Home > Consumer Reviews > Altec Lansing T515 Portable Speaker for Stereo Bluetooth Phone

I was looking for both a desktop speaker and headset (for working out and general entertainment) for my Blackjack II music. After hours of headset comparisons I decided on one and then went on to find a desktop speaker and stumbled upon this Altec Lansing desktop/travel speaker with a detachable headset. There is a little door in between the speakers which holds a small unit into which you plug wired, very comfortable earphones (and I have small ears). The pairing is very easy and the sound is pretty impressive especially considering the size of the shiny black speaker unit. Right now I am listening to XM radio through the headphones and it sounds amazing. I am extremely impressed and I am very critical. By the way I did not order the other headset cause this does it all!!! Oh and it comes with this nice case which holds the speaker and earphones. The price on the box was $99. . .I got it for $34 plus shipping but it would have definately been worth the $99 as well!! :)

This unit is very sleek, very straightforward, and it works! I wanted a bluetooth stereo headset for my cell phone, and I am happy I chose this. I like that it's not a bulky headset that looks obvious; rather I can use any little earbuds I like (comes with a pair) and just plug them in to the receiver unit. You need to clip the unit on to a pocket or whatever but it's very light. It's the same as having a little iPod shuffle clipped somewhere. I find the range just fine, seems to be around four to six metres so if your phone is in your pocket or purse or on your desk, it works beautifully. The bonus in this for me was the external speaker - I really only wanted the bluetooth earphones but I'm using the external speaker a lot! The sound quality is good. It's not full sized sound, but I wasn't expecting that. It sounds very nice and it is incredibly portable. I would not want to have paid the $120 it sold for originally in Canada, but with the deal I got on Amazon I am completely thrilled with it!

I like everything about it except the speakers distort horribly if you turn the volume up. I read reviews that indicated distortion at high volume, and I would expect distortion because of the speaker's small size, but these speakers seem to do it excessively. Sometimes the volume level needed to eliminate distortion is not adequate enough to be heard clearly. I only recommend these speakers because I'm not sure better ones are on the market, considering the few options available for people in the market for bluetooth speakers.

At the current price level (I paid around $32), these are a fantastic bargain. Now, they're not by any means high end audio, but if you want them to convert your bluetooth-enabled phone into a portable mini-stereo, this is the perfect product for that. As a bonus, the little bluetooth receiver clips to your collar so that you can use the included stereo headphones. You can navigate back/forward and pause/play from the receiver or from the phone, and it does even work as a speaker phone (though it's not the best speaker phone by any means). I bought this mainly to have speakers to play music for my phone at the beach, and they are just perfect for that, just enough sound to enjoy without bugging anyone around you. The fact that I can also listen music around the house without being tethered to the device (phone or bluetooth-enabled computer) playing it is also very awesome.

The one thing to remember is if the speakers sound distorted, you have to turn them all the way down, then back up again. The speakers can be plugged in or run on 4 AAA batteries, and the same plug works for the speakers and to charge the receiver/medallion thingy. They can also be powered/charged by the included USB cable.

Highly recommended for extremely portable, lightweight, bluetooth stereo. They even include a nice rubbery carrying case to protect the speakers, though it would be nice if it had room for batteries and such.

All in all a very cool device for the money, I'm considering buying for other family members while these are still available at this great price.

These were on my wish list from the time they were available for $150. But then I was surprised to see them for $30.

You can do a whole lot of things with these! A geeks dream come true!

About the Speakers:

Highs: B
Mids: B
Bass: B

I bought these speakers so that I could keep them in my bathroom and stream bluetooth audio from my laptop or my Windows Mobile 5 hp iPAQ rw6828.

They work like a dream, no problems at all. They support 4 basic profiles:
Audio Sink
Handsfree Telephony
Headset
Remote Control

They come with connections galore:
The speaker has a line in and a dock for the bluetooth handsfree.
The bluetooth handsfree has a built in mic & a 3.5mm audio out... which is the best part as I can connect any speaker system or earphone to it!!!

The bluetooth handsfree can be charged while on the dock, by the AC adapter or a separate USB adapter which is included!!! It also has remote control ... i.e. you can adjust the volume, change tracks, play/pause remotely e.g. Im in my bathroom and my laptop's in my living room ... I can control the media player with these basic controls remotely via bluetooth!!!

If you get a phone call, it pauses the player and you can recieve the phone call using the handsfree, and it also has other controls like call mute, etc.

The sound quality and loudness is more than enough for my bathroom. You need to tweak the equalizer settings to get the right amount of bass and perfect levels of mids and highs. For speakers of their size (which run on batteries too!!!) the 3D quality and fidelity is good enough.

And yeah ... they come with decent quality stereo earphones too! ... I'm amazed how Altec is giving away so much for $30 and at some places for as low as $18!!!