Klipsch - New York Music City Bluetooth Party Speaker - Black

I’ve been extremely impressed with the Klipsch New York. The sound quality is outstanding, especially for movie scores and orchestral music. It delivers powerful bass, crisp highs, and excellent clarity even at higher volumes. The speaker is large and definitely has some weight to it, but the built-in wheels and handles make it much easier to move around than you’d expect. The only issue I ran into was the initial Bluetooth setup. It wasn’t immediately obvious that your phone and the Klipsch Connect Plus app both play a role in the pairing process. There were times when the app showed the speaker as connected—I could adjust the volume and trigger sound effects—but no music or phone audio would play, and the Bluetooth light on the speaker continued flashing. What worked for me was holding the Bluetooth button on the speaker for about five seconds until it plays a tone. That puts the speaker into pairing mode. Then connect to it through your phone’s Bluetooth settings first, and after that open the Klipsch app and connect there. Once I did that, everything worked perfectly. The good news is that this is really only an issue during the initial pairing or when connecting a new device. Once your phone has been paired, reconnecting is quick and painless. Overall, I absolutely love this speaker. The sound, build quality, and portability are excellent, and after getting past the initial Bluetooth learning curve, it’s been a fantastic experience. Highly recommended.

Being a lifelong musician has been both a blessing and a curse. I have personally had the pleasure of not only playing music for most of my life, but also listening to music with a critical ear. I have owned and progressed through decades of innovative speakers and devices that somehow continually raise the bar in each of their respective fields. From bluetooth party speakers, to studio monitors, headphones, guitar speakers, PA speakers, sound bars, and even the tiny speakers in your favorite laptop, music and sound need a way to get to your ears with volume and clarity. In the past, I have relied on simple smaller bluetooth speakers for parties, get-togethers, and family functions. While those can get the job done in some scenarios, having the extra modern features of a large bluetooth party speaker can send a simple gathering of friends, into a full scale dance party. Enter the new Klipsch New York bluetooth party speaker. Where both sound and size are front and center. **** SOUND QUALITY **** To my ears, the Klipsch New York is tuned to be exactly as intended. Being that the New York is the largest speaker in this series, you can expect a fuller sound and more volume by default. Housed inside the rugged build (more on this later) are two 8 inch woofers and a separate tweeter in-between the woofers. Both the speakers and the tweeter are surrounded by lighting presets that can cycle colors, and of course, pulse with the music. The Klipsch logo on the sides are also lit up and look great. The lighting can also be turned off if you want to save battery power (more on this later), or simply want to hear the music, not see it. Back to the sound quality. The massive dual 8 inch woofers and separate tweeter provide an ear splitting level of sound if your event needs it. The bass, even without Ultra-Bass enabled (via the button on top) is what you would expect from dual 8 inch woofers. It is deep and full and has no problem filling the room and shaking the floor. I have honestly preferred listening to this speaker with the Ultra-Bass turned off, as I think there are more than enough low end frequencies by default. That said, if you want the extra thump for different genres of music, it is definitely available with a single button press. As with the bass, the high frequencies are also very crisp and present. The overall tuning of this speaker is as I expected coming from two industry giants, Klipsch and Onkyo. Ultimately, the overall size of this speaker, the size of the woofers, and the attention to detail in the design, make it an extremely hi-fi sounding bluetooth speaker that should satisfy even the most discerning ears. **** BUILD **** There is a lot to unpack here. This thing is huge. It is rugged and made of ABS and metal. Klipsch states that it weighs 56.5 pounds, which may be a lot for some, but thankfully there are wheels and a large handle making it easy to move around. They also state that this has an IPX4 water rating, which should withstand light water splashes if you use it at a pool. I do not plan on having it near water, but it is nice to know it won’t get fried with a few splashes. The speaker also has rubber covers over both the power and accessory input ports on the back giving it even more protection from the elements. Klipsch has also included small built-in rubber bumpers (see my review pics) on the bottom and both sides of the speaker in case you want to lay it on its side. This is a great addition to an already robust build, keeping the sides of your speaker free from unsightly scratches. The front grill is all metal as expected and should protect the woofers and tweeter from accidents. That said, water will still get through, so be careful. The knobs on the top of the speaker are super solid and easy to turn with the perfect amount of resistance. The buttons for Ultra-Bass, power, play, pause, bluetooth pairing, are all rubber and feel like they will last forever. There is also a cutout behind the controls on top to hold a tablet or phone. It is however, a little too small / thin to hold a device with a thicker case. This speaker also houses a giant 5000mAh battery that Klipsch states will last up to 8 hours with lighting turned on, and 12 with it off. That is a wonderful battery life for such a large speaker, meaning you can get a full day’s listening in remote locations that don’t readily have power. **** KARAOKE & APP **** While this speaker doubles as a karaoke machine, I have found that the included microphone could use an upgrade. The New York comes with a cheap microphone that plugs into the back of the speaker. In my tests, I have found that the microphone's diaphragm simply cannot handle loud vocals and will distort when someone sings with force. If you are using it quietly, it can get the job done, but if you are in a loud environment, you might want to consider upgrading the microphone to a better design. The speaker also has a few buttons for effects (samples) to spice up your karaoke session, such as a record scratch and a crowd cheer. While these are fun for some users, I feel like they could have included this in the free app instead of putting dedicated buttons on the speaker itself. The optional app has all of the lighting and EQ customization features you would expect, plus a few other noteworthy uses. Mainly the ability to link additional Klipsch speakers to create a multi-speaker setup. I can’t even imagine how amazing and loud it would be to have two of these in the same setup! **** IN CONCLUSION **** If you are in the market for a wall-of-sound speaker that has the volume to handle your events, the Klipsch New York is a massive sounding, well designed speaker that will fill just about any location with rich, full sound. With a great battery life and built in wheels, it is a portable party powerhouse. If you get the chance, stop by your local Best Buy to hear one in person. **** PROS **** Rugged excellent build quality Massive sound and LOUD if needed Great battery life Handle and wheels built in for easy transport Customizable lighting Additional units can be added into a group IPX4 water and dust rating **** CONS **** Microphone distortion

