Monday, November 17, 2014

Rocking the Holidays with a Wireless JBL Charge 2 Speaker

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.


We always go all out at Christmas time to celebrate the holidays at our house - a huge blowup snowman in the front yard, the glow of our home shining from being covered in LED lights, a pleasant wreath on the front door, stockings hung above the fireplace with care, and of course a decorated tree with cookies and milk for Santa.  Something seemed to be lacking though; but I just couldn't put my finger on it.  It hit me the other day when I was driving home from work and realized they were playing Christmas songs on the radio...we hadn't been rocking our home with holiday music.  I was going to have to fix that by getting some Bluetooth compatible speakers for our house.

We haven't had a nice stereo receiver or speaker system in our house to make listening to music that worthwhile.  When my wife and I tend to listen to music it is on the radio in the car, at the gym with our mp3 player, or via the playlists we have stored on our iphones. Our children are at an age where they really don't listen to music much. So while our house was decked out for the season the musical component of the holidays had been lacking because we just didn't have an outlet for enjoying Christmas carols and tunes at home. Thanks to #CollectiveBias we were given a JBL Charge 2 Speaker because tis the season for #GiftingAudio and now it appears our family is going to be a lot merrier through the holidays being able to incorporate music into our festivities.


I have to say that this speaker has exceeded my expectations.  Its little body belts out the tunes with power, clarity and bass that rivals the bulky monstrous four foot high box speakers I used to take a lot of pride in from my bachelor pad days.  It was very easy to sync the JBL Charge 2 speaker to my iphone so that my children and I were very quickly listening to some holiday tunes via Pandora through this connection.  I was actually somewhat surprised just how exceptional the sound quality was especially with how I was playing music through a wireless connection with my phone.  We really had the jingle bells rocking as I cranked up the sound to enjoy the music of Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  I kid you not the speakers delivered such a rich bass that it felt as if we could have been at a concert.  You can actually see the speaker working to provide a rich listening experience as you can see the twin passive radiators (the silver discs on either side of the speaker) pulsating to the beat of the music which is quite impressive to observe.

So what is on your Holiday Playlist this year?  Here are a few of the favorites from our family playlist:

Christmas Don't Be Late - Alvin and the Chipmunks
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen
Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & David Bowie Duet
Do They Know it is Christmas - Band Aid
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year -Andy Williams
Joy to the World - Mannheim Steamroller
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - The Bare Naked Ladies
Carol of the Bells - Trans Siberian Orchestra
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas -  Judy Garland
Frosty the Snowman by Jimmy Durante

There is such a focus on the visual elements of the holiday season through the lights and decorations, but the musical aspect is also an important part of celebrating the holidays and was something we had been neglecting the last few years.  Being able to pull out this convenient portable speaker and easily play holiday songs from our itunes playlists or Pandora is really going to enhance the Christmas spirit for our family. My kids were so excited when they heard the holiday tunes pouring through our house as they jumped around like reindeer singing the lyrics to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.  It was so convenient just being able to pull out my phone, hit play and have the music flow wireless between devices and through our home.

Speaking of convenient, it was really nice to have this great speaker delivered directly to my front door rather than drag myself out to the store to search for one.  If you are looking to get a JBL Charge 2 for yourself or maybe as a gift for someone keep in mind the convenience of shopping online.



It is so convenient to get one of these online now too because JBL is having a special holiday promotion on its website. If you purchase a Charge 2 from www.jbl.com, they will provide FREE ground shipping plus FREE extended returns.  I hate paying for shipping for online purchases so that is a real plus for me!  Another perk that I appreciated is JBL provides lifetime support for your purchase when you buy it online directly from their website!  The JBL Charge 2 is $149.95 and while my preference was black you can choose from five colors to personalize your selection: blue, purple, red, white or black.



While the JBL Charge 2 is going to make our holiday celebrating more enjoyable it is also going to be very useful throughout the rest of the year as well.  Often times when we call grandma and grandpa our kids are fighting to grab the phone to talk to their grandparents...now we can use the Charge 2 as a speaker phone routing the call through it so the kids can both hear the conversation at the same time and also talk through the speaker's built-in microphone.  That featured turned into an unexpected treat which we are going to be using a lot all year long.  Based on the sound quality that I've experienced so far I may also use this speaker phone application for some of my work conference calls too.

Another great feature that is really nice if you are taking the Charge 2 with you on a family road trip or on business travel is that you can actually use the speaker to charge your phone when you are on the go.  The Charge 2's 6000mAh Li-ion battery can play up to 12 hours of music or if it outlasts your phone or other portable devices you can recharge them through its USB port.  No more having to look for an electric outlet to plug into at a highway rest stop while you are traveling to recharge your phone or tablet when you have this speaker with you.  This speaker really is the gift that keeps on giving.




In the spirit of Gifting Audio, our friends at Collective Bias and JBL are giving away 30 speakers for the holidays.  Just complete the steps below for a chance to win.  Good luck everyone!


JBL.com #GiftingAudio Sweepstakes

6 comments:

  1. This is so fun for a holiday party! My favorite song is Carol of the Bells.

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  2. Looks like a great little speaker and perfect timing for the review because I know many will be looking for the perfect Christmas gift and this could be it!

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  3. I would love to win one of these for my husband. He could take his music to the garage with him to work on our cars. :)

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  4. I love this - it would be perfect for streaming holiday music this winter!

    Sarah M

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  5. What a great playlist, grandma got runover by a reindeer is classic! #client

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