Polk Audio has been around since 1972, and they specialize in high end audio. This company is from Baltimore MD. We love the fact that they named The Polk Audio Camden Square to honor the folks in the neighborhood surrounding the Camden Yards baseball stadium. The local residents apparently on game days party in the streets with the baseball fans from all over, sharing food, stories, and music. This speaker is all about the sharing the music, with an App that is free you can share your music from your device with your friends.. This is a rugged design, extremely portable, and the battery life much like the fans in Baltimore….long lasting! We respect the heartiness of Baltimore Fans and this speaker represents nicely….find out more by reading our detailed Polk Audio Camden Square Wireless Portable Speaker review.
Portable or Bookshelf
Table of Contents
This is a rugged speaker with a unique design, that is made to travel. Highly portable with features that make this wireless speaker stand ahead of some it’s competitors. This speaker can also be used a bookshelf speaker, it has the sound quality, but we say take it with you.
Power Source/battery life
This speaker boasts 4 lithium ion cells, and this equates to 24 hours at moderate volume, before needing another charge. This crushes the nearest rivals by 10 hours. It also can be plugged in to an electrical outlet. The battery takes 3 hours to charge. The unit also comes new with some battery life, so you can listen right away.
Wireless Standard: Bluetooth
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with Apt-X
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR is simply a newer version of the Bluetooth standard that allows for more security and simple pairing between devices.This unit allows for easy Bluetooth streaming from smartphones, portable music players and computers.
This speaker also supports AptX which is a huge plus for purer, less distorted, higher quality tonal sound that most resembles CD like quality. You could say that AptX is the next generation of new and improved bluetooth sound, and more devices are offering it. The AptX logo is relatively new, since 2012. AptX is being offered on new Samsung, HTC, and Blackberry smartphones, and from other wireless speaker manufacturers like Sony, more products are being added as the AptX is a higher quality, more efficient way to stream music.
What this means is that the speaker has the ability to sound even better than the normal Bluetooth streaming, but yes the source has to be streamed in AptX for it to work. This also means that if you use Sirius XM, Pandora or another of the many internet music sources with your device (smartphone) or computer, the music can be streamed to your Polk Camden using the controls on your device/phone easily.
Camden Square even has it’s own App called DJ Stream and it is free. This app is a fun app for using this speaker at a party, camping, wherever you might share music. This App allows for up to 4 friends to connect to the speaker, they can share thier music, each submitting a song or library to the playlist to be played and the speaker will play them in the order they were added.
Controls
The controls are the centerpiece of this speaker, literally as they are placed in the bullseye position, dead center of the speaker face. The controls are placed in a ring around the Polk Logo and indicator light which is a heart.
Power Button, also if you hold for 3 sec the unit will go into discovery mode, seeking to connect to a device.
-/+ to adjust volume up or down
play and pause button
next/previous track, you press and release
fast forward/rewind track, you press and hold
LED Colors
Solid Blue-Speaker On,Normal Operating Mode.
Pulsing Blue-Discovery Mode
Slowly Blinking blue-Discovery mode
Solid Red-Speaker- plugged in, Standbye mose
Alternating Red and Blue-Battery very low, with 30 min of power left this will continue to alternate colors until no longer able to play or the speaker gets re-charged.
Speakerphone
There is no speakerphone with this speaker
Ease of Set-up
Extremely easy. Turn unit on, enable Bluetooth on your device, you will see Camden Square, select it and in seconds you will connected and playing music. The unit is always in Bluetooth source mode, unless you are using a cable and plugged into the AUX input to use the speaker.Very easy to set up any device, smartphone,notebook, laptop, ipod, or ipad.
This unit comes with a AUX In 3.5 mm jack, however the cord is not supplied. This allows for easy connections to any device if you have the cord or you can get one here
Stereo Separation
Stereo separation is merely the separation of sounds through a right and left speaker. When listening to the music you may hear the drums through the right speaker and the guitar from the left speaker, this separation mimics the spatial separation within the studio where the music is recorded. This speaker creates a balanced 360 degree soundfield so you feel immersed in the music, so you might hear the drums coming from any direction.
Wireless Range
The Bluetooth range is 30′. This unit works up to 40′. Your device such as your smartphone needs to be within that distance to the speaker to allow for continuous music streaming without dropping off or interruption.
Polk Audio Camden Square Design
We love the rugged, yet in it’s own way elegant design. The leather sides are cool, and allow for better grip when carrying. The grill sort of resembles the grooves on an album. When we first saw it sitting with about 15 other speakers on a nice display table, this one caught our attention. For it’s size it feels extremely dense, well made, the leather helps it fit nicely in your hand. It was standing on it’s side and it can be used that way or lying flat, both ways produce incredible sound.
The engineering in this speaker is special, it has 4 2″ drivers and 2 3″ subwoofers that are rectangular passive radiators. This combination of drivers and subwoofers is what delivers the power, the volume, pureness of the music, projection, and surprising Bass response. Polk also uses digital DSP to further enhance the quality of the sound, this is a special computer processing chip that makes the music lifelike and dynamic at all volume levels. Polk also has proprietary design features to further enhance sound quality including their patented Dynamic Bass tuning technology to improve sound.They also use Full Complement Bass, this insures all speakers deliver the same combined, identical, low frequency signals below 200Hz for awesome, strong danceable Bass with min distortion.
Impressive is the rugged testing Polk puts these through, drop testing, extreme signal response and UV & salt exposure testing, hey these are designed to sound great and to last throughout the fun times no matter where the fun times happen to be.
Sound Quality
The sound was as pleasing as the design. I listened first with the live version of The Eagles Hotel California, crystal clear guitar, and the bass was deep, rich and beautiful. I also listened to some live recordings of Joe Bonamassa and the clarity of the instruments was impressive, along with the strong Bass sound. After listening to the likes of the Big Jambox and The Klipsch Gig, the sound quality from the Polk Camden Square was very pleasing…refreshing!
Dimensions
Height 7.16 in
Width 7.16 in
Depth 3 in
Weight 4.3 lbs
Polk Audio Camden Square Features
Music sharing with the free DJ App: Allows for sharing of your music as four devices can be connected to the speaker, this can be great for parties or sleep overs.
Superb Battery Life: This speaker can not only last for say Fri. night sleepover, but for the whole weekend, This can go a whole 24 hours without a charge
Full Range Performance: Fantastic Sound Quality
Accessories
AC power adapter with 6.5′ cord
Quick Start Guide
Pros
Superior Sound quality, Long, long Battery life, DJ App for music Sharing, Portable, Rugged, Nice design, ease of use
Cons
no USB port for charging devices, no carry bag, no speakerphone, does not come with the 3.5mm AUX cord, although it does come with the jack for AUX In use if desired.
Polk Audio Camden Square Consumer Reviews
This speaker enjoys very solid ratings from customer reviews. They love the very long battery life, the sharing music app, the ruggedness of the unit, and the sound quality are all raved about. Some have mentioned the weight at 4.2 lbs, a bit heavier than some other speakers, but overall still portable. This speaker is for those who want great sound, want to use the sharing music app, and for those who need total wireless portability with exceptional battery life.
Price
The price for this speaker has come down and as a result is truly one of the best buys if your looking for true quality sound in a portable stylish wireless speaker. It seems like Polk skipped the flashy accessories like the speakerphone, USB port, remote, and they concentrated on quality of sound, battery life and style. We say grab one while the prices are so good, in some cases almost 30% off.
note: This is a fantastic offering and yes even at full price we really like the Polk Audio Camden Square
For Current Discounted Price Click Link Below