Wanted a speaker that I could take outside, as well as to parties. What I got was much more than I expected. The New York Music City Party Speaker is an absolute blast! It is a wireless speaker (battery powered and Bluetooth capable), has two 8” woofers, a horn tweeter, and peripherals that make this the perfect party speaker. It is a large speaker, standing at nearly 2.5’ tall and weighing over 50 lbs. I was glad that it came with a set of wheels on it, which makes it easy moving it from location to location. The box also includes a microphone, a charging cable, and an aux cable. Sound is highly customizable, with bass and treble knobs, microphone volume (you can also plug a bass or guitar into one of the jacks, turning it into an amp), and buttons for a siren, turntable Chicka-chicka, and applause. The speaker also is lit, and you can set it to do all sorts of different patterns and colors of light. In use, the Party Speaker gets very loud. Bass is excellent. Sound quality is fantastic, even for being basic Bluetooth. Battery life is excellent. I often wheel this outside and play music on it while we are in the pool, and it works great even in the 100-degree weather here. Love this speaker and highly recommend it for loads of fun.

I absolutely love my new Klipsch New York bluetooth speaker! When I first unboxed it, I could not wait to power it on and pair with my phone. It was honestly one of the fastest unboxings I have ever done. It is only packed with 2 big pieces of styrofoam and I ripped it out of the box. Within 2 minutes it was on and in pairing mode. I had my phone connected, unraveled the microphone, and was singing karaoke in less time than it takes to microwave a burrito! I was singing songs with out adjusting one single setting. The fun was immediate. I had a popular streaming app that showed lyrics of the songs and I was scrambling to decide what song to play next. After this immediate euphoria wore off, I downloaded the app and learned the settings. The app is very easy to use and lets you adjust the sound settings and light settings. I started to play general music and found the perfect sound settings. I then played with the bass boost and started making the room shake. I used the speaker for a few hours without actually charging it first. I then let it charge overnight and have been using it every day for at least an hour a day. I have not had to charge it still. The speaker has a handle and two wheels that let you move it like a dolly. I have been moving it around my basement, but have not taken it outside yet. I am kind of afraid to and make my neighbors mad or jealous. If you purchase this Klipsch speaker, I guarantee you will have fun with it. A lot of people like to pretend that they don't like karaoke, but with this speaker and included microphone, it is impossible not to dabble. This is a must buy!

We have many big events in our family and I love and welcome any kind of party speaker. This speakers sound quality, bass quality and the lights are just top notch. Out of the box, I scanned the Q code to download the app and linked the speaker to my Bluetooth. I was ready to play music in less than 5 minutes. The app showed me the speaker had 82% charge and it allowed me to see and control everything about the speaker. It shows battery level, volume, input options including usb, Bluetooth and analog. It has a custom equalizer option also if you really need to control your bass and treble levels. It has a whole lighting section that allows you to change the front lighting on the subs and even the lighting on the side where the “Klipsch” logo is. I love how customizable that part it, it’s the little things haha. The microphone option allows for an awesome karoke experience. There are dials on the top of the speaker that control mic levels including the bass and treble as well as echo. I feel like that’s an excellent option because this speaker really puts out and having the controls for mics allows you to be on a whole different level for karoke. Another fun little option was the buttons to add little “dj” sound effects when music is playing. Something I wouldn’t typically use but I feel like it’s just fun to have a few sound effects. Now for the power or charging levels. Obviously, for a top notch sound experience you want this speaker to be plugged in. We kept this speaker out by the pool for a little over 5 hours with ultra bass on as well as the lights and the battery still showed about 30% battery life. I was impressed to have that much battery left even with all the options on a volume up! Very nice. Overall, I have 3 party speakers now. This one is my favorite. I have a huge Sony speaker, a LG speaker and now this Klipsch and with the two 8” subs, this speaker has the best bass sound for sure. Sound quality is so clear and crisp. I’m giving this a 9.5/10. The .5 deduction comes from the fact it is awkward to move around because the handle is fixed vs having an extended handle option. Literally, that’s my only complaint. Very minimal but still something worth noting.