Review – OutCast Wireless Outdoor Speaker System
Author: Bob Hetherington
I pulled it out of the box and in about 10 minutes had a new and very full bodied speaker out on the patio playing music from my ipod. Not only that … I can control the ipod from the speaker itself rather than having to go inside and do it. Controls for play/pause/skip forward and back are conveniently located on top of the unit … nice.
The outdoor component is a nice looking tower with the controls mounted on the top and a nice bassy sound that is a welcome feature for patio listening. This is a serious sound system … not just a bookshelf speaker that’s for sure.
www.soundcastsystems.com/
Cables to Go
Every once in a while I come across a product that I didn’t think I needed … but then find out that I had underestimated the usefullness or coolness of it. I didn’t ask to review an OutCast … nor did I really have the time or energy to put it together and try it out. But then it arrived at my door and I was intrigued by the size and weight of it. I was expecting a little wireless speaker with tinny sound so was surprised when I opened the box and found a substantial piece of equipment with some pretty simple setup instructions.
So, what the heck … I pulled it out of the box and in about 10 minutes had a new and very full bodied speaker out on the patio playing music from my ipod. Not only that … I can control the ipod from the speaker itself rather than having to go inside and do it. Controls for play/pause/skip forward and back are conveniently located on top of the unit … nice.
The indoor component of the system is called the iCast. It has an ipod dock as well as inputs for external sources so you can transmit music from your computer, audio system, TV, mp3 player or just about any source you like. The spec says it will transmit up to 350 feet … but I haven’t tested that yet so can’t verify that to be the case. Enough to say that it is working just great at about 50 feet in my case.
The outdoor component is a nice looking tower with the controls mounted on the top and a nice bassy sound that is a welcome feature for patio listening. This is a serious sound system … not just a bookshelf speaker that’s for sure.
The unit comes with a rechargeable battery pack so you can take it down the block if you need to … and blow the doors off at your neighbors hot tub party. There is even a jack on the unit so you can plug an mp3 player or other portable source directly into it.
At about $700 the OutCast system is not cheap … but neither does it sound or look cheap. If you are looking for a simple solution to your outdoor sound needs that gives you the quality sound that the rest of your audio system produces … this one is worth a look.
www.soundcastsystems.com/