Antec AMP SPZero and Antec AMP SP1

 

The Antec AMP SPZero and AMP SP1 Bluetooth speakers are steps in that direction. We played around with these rugged speakers to figure out if this is a good idea for Antec.

Design and specifications

At first glance, the AMP SPZero resembles a weight used on a weighing scale. This boxy speaker has dimensions of 3.4x2.2x3.7mm and weighs around 218g, which is on the higher side for a portable speaker of this size. There are two metal handlebars on top of the AMP SPZero. Antec bundles a carabiner clip inside the box which can be attached to the speaker to help carry it around easily. The AMP SPZero's tough plastic shell is covered by a layer of rubbery material. This material is not attached tight and disfigures easily, which takes away from the otherwise decent looking speaker.

The three control buttons - power/pairing, volume up and volume down - are lined up on the top. There is a hole for a microphone in between the volume down and power buttons. The LED indicator is on the front. On the right of the speaker are the Aux in, Aux out and Micro-USB ports. The Aux out port can be used to create a daisy chain with another AMP SPZero. We couldn't test if this worked because we only had a single review unit. Antec touts that these speakers are splash-proof but we are don't think the open ports are a good idea as there is a possibility of water seepage.

Performance

Pairing a Bluetooth-enabled device to the AMP SPZero is not very intuitive. We had to resort to the manual to figure it out. To power on the speaker you have to hold the button for a good 15 seconds, and in order to pair with an audio source you have to continue holding the button until you hear the "pairing mode" prompt in a female voice. Unfortunately, there is no pre-recorded voice on the AMP SP1 and you will have to make do with beeps. However, the pairing process is much simpler on the larger speaker because of the separate power switch. Once paired with either speaker, there is no need to pair your devices again.

The drivers inside the AMP SPZero and AMP SP1 are placed such that low frequency sounds emanate from the rear and the rest of the frequencies are played through the grille on the front. This is slightly annoying since the ranges don't mesh together nicely to create a coherent sound. This is more apparent on the AMP SPZero than AMP SP1.