The first thing most people notice about the On Stage is its unique appearance. Like most iPod speaker products these days, the body of the On Stage is made of white plastic with a metal grill. But instead of the traditional rectangular speaker shape, the On Stage features a donut-shaped (or bagel-shaped, for the calorically disinclined) design which is sure to generate a good number of sales on its own—it looks that cool. This “donut of sound” is interrupted only by a dock slot on the front of the unit. As with the other systems mentioned above, this slot provides compatibility with dockable iPods—you simply slide your iPod in and press play. (Dock slot adapters for each iPod size, including the iPod mini, are supplied; unlike the all-plastic adapters offered by Bose and Altec Lansing, JBL’s adapters feature soft rubber “bumpers” to protect your iPod from scratches.) Your iPod is also charged while seated in the unit.
The JBL On Stage Micro uses aluminium-domed Odyssey transducers to deliver the rich full spectrum sound performance across four octaves, coupled with a proprietary “slipstream” port architecture for improved bass response with minimal distortion. The speakers output 2 x 15 Watts and 1 x 30 watts with an input Impedance of >10k Ohms and a signal to noise ratio of >85dB. Not only is the sound quality good, but the build quality matches it.
As well as being compatible with most iPods, including the nano and 5G versions, the device also has a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack connection so you can plug in most devices with an audio out function and enjoy the sound through the delicious little speakers with the big sound.
Oh, and if you have an iPod video then it really comes into its own as it provides full playback control there as well. Shame that the remote is infra-red and not radio-frequency though, a failing that does mean you need a line of sight connection to use it. That said, the range is good enough to work reliably at 6 metres away.
Description:
- Drivers: Four Odyssey
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >80dB
- Power Output: 6 watts per channel
- Input Impedance: >5Kohm
- Frequency Response: 80Hz – 20KHz