Your iPod Life: A Guide to the Best iPod Accessories from Playlist

Home Speakers

In the previous chapter, we covered portable iPod speakers; in this one, we tackle “home” systems, which differ from portable speakers in several ways. For starters, they require AC power, so you can’t use them on the go. But they also tend to sound a lot better than comparably priced portable speakers. Part of the reason for this is that the manufacturer doesn’t have to worry about power consumption (read: battery life) and can spend money on audio quality rather than miniaturization. But it’s also because these systems tend, with a few exceptions, to use separate left and right speakers (satellites) and a subwoofer, so you get better stereo separation and bass.

All the speaker systems in this chapter provide their own amplification—you ...