iLive ITP100B Two Channel Bar Speaker System with Docking and Recharging Station for iPhone and iPod

iLive ITP100B Two Channel Bar Speaker System with Docking and Recharging Station for iPhone and iPod
  • High quality sound speaker bar with remote
  • iPod and iPhone docking station
  • FM radio with alarm
  • Digital clock
  • Gradual wake feature

I am using this as a speaker bar for my home theater system that is on my covered deck. I wanted something I could use for my I-Pod as well as amplify sound for my projection TV. I also wanted something I could easily mount on a wall in a small space that I had available.

This works with both my 2nd and 3rd generation I-Pod Touch. It has red/white RCA plugs where I have audio input from my Direct TV box.

Even at higher volumes the sound is great with no significant distortions. The sound is full with without a tinny quality. Bass is not very full but I would not expect it to be.

When buying this unit I was looking for multi-functionality. This unit will mainly be used for playing tunes during parties and for sporting event sound. If I was doing more movies and needed more theater sound for I would have gone with a Vizo sound bar that I have seen/heard at one of the warehouse stores.

Update 11/28/2010

I have been using this for almost 5 months now

I'm still pleased with overall function and sound quality.

I have not attempted to 'max out' the volume but for my deck (which is 16x25 feet) this provides more than enough volume.

Again I want to stress that if you are looking for high quality sound for a home theater where movies are being played consider a different sound bar. This unit provides great sound for general music and sports -it does not provide good base.

However for such a small speaker it does provide good general sound and good amplification with out hissing or a tinny quality.

For my purposes this is an excellent product at a very good price.

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This dock will NOT play whatever audio is sent to it from the iPhone. It only supports the Apple "iPod" app. You cannot use this dock with Pandora or any other music app. I called the company's technical support line and they confirmed that the device is designed to ONLY work with Apple's music app. I've never run into this limitation with any other device. It's a deal breaker for me and I'll be returning it to the store.

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I have a 32" LCD in my kitchen. When I would watch that TV through the speakers I would have to turn the volume up very high just to understand the dialog but it was just too loud at that point. The audio was just not very clear through the TV speakers so I wanted something simple and cheap because it was for a kitchen TV, not for the big screen entertainment. I just wanted clearer audio. This soundbar fit the bill perfect. It fell right in the price range I was looking in and it delivers clear audio so that I don't have to crank up the volume to understand the dialog.

Oh yeah, I can charge my iPhone on it! You can also play audio from your iPhone/iPod through the unit but I haven't messed with this feature. I have just used it to charge my phone. This feature had no bearing on my purchase decision but its a cool added bonus. If you don't have an iPhone or iPod don't let the fact that it has this feature discourage you from buying the unit because you can keep the charger closed and never know it has an iPhone charger. I do have an iPhone and I would still purchase this unit without the charger so you shouldn't feel that this item isn't for you if you don't have one.

This is a great item if you just want clearer audio than your TV speakers deliver if you just watch news, sitcoms, documentaries, etc. I don't think I would recommend this item for watching a lot of blu-rays. You need to go full out surround for that. Although, I haven't put it to the test with movies and loud bumping music but I seriously doubt it could handle that very well.

One more point is that there is no digital audio input but if you listened to what I said above, then that shouldn't be a problem.

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Not sure why people are saying that they can't use this with Pandora. It works just fine with my iPhone 4. I can access all my music on my iPod and I have no problems with Pandora. Sound quality is fine for the bedroom which is where I've set this up. The clock has three dimmer levels so you can tone it down at night and it doesn't take up a ton of retail space on the dresser. I'm pretty happy with this.

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I bought this sound bar to fit underneath my Dell monitor at work, after my desktop speakers gave up the ghost after 10+ years of service. The bar rests directly below my 23" widescreen monitor, with just enough sticking out that I can press the buttons on the top.

By its appearance, it looks pretty slick. The built-in clock is a nice thing to have, and the fact that it auto-dims when the audio portion is turned off is also nice for home use. Within minutes, the glossy black surface showed finger smears, as if my kids had rubbed their grubby hands all over it.

Soundwise, I would describe it as passable. Low frequency sound is just not there, and I've been wanting to supplement it with an underdesk subwoofer, but it would need to have an audio loop-through, since the bar speaker does not have a line output.

The bar speaker has both RCA and 1/8" jacks for auxiliary inputs, such as a PC, though the nomenclature is odd. One is "LINE IN", though technically, they both are line inputs. So, one would hit the Source button until sound comes out. Note that switching from the internal iPod dock to one of the Line In inputs results in different sound volumes, which could be startling, if not unexpected.

The iPod dock seems to work fine with my iPod Touch 4G, even though a docking insert for that model was not included. The iPod seems to rest against the front face of the speaker bar, which stabilizes it from loosening its connection to the dock connector. It plays, it charges, but gee do I wish it had a USB pass-through, so I could operate the iPod from my PC's iTunes software!

I have had this product for approximately a month, and experienced no failures of any kind. I have not tried the handheld remote control, which has a few additional features.

In summary, it does what it is supposed to, and is a great fit for those who want to clean up their desktop, but acoustically leaves much to be desired.

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