Regular readers will recognize the name Andover Audio. The Massachusetts-based premium home audio brand is featured here regularly, primarily for its innovative line of turntable base speaker systems like the SpinBase MAX 2 (Reviewed here). This time around I’ve spent several weeks with a company first: a portable Bluetooth speaker. However, this being Andover Audio, the FreePlay is not your typical speaker. It features a rugged yet minimalist design with a folding handle that’s a throwback look to the boomboxes of old, a stereo speaker configuration with beefy woofers, tweeters and a big passive radiator, Bluetooth LE 6.0, an element-proof build, 24+ hour battery life and even a built-in wireless charge pad.
Here’s what you can expect from the Andover Audio FreePlay stereo Bluetooth speaker.
Rugged, Retro Appearance
Portable Bluetooth speakers take many form factors, but Andover Audio chose a different direction from most. Instead of a block or cylinder, the FreePlay is an upright slab with 4 drivers on the front face, a slightly convex profile and a folding handle. It’s a simplified take on the look of a classic 80s boombox, but rugged enough to survive the elements. Bring the FreePlay camping or to a pool party and it’s going to stand out as something different. But it’s not so obviously ruggedized that it’s going to look out of place in your living room.
In terms of how tough the speaker is, a sealed rubber input/output flap and membrane covered controls help it to offer IP67 water and dust resistance. Andover Audio says it can survive 30 minutes fully submerged in 3 feet of water. I tested it around our pool and can report that splashes of water (and rain downpours) have no effect.
Stereo Sound
One of the key features of the FreePlay is its stereo sound. Dual woofers and tweeters mean that the audio is handled by drivers optimized for high and low frequencies instead of a full-range driver or two handling everything, as is common with many portable speakers. The speaker is 13 inches wide, but those drivers are still very close together, so you are not going to get true stereo separation. However, Andover Audio has worked magic with making drivers in a relatively compact cabinet provide expansive sound with its SpinBase line of under-turntable speakers and you can expect some of that experience to rub off on the FreePlay.
To ensure the bass has plenty of oomph, those woofers are each 5.25-inches and there is also a big passive radiator that dominates the back of the speaker. If you like the bass to really stand out, you can place the FreePlay near a wall (so that passive radiator’s effect is maximized), or even lie the speaker down on its back–there are four rubber feet on the back to support the FreePlay in horizontal mode.
Andover Audio doesn’t publish the speaker’s output power, but it was plenty for my back yard. There is a button to engage Loud mode if you need an extra boost, providing an extra 6dB of output power. Just as importantly the amplifier and multi-driver output are made to work together to reduce distortion at loud volumes.
FreePlay Key Specs:
- Dual 5.25-inch aluminum woofers, dual 1-inch dome tweeters with Neodymium magnets
- Large, rear-facing passive radiator
- Default Wide Range EQ setting with selectable Loud mode (6dB boost)
- IP 67 water and dust rating
- Bluetooth LE 6.0 with support up to 99 FreePlay speakers in multi-speaker mode
- Top-mounted controls
- 3.5mm AUX input, 3.5mm microphone input
- Battery rated at 24+ hours of continuous playback at moderate listening levels
- USB-C charging, USB-C output to charge mobile devices
- 5W wireless top-deck charging pad
- Side tie-down bars
- 10 x 13 x 6.5-inches, weighs 9lbs
- Includes 45W USB charger and cable, drawstring bag
- Available in Ivory, Slate and Olive
- MSRP $429
Battery Life and Additional Features
The FreePlay is rated to provide 24 hours or more of constant playback at moderate volume. After using it off and on over two weeks, for two or three hours at a time, the battery LED indicators on my test unit are still showing a charge level of three out of five.
The FreePlay includes a number of additional features including side tie-bars (anchor points for securing the speaker or attaching a carrying strap), the ability to charge mobile devices with USB-C or the built-in wireless charge pad on its top deck, support for multi-speaker connection with up to 99 other FreePlay speakers, microphone input and a 3.5mm AUX input to connect other peripherals (such as a turntable with a pre-amp) and use the FreePlay as the center of an expandable audio system.
Disclosure: Andover Audio provided a FreePlay speaker for evaluation purposes but had no input into this article.
