I test all of the audio gear, and these are the Bluetooth speakers you should buy on Prime Day

Tom's Guide

2 days ago

It's not long now until Prime Day, and all of the epic savings that come with it. First on my list of stuff to watch out for? Bluetooth speakers — so that you can take your music on the go for less.
Before Prime Day begins, I've spent a lot of my year tracking prices on the best Bluetooth speakers. I've also tested a whole bunch of them, so I can give you a great idea of what kind of Bluetooth speaker you should spend your money.
Without further ado, here are the Prime Day Bluetooth speaker deals that you should watch out for.
The Bose Soundlink Max is one of my favorite speakers — I actually have two so that I can bring sweet, sweet stereo tunes to picnics and outdoor activities. It's a large, expensive Bluetooth speaker, but it brings the party anywhere it goes.
It's got plenty of bassy presence, and the rest of the soundscape sounds exceptional. I think it looks really good as well, and it's plenty sturdy thanks to its metal and silicone construction. It's large, mind you, so if you don't want something enormous and heavy, you might want to look elsewhere.
What kind of discount am I hoping for over Prime Day? Well, you should be looking out for a new lowest price. We've seen discounts as big as $100, so something along those lines would be most welcome. $80 off would be the minimum, I'd say, and worth waiting for another deals event to come around for further discounts.
The Bose SoundLink Max is not a small or a cheap speaker, but as you'll find out in its 4.5-star review, it's well worth it. It looks good, sounds excellent, and will easily power a beach trip or picnic thanks to 20 hours of battery. Look out for some deep discounts of Prime Day, with a little luck.
Marshall's family of Bluetooth speakers has grown in leaps and bounds in the last few years, and the Emberton III is the culmination of the brand's compact brilliance. It retains the brand's popular retro look and feel, but shrinks the formula down to something you can fit into a backpack.
It sounds great for something this size and features some impressive battery life to the tune of 32 hours. That's class-leading staying power, lasting longer than just about any other Bluetooth speaker, no matter the size.
As for how much you can expect off, the most we've seen so far is about $40, so I'd like to see that go up to about $50. It's worth picking up at full price, but a decent savings over Prime Day would be a welcome sight.
Marshall's compact Bluetooth speaker balances performance with portability, and does it with a supremely cool style. I love the way it sounds and looks, as you'll find if you read the 4.5-star review. This is a small saving already, but I'm hoping for bigger drops over Prime Day proper.
The Sonos Move 2 is another monster of a Bluetooth speaker. It's the smartest on the list as well, packing in Wi-Fi connection so that you can play higher quality tracks wirelessly. Mine lives permanently by my bed, waking me up with my favorite music to get me ready for the day.
It sounds excellent thanks to Sonos' great audio architecture, and looks great thanks to its simple design. It might not be a cheap speaker, but it sounds good enough and has plenty of speakers to justify that high price. Battery life is good too, with 24 hours on tap.
Over Prime Day watch out for deals that bring the speaker down by around $100. It would be nice to see a deal that drops the speaker down even lower for a new lowest price — I've got my fingers crossed.
Sonos' largest Bluetooth speaker is one of the best that money can buy, sounding huge and packing in some epic features. Read our 4.5-star review to find out more about how much we loved the speaker and its 24-hour battery life.
The Brane X is the bassiest speaker that I've ever tested, shaking walls and floors, and rattling windows. It's all thanks to some very clever design work, which houses a massive subwoofer in a small device. Somehow, the folks at Brane have reduced air pressure in the speaker which results in even more low-end.
The downside here is that means there's a slight noise when it's not playing music, but it's nothing to write home about. It sounds good beyond the bass as well and, thanks to its built-in Wi-Fi connection, streaming music is a breeze.
So how are discounts looking? I've not seen any so far — the speaker has only been on Amazon for a little while. I'd like to see a nice $50 to take the slightly higher price down, but we'll have to wait for Amazon's deal days to kick off in earnest to see what price drops we're going to get.
The Brane X is a beast of a Bluetooth speaker, packing in a full-blown subwoofer to make the room quake. I loved my time testing so much that it earned a 4 star review. There haven't been any deals as yet, but I'm hopeful for deep savings over Prime Day.