Philips BT4000 Bluetooth speaker review

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In our household, I do all the ironing. And the one thing that makes it bearable is putting on some good music. But my radio alarm clock wasn’t cutting it. It sounds tinny, and there’s no bass at all. That’s why I needed something decent for upstairs. Sonos would have been overkill, so I started looking at bluetooth speakers.

A compromise
Basically, there’s two types of bluetooth speakers, small, portable ones that come equiped with batteries, and stationary ones that don’t. Speakers in the former category are usually small, and small boxes tend to produce small sound. Plus I did not need a battery. Stationary bluetooth speakers are often large and expensive. Ideally, I’d need something that fell inbetween these two categories.

Enter the BT4000

This Philips speaker is about the size of a decent portable radio, and it’s a very simple device. I has just four buttons, two of which are used to control the volume. Essentially, you turn it on, pair it with your phone (which is unbelievably easy if your phone has NFC), and press play. There’s a USB port on the back, but it’s just for charging you phone, and there’s an “audio in” jack in case you prefer wires over Bluetooth.

Sound quality

For its size, the BT4000 offers a very decent sound quality. The entire right side of the device it dedicated to a bass reflex hole, and it appears to help. Higher tones seem to be quite directional, so I’d recommend putting the speaker at ear level, and pointing it towards you. Otherwise the sound can be a little dull of even muffled. Considering it’s low €80 price, there’s very little to complain about.

Verdict

 

The BT4000 seems to be an unpo[CENSORED]r model in Philips’ extensive line-up of streaming speakers. I’ve seen it get bad reviews because people were expecting it to have a built-in battery. But if you’re looking for something small and cheap to put in your bedroom or study, it could be perfect for you.