IPX rated, so take a tarp in case it rains. Positives: it does connect using the LDAC codec, and the control panel is very nice. Also the top is nice and flat, so a great place for people to set/spill drinks! Original XV800 review For reasons that I cannot fathom they put the tweeters on the back, but mids and woffers on the front. This thing sounds awful from any angle! I guess if you want lots of noise in a very echoey room, it might work? Otherwise I would say steer clear of the XV800. I will never order another Sony product without listening to it first.