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Seven tips to get more from your Bluetooth or wireless speakers
Martin has more than 10 years of experience and has tested more than 1,500 TVs, soundbars and speakers - few people know more about AV
They all play music, whether it's over wi-fi or via Bluetooth, and while these speakers look simple on the surface, there are often more interesting features to discover than first meets the eye.
Features that let you boost the sound, get help from AI and connect multiple speakers from the same or different brands aren't as uncommon as you might think.
Here are seven ways to make the most of your speaker.
Best Bluetooth and wireless speakers: from portable models weighing less than a kilo to beefier speakers designed for living room listening, these are our favourites
1. Use it for Karaoke
Bigger party-focused speakers, such as the JBL Partybox 520, Samsung MX-ST40F and the smaller JBL Partybox Encore 2 often have an XLR input or two, which allows you to connect a microphone and use the speaker for Karaoke.
You'll still need to pair your phone or tablet to get the music and display lyrics, but there are plenty of dedicated apps for this, or you can use YouTube or even Spotify which has a karaoke option for songs with lyrics.
You won't find this on smaller Bluetooth speakers or home wi-fi ones.
We've tested dedicated karaoke machines, too, if you want the real deal.
2. Connect it to your TV
Modern flatscreen TVs aren't renowned for their sound quality. The speakers are thin and lack depth, but this isn't such a problem for dedicated Bluetooth speakers.
Most TVs have Bluetooth, so you can easily pair your speaker to improve the audio. We'd recommend positioning your speaker centrally below the TV so the audio isn't coming from the wrong direction.
It may not be as effective as a dedicated soundbar and will lack the width or surround sound effects they manage, but a good Bluetooth speaker may well sound better than what your TV can manage.
Soundbars are still the way to go if you want an easy and convenient way to improve your TV audio: these are the top soundbars available today.
3. Adjust the sound to suit you
Most speakers offer some level of audio customisation, from simple bass boost options all the way to equalisers allowing you to adjust different frequencies from brightest treble to rumbliest bass.
You'll typically see these options on speakers with apps. Here you'll find different audio presets, usually to match the sound with different genres, as well as equalisers.
Some models, such as the WiiM Sound, give you as many as 10 different levels to play with, so you really can tweak the audio to your heart's content.
4. Sync your music across multiple Bluetooth speakers
The advent of Auracast has made Bluetooth speakers a lot friendlier with each other. It's a system that allows you to connect several different Bluetooth speakers together to play the same music.
They don't even need to be from the same brand and Auracast is a common sight on most Bluetooth speakers these days. There's no limit to how many you can connect this way either.
5. Create a multiroom system with different brands
In the early days of multiroom speakers, you needed to choose models from the same brand to get music playing throughout the house or different music in each room.
Not anymore. Many speakers support Google Chromecast and they can talk to other Chromecast-enabled speakers to operate as part of the same multiroom system.
The same goes for speakers which support Apple AirPlay 2.
Read more about smart speakers and other smart home devices.
6. Use them to charge your phone
Battery-powered speakers, particularly the bigger ones, can act as powerbanks. So, you can plug in your phone and leech some of the battery from the speaker to keep your phone topped up.
Larger speakers can run for a day or more between charges, so taking a few thousand milliamps to keep your phone going won't make much difference.
Looking for a dedicated portable power supply? Check out the best powerbanks.
7. Use them as a voice assistant
Most home speakers have Alexa or Google Assistant built-in and this usually isn't a reduced version designed purely to let you control the music with your voice.
They are the complete voice assistant package, just like you'd find on an Amazon Echo, so you can use them to check weather, ask questions, get traffic updates and anything else you'd use a voice assistant for.
Our guide to Alexa and Alexa+ gives you more tips for getting the most out of voice assistants.
