Best (and Worst) Big Portable Speakers for Tailgating
If your idea of nirvana is a football stadium parking lot before game time, here are our top picks for an outdoor audio system from JBL, Sony, UE, and other brands
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In stadium parking lots all across America, football fans are gathering to support their favorite college and pro teams, raising the art of tailgating to a sport unto itself—all in a friendly competition to throw the biggest and best shindig before the big game.
And what’s a party without great sound? Below is a selection of wireless and Bluetooth speakers that can fill your tailgate festivities with music, your team’s pregame show, or even the dulcet baritone of NFL Films legend John Facenda.
Tailgate speakers tend to be bulky and heavy; many of these models actually have wheels and a retractable handle like a roller-bag suitcase. But that size allows manufacturers to pack these models with features—including customizable LED lights on many models—and big speaker drivers that can deliver plenty of volume.
"All the highly rated speakers in this roundup featured admirable sound quality, and that should be enough to earn them a place in your home after the game," says Elias Arias, the head of CR’s wireless speaker testing program. Not all of them, though—we also list some speakers to avoid.
These speakers have been tested in Consumer Reports’ dedicated sound lab. Our audio experts evaluated them for ease of use, versatility, and most of all, sound quality. As with all products in CR’s ratings, every tested speaker was purchased anonymously from a retail source. We are a nonprofit consumer organization, and we never accept freebies from manufacturers.
The Sony SRS-XP500 ranks toward the top of our portable speaker ratings because it simply does so many things well. It has good overall sound quality, with a deep bass and volume that can fill even a spacious room—perfect for a party. Our testers found it both quite easy to use and very versatile. Though it weighs 25 pounds, so you’d better bend your knees when you lift the thing.
If you want to impress friends or family members, the Sony lets you take the mic, for play-by-play . . . or sad-song karaoke if your team is trailing. You can even make it a duet because there are two jacks in the back of the unit. (Or just channel your inner Brian May by plugging in your electric guitar and playing along to "We Will Rock You.") The speaker is loaded with interesting lighting effects, and if you download the free Sony Fiestable app, you can access other DJ and karaoke effects.
Sony says the model has an IPX4 water-resistance rating, which means it’s splash- and spill-resistant but not designed to stand up to a full-fledged dunking.
What do you do with your tailgating speaker the other six days of the week? The UE Hyperboom answers that question. It plays plenty loud in the parking lot. But visually, it’s subdued. It lacks lighting effects and it’s covered in plain black grill cloth, so it can be heard but not seen when you return it to your living room after the game.
Soundwise, our testers report that the Hyperboom is both loud and clear, with robust bass and clean midrange, and enough volume for most situations, indoors or out. They score the large controls as easy to use, and the speaker gets good grades for versatility.
The Hyperboom also features an optical input, which allows it to function as a TV soundbar or an upgrade to the sound of a game console. UE claims an IPX4 water-resistance rating for the Hyperboom, which means it’s splash- and spill-resistant but not designed to stand up to truly wet conditions.
If you like the idea of the highly rated Sony SRS-XP500 party speaker but you’re counting your pennies, the Onn Large Party Speaker Gen 2, sold only by Walmart, is a great option. The name may not be catchy, but it’s descriptive: What you get is a large box, just a bit short of 2 feet tall, with lighting effects and inputs for a guitar or a mic. The model is a bit bigger than Onn’s previous-gen Large Party Speaker and looks more like the more expensive JBL Party Box 100 than its predecessor.
For a speaker of its size, the big Onn sounds quite good. Our testers report that the bass is a bit boomy and there’s some sizzle in the trebles, but in general, the model’s performance is a pleasant surprise given its low price. Our testers say that you’ll get the best sound by positioning the speaker horizontally and turning the Bass Boost off. The Large Party Speaker is IPX4 water-resistant—don’t play it poolside.
Tailgating tends to celebrate excess, but there’s a case to be made for more modest, practical speakers, as well. Compared with most party speakers, JBL’s PartyBox Encore Essential is relatively small, which makes it easier to transport, set up, and store than the jumbo models I’ve been describing.
