July
13
Tags
TMI Stereo – Wireless Bluetooth Speakers
Let me just start by saying – I want these.
Through Buzzmilk – I come across a wide variety of great ideas and awesome new businesses – but I personally want to own not just a set of these speakers but the entire concept. It’s genius. The makers of TMI Stereo boast the ONLY split wireless bluetooth speakers – giving you a portable surround sound system – no wires – no hassle. Pretty slick idea and I’m surprised this isn’t more popular. Not only are these speakers cutting edge – but they are designed beautifully and their performance is unlike any other portable speaker. Check out this comparison chart.
Very impressive decibel difference, pricing, and feature comparison. What totally blows me away is that you’re really buying two separate units. If your wife or husband wants to take a speaker with them to another part of the house and play their own music – they can! You can split the speakers and run them with 2 separate devices. Obviously, you can also combine them into one unit to play from one device. What a unique and amazing feature that we have never seen before in mobile entertainment. If I had the capital – I would be investing in this company right now. These are going to start trending quickly – especially when they release their “color” variations. I know my girlfriend will want some pink ones – am I right?
If you love music, gadgets, or home entertainment gizmos – go buy one now… seriously.
Buzzmilk 
I have tried the Dr. Dre Pill, the Jawbone Jambox and the JBL Charge. I found all three of them decent but wasn’t fully blown away. It looks like the next one to try is the TMI Stereo.
Vaporware. I ordered them five months ago. After multiple requests for updates with no reply I finally asked for a refund as all of the shipping dates were missed, again with no reply.
I ordered and like JS waited for months and months with little to no communication from TMI and no responses to my queries. Finally, when I was about to cancel my order they magically showed up one day.
So now I have them – yay!
First impressions: They are GREAT concept! Why are other companies not doing this?…
The Pros:
* They are very portable
* There are no wires needed to use them in stereo
* They are very easy to pair to one another and your source device (phone, iPad, etc.)
* They are an attractive design
* They come with a convenient carry case
* You are provided with cables for each speaker independently for charging and aux hookup
The Cons:
* They don’t come with a charging transformer (except in black, in which case you get TWO charging transformers according to their website.) I received white speakers, so I have no transformer.
* The instructions that come with them are paltry at best and do not offer what type (voltage and current) of transformer should be used to charge them.
* When they are fully charged and powered on (I used my phone’s 5V, 1A charger), they make an annoying whine/squealing noise that is constant and can be heard at pretty much any volume – especially between songs or during quiet passages. This is one of my biggest beefs – might as well be drilling one of my teeth.
* The specifications claim a 50-20K frequency response. That is a total fabrication. These speakers don’t even have a bass response of 100Hz, much less 50… My iHome IDM15 cubes, which are about the same size (physically and from a driver standpoint) have significantly more bass response than do the TMI speakers. This is quite disappointing as they ballyhoo their specs so much on their site.
* One of the units I received sounds like it has a loose solder connection – some intermittent fuzziness out of the speaker and if it is touched or moved it will sometimes cut out/in and the distortion gets worse. It will also do things like pause the music on its own without being touched.
* The fit and finish are not totally up to snuff – especially for the $129 which I bought them for months ago, much less the $169 they now list on the website. I don’t know where the reviewer got the $119 price. (My iHome IDM15s were $79 a couple years ago at Best Buy and can now be purchased for $30 on Amazon. That’s a big delta, especially since the fidelity of the iHomes is so much better)
* Obvious from two prior bullets, initial quality has a ways to go…
* No support contact via phone… your only option is to email them; which has proven completely fruitless during the order process. I plan to email them anyway but expect very little in regards to a response based on past experience. Here’s to being pleasantly surprised when it comes to actual support once one has the product…
* When the TMIs start up and look for one another, they announce themselves and that they are looking for each other. That part is way cool. The issue is these announcements are at FULL volume which is very loud. You won’t be turning these on if you are worried about waking anyone up, etc. I have found no way to adjust this and the directions that come with the speakers are all but useless except for explaining how to turn them on and some thin directions on getting them paired – which is WAY easy and quick – a plus listed in Pros.
* I’ve only used them to make one phone call but the person on the other end said they could not hear me well (and I moved around in the house as well as got closer and further from the unit but no difference was made.) I could hear them very well, so this seems like a microphone issue on the TMI unit.
* The case that comes with the speakers is big enough for the speakers only, wires and any charging adapter/transformer you might get/have won’t fit. Kind of an “oops” oversight if you ask me.
So there you have it – my initial experience with these somewhat elusive (hopefully just for now…) wireless speakers.
For the money, honestly I think one can do better if they are willing to have a wire run from one speaker to the next. If you have to have all wireless via Bluetooth, then this looks to be your only option and I hope that your experience is better than mine. I plan to keep them as bathroom speakers as the whine won’t bug me in the shower; and I figure the return process will probably be just as unpredictable as the ordering process… not worth my time.
As it stands now, I can’t in good faith recommend these at their price. If they were under $100, then maybe.