Do you have some old speakers in your garage – maybe from a 5:1 system that got binned when you got a soundbar? Did you pack away your old hi-fi speakers when you got that JBL Boombox? Did you stick an Amazon Dot in the bedroom and kid yourself that would do?
I feel your pain. I did all those things and I’m here to tell you some good news. You can buy a tiny Bluetooth speaker about the size of a cigarette packet, plug it into those old speakers and get an amazing sound - all for less than £50, with this Fosi Audio Bluetooth amp that’s 41% off in the Amazon Black Friday sale.
And I can say it with confidence because I bought not one but TWO a week ago and it’s already changed the way I listen to music.
Here’s how and why. I had two problems:
1) In lockdown we transformed our garage into a gym. Cleared it out, stuck a bike on a trainer, got a weight bench, stuck a Bluetooth speaker in there, bosh. But a tinny Bluetooth speaker in an unfurnished garage, when you’re pedaling on a bike? It’s audio carnage.
2) A decade ago, we extended into our loft. I thought ahead and had speakers fitted into the walls in the bedroom and en suite. I bought a little amp with an aux input so that I could plug my phone into it. Awesome. But then Apple changed the outputs on the iPhone. Uh-oh. Then the amp started to play up. So I got an Amazon Dot. With work-from-home, I spend more time in my bedroom than ever before and, with the Dot, I could connect easily and the sound was… OK.
This is where the Fosi comes in. Now I’m no hi-fi expert, I have no idea who Fosi are (I Googled it: they're a Chinese company) – and sure, you can get Sonos or Denon or some other fancy-dan multi-room set up – but if you want an affordable, unobtrusive alternative, this could be it.
I told you it was tiny, didn’t I? Look: I took it around my house to give you idea of how big it is (it’s the same length as a 330ml drinks can):
It connects to the built-in speakers in my bedroom by banana cable plugs. (In fact, you don’t even need those – you can just thread the bar speaker wire through the terminals at the back and tighten – in my previous experience, though, you get a bit of crackle.) You plug it in. You connect by Bluetooth, you turn up the bass. Compared to the Amazon Dot, the sound is warm and full, louder than you could ever want, and you can control the volume with your phone’s volume buttons.
In the garage, I plugged it into two of the speakers from an 5:1 set-up I had. Tucked either side of the garage walls, the sound fills the room. You could have a party in there.
I mean, it would be weird – it would smell of white spirit and you might trip over a rake – but it’d be loud enough.