With the controls in JBL’s smartphone app set for the most even tonal balance, the model offers solid sound quality, according to our testers. And despite its rather modest size, the PartyBox Encore Essential delivers plenty of volume. An LED light show controlled by JBL’s smartphone app surrounds the single woofer. The app also lets you add DJ sound effects, including a horn, a dog’s bark, and a variety of record-scratch clips.
It’s also worth noting that JBL claims 6 hours of battery life for this model, so there’s a chance the PartyBox Encore Essential may run out of juice just about the time your party is taking off if you’re not careful to keep it plugged in.
If you want a party speaker that delivers lots of volume and big bass, the Party Box 110 might be the model for you. It plays plenty loud with decent, if bass-heavy, sound and adds features like an LED light show and jacks for karaoke mic capability. The styling, at least when the light show is off, is somewhat more restrained than that of other party speakers, which is a good thing if you want to store the thing in the family room rather than the garage. The model features IPX4 water-resistance, the manufacturer says, so it’s also splashproof.
At 23 pounds and 22 inches tall, JBL’s PartyBox 110 is a serious hunk of speaker, and while it has handles, you’re not going to want to carry it around a lot. It also lacks some of the sonic subtlety of smaller but higher-performance speakers. Our testers heard slight plasticky distortions in the midrange. More to the point, the PartyBox Encore Essential offers similar party-centric features in a smaller, better-sounding, and less-expensive package. But if you’ve got a strong back and plenty of room, the Party Box 110 could work for you.
If you want the look and functionality of a party box speaker but in a significantly smaller size box, try the 16-inch-tall Anker SoundCore Rave Party 2.
While the sound isn’t especially refined compared with the very best wireless speakers in our ratings, its sonic flaws, notably a boomy bass, are relatively minor and it plays impressively loudly. Like many of the other speakers in this roundup, the Rave Party 2 is splash-resistant with an IPX4 water-resistance rating. It also sports the flashing LED lights that you’ll find on lots of tailgating speakers, and a 1/4-inch jack for a mic or even an electric guitar.
The Ion Sport XL is a tailgating speaker that’s inexpensive and easy to transport, and it performs decently, too.
The Ion is large and boxy and weighs just under 25 pounds, but to help you manage that mass it has wheels, a roller-bag-style handle, and grab handles on the side. It’s also IPX5 water-resistant, says Ion, which means it can withstand a light spill or a rain shower.
Sonically, the speaker provides enough volume to fill a large room, and the bass has decent impact, although the lowest bass notes don’t go as deep as those on some other models. One of the handier features on the Ion is an AM-FM tuner that allows you to tap into the local play-by-play during the game or find your favorite sports talk station and hear Vinnie from Queens rant about that controversial fourth-down call.
The LG XBOOM XL7 is charming in its way, with its old-school graphics that echo early-gen video games and custom scrolling text so that you can exhort your partygoers to GET LOUD or BOO THE PUNTER or EAT MORE CHIPS.
Honestly, though, these cheesy-cool visual effects get old in just a few minutes. And then you’re left with a big, heavy speaker that sounds and performs worse than most of the other party box speakers in our ratings.
Our testers describe the sound of the all-important midrange as "somewhat hazy, and plasticky, a bit grainy, and somewhat overwhelmed by the bass." Does this sound like a $500 speaker you’d want to spend time with? Bottom line: The XBOOM XL7 is a rather poor speaker with one cool but gimmicky feature. Or to put it another way, it’s no bargain at all.
At almost 3 feet tall and weighing 60 pounds, the XV900 is a big hulking mass of speaker and as such it can deliver plenty of volume. Which, given its poor sound quality, may not be a good thing.
Don’t be fooled by its looks: This is a huge $800 speaker that sounds much worse than many tiny models that sell for well under $100. So it’s a terrible value.
Our testers give the XV900 a sound quality grade usually reserved for cheap, near-disposable models, like the tiny stocking stuffer Sony SRS XB-13. But for the same $800 money, you can buy a truly impressive-sounding speaker, like the $450 Edifier S1000W, and a 58-inch television to boot.
This is especially head scratching given that Sony’s smaller and less-expensive party speaker, the Sony’s SRS-XP500, earns a spot at the top of our ratings.
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