House of Marley Bag of Rhythm Portable Audio System

Portable speaker systems for iPhones and iPods are typically made to be lightweight and easy to pack, but the House of Marley Bag of Rhythm Portable Audio System takes a different approach. Rather than making it easy to pack, House of Marley packs it for you?the system comes in a canvas carrying bag. Quite large and quite expensive at $349.99 (direct), the Bag of Rhythm delivers quality audio performance at moderate volumes, but when you blast the volume on songs with deep bass, distortion and loud vibrations (on the actual unit itself) often occur. It lacks any extra features?other than the bag?or a remote control, and it requires six D-cell batteries to operate portably, all of which makes the price seem too high. Alas, you can't put a price on uniqueness, and if you're looking for a speaker dock that looks like no other, this one is a pretty good bet.

Design
Measuring 11 by 26 by 10.3 inches?and weighing a hulking 15 pounds, the Bag of Rhythm's frame fits snugly inside the canvas bag, which snaps onto the contour of the speaker system, leaving the wooden top panel, along with the speaker grilles and iPhone/iPod dock, uncovered. It's a nice concept, but when you remove the bag, the section of the system that is uncovered, made of matte black plastic, seems comparatively bland.

The top panel, which is reminiscent of wooden drums, is eco-friendly FSC-certified Birch, and bears the House of Marley logo. The circular grilles hide dual 1-inch tweeters and 4.5-inch woofers. The actual housing for the system, which has ported sides for easy air movement from the drivers, feels hollow. Tapping on the top of it actually reminded me of banging a drum. That doesn't do wonderful things for the audio performance at high volumes, but we'll tackle that in a bit. The system is designed to be used with iPhones and iPods, but there's also a 3.5mm Aux input on the front panel next to the dock?and a Rasta-themed 3.5mm audio cable ships with the unit. The power adapter connects on the top panel of the system. The canvas bag includes a snap-shut outer pocket and is a dull shade of army greenish-brown, and includes colorful Rastafarian green, gold, and red accents.?Surprisingly, there is no remote control.?

While the materials used may be eco-friendly, the need for six?yes, six?D-cell batteries (which are not included) in order to use the system portably is basically the opposite. And environmentally friendly or not, the system is already quite heavy?adding six very large batteries to the equation doesn't help things. So the bag is more of a necessity than it seems at first glance, while the effort and extra cost of six D-cell batteries is likely to be a turn-off if you're expecting a rechargeable portable speaker system.

Performance
The mostly hollow contour of the Bag of Rhythm means that, at loud volumes, the entire system really vibrates. This results in some audible rattling of the housing itself when the system reaches higher volumes on music with substantial bass. The combination of the vibrations with the distortion of the woofers at high volumes on deep bass tracks like the Knife's "Silent Shout" is something I would expect out of a sub-$150 iPhone/iPod speaker dock, but for a $350 system with no extra bells and whistles like, say, wireless streaming, this is a pretty serious flaw.

At more moderate volumes and on less-challenging tracks, the Bag of Rhythm offers quality audio performance. Classical tracks, like "The Chairman Dances" by John Adams sounded pleasantly resonant in the lower frequencies, with the lower register strings and percussion benefitting slightly from the cavernous inside of the speaker system. This is because classical music, like this track, is mastered at a lower overall level. At maximum volume, there is little risk of a classical track, even at great crescendos, distorting or vibrating the housing much. Rock, hip hop, and yes, even Bob Marley, all sound quite nice at moderate volumes on the Bag of Rhythm, so it's a shame that things get ugly when you pump up the levels.

Overall, the House of Marley Bag of Rhythm sounds just fine at moderate volumes, but the large size implies a party system, and it can't quite hold up to the rigors of deep bass music at high volumes. Portable systems typically aren't this massive or trying to be this powerful. That, combined with its multi-battery-dependant portability, makes it hard for the system to compete in a field with less expensive, more compelling options.

If you want easy portability and strong sound quality, the Editors' Choice Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker ($299.95, 4 stars) is far smaller and a bit cheaper, and while it doesn't get quite as loud, it still outputs a very healthy dosage of audio, without distortion?and it streams audio wirelessly via Bluetooth. The less powerful, but cleverly designed Altec Lansing iMT630 Classic ($149.95, 3.5 stars) is also a reliable option in the portable realm, but with its lower price comes less-inspiring audio performance. And if all of these options are out of your price range, the Editors' Choice Logitech Mini Boombox ($99.95, 4 stars) is another portable?and wireless?option with respectable, though not thunderous, audio performance.

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