We spent a lot of time this year visiting the booths looking at various audio solutions. One of the ones that attracted us from quite a distance was Kicker’s new IK5BT2 Amphitheater Wireless Bluetooth Audio System. This speaker wasn’t just loud, it was gigantic for it’s size.
The IK5BT2 is a fully wireless speaker solution that connects to your devices via Bluetooth (cellphones, tablets, computers). It supports a 5-device priority list where you can set the connection priority of the paired devices. This can be done both manually or automatically.
If you have an iOS or Android device, you can download the free “KickStart” app that allows you to adjust the sound via an 8-band equalizer as well as bass/treble controls and tight/wide spatialization selection. You can also save the EQ settings to individual presets so that you can bounce back and forth depending on what you are listening to (or who is listening). The app also has social media integrated so that you can share what you are listening to with your friends.
The speaker is very easy to setup and can fill a very large room with sound. The amount of bass it can produce is incredible for it’s size and was what initially brought us to look at it, as we could hear it from many booths away. Given, they did have an entire wall of these setup with all of them running at once.
It may not sit well for audiophiles looking for the clean music with large/accurate range like the more expensive reference-listening speaker brands (ie, Sonos, Paradigm, B&W, Totem, etc), but if you want a loud speaker that has incredible bass (like something you would find with Klipsch, Cerwin Vega or Rockford Fosgate), this speaker would be a great match. It would serve well for hip hop and hard rock fans for sure.
The speaker contains a 6″ square subwoofer for dynamic bass response and 5″ drivers as well as 3/4″ silk-dome tweeters, all to bring you premium full-range sound. It contains a 50-watt DSP optimized internal amplifier
It offers an auxiliary (aux) input for when you are unable to use Bluetooth as well as a USB port so that you can charge your device while it’s playing.
It also comes with an easy to use remote that allows you to control all functions of the speaker.
Specifications:
Our Conclusion
Our conclusion was a good one this time around. The speaker has a massive presence, is very easy to use, comes with a lot of functionality and great, great bass. Keeping in mind that we aren’t comparing it score-wise with the higher end reference-listening speaker companies as previously mentioned, this one nails the niche it is targeted for. Therefore, we gave it a score of 9/10. Great job Kicker! It has also achieved Editors’ Choice with us.
Additional Images:
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1 Comment
I have also bought the “Kicker IK5BT2 Amphitheater”. I am satisfired and would buy it again.