By: Dove
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Anyone who works from home can tell you, it’s easy to get cluttery in a space, even when you do your best to separate your work and personal life. Considering that I live in Manhattan, I’m very lucky to have a full 900 square feet of space to myself. The downside to having the space is that I tend to fill it up with all of my favorite things, including a ton of gadgets and action figures.
Like all normal humans I love blasting my music from time to time, but I’m always either blowing out my computer speakers, or having to move my portable speakers around the apartment with me because sound doesn’t carry from one end to the other in my apartment due to the layout. I know I shouldn’t complain about that fact, but when I’m trying to get my pseudo karaoke on, it’s a pain.
So into my life comes this gorgeous Samsung Shape wireless get-up from Best Buy. My eyes lit up at the perfect triangular M7 speakers, and I also got a single small ZA hub that fits nicely alongside my computer’s blinking internet modem box thing that I kick from time to time.
It took me all of about 10 minutes to set it up, because I didn’t read the instructions. But that was only because the manuals are so teeny tiny and I just couldn’t focus. Neither here nor there, because I aced the bluetooth linkage from the hub to the speakers to my phone in a couple of button pushes, and voilà! Sam Smith was singing softly to me as I continued throughout the afternoon.
Then of course I had to let loose! Some AC/DC, A$AP Ferg, The Band Perry, Bruno Mars… ran through a few styles and tempos from my playlist, and everything from treble to bass-heavy music held up perfectly.
The only hesitancy I can see anyone having with this speaker off top would be the price, as it seems like a small package to pay over $300 for. It’s also heavier than it looks, which can be a good thing if you need more stability once you set it up. But rest assured, after blowing through a few pairs of less expensive, light-weight speakers, I feel confident that this is a wise investment. The quality of the sound is such that you could mount the speaker in any room in the house and get a “full” sound from it. Not an easy feat to accomplish.
Here are some of the features of the M7 to consider:
- Expandable system! You can play one song in any or all rooms, or different songs in different room from any number of speakers via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connect.
- It’s a space saver – instead of a set of small speakers with wires, bass/amp with more wires, etc. you have one sharp looking unit that can fit nicely on your desk, bookshelf or any table in the house. Just make sure to give it breathing room.
- Use any of your music systems or streaming music – iTunes and Google Play are supported, as are Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Tunein and Amazon CloudPlayer
- With Bluetooth connectivity, you can listen from your synced iOS (4.3 or later) or Android (2.3.3 or later) device, PC or Mac
- It has a built-in dual-band 2.4/5.0GHz wireless LAN
- An Ethernet port permits wired connectivity
- Top-panel buttons are easy to access, soft touch. They include Internet radio preset, Bluetooth, TV SoundConnect, wheel-touch scroll volume dial, and mute, with WPS and pairing buttons on the back.
- A unique stand comes with the speaker to provide stable placement, and a tilt for even better sound
- The ZA Hub offers wide-range use, and can be connected with multiple devices. And if I can set it up, so can you!
Now if you really want to get this while it’s in stock, Best Buy just so happens to be running their “August Audio Fest” through the end of August. They’ll be featuring multiple products this month, so don’t be surprised if you walk out with more than just the Shape system! Their Geek Squad is friendly (I’ve spent more time picking their brains than I’d care to admit), and will help walk you through technical and set-up questions, and of course you can enlist them to set the system up in your home if you are nervous about it.
The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free
