1 
0 Recently through the doors of TC HQ, we received a pair of Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers. Adorned in retro brown wooden MDF cabinets, would these 66W RMS speakers produce a room-filling sound that would cope with playing games, listening to music and playing my guitar?
Bass In The Place London
It’s time to open the box and see what fun Edifier has in store for us!
Design
In the box you receive; an active and passive speaker, a decent thick audio cable that has a plug at each end to connect the pair together, an RCA to RCA audio cable, a 3.5mm to RCA audio cable and a remote control.
The speakers, which come in either walnut brown, black or silver, are of a decent weight, 6.6kg in total. They are approx. 155 x 250 x 212 mm and one of the design features is that they pitch up by 10 degrees at the front to aim the sound towards your ears.
I liked the fact that the speakers connected so easily. I usually have a mare trying to identify the different clear plastic speaker wires to get the red and black input/outputs to match.
The powered righthand speaker hosts the audio controls and connectivity options. On the right of the speaker is an elegant black recessed panel that has 3 dials. There is a treble, bass and volume to help fine-tune the sound you want. Below the volume dial is an LED indicator that lets you know what mode the Edifier R1700BT speakers are in. A simple press of the volume knob switches between a dual-wired audio input, either PC or Aux as well as a Bluetooth V5.1 connection. The LED changes between green and blue respectively to notify you of the mode.
You will be pleased to read that the small remote control comes with a battery. Always a bonus. There are 6 buttons and they provide simple functionality in the palm of your hand. You can control pretty much everything except the EQ with a quick button press.
Coming to the more techie info, the Edifier R1700BT speakers each comprise of a 19mm silk dome tweeter and a 116mm (4″) bass driver. The treble outputs 15W and the bass 18W. The speakers have a response rate of 60Hz to 20kHz. You may think that that isn’t low enough for a decent bass output however you may be in for a surprise.
In regards to sound performance, the powered speaker also incorporates a class D amplifier system that allows for both digital signal processing (DSP) and dynamic range control (DRC). In lamens terms, it creates and controls the sounds that you hear.
Design-wise it does seem that the speakers are the same as the originals that were first sold in around 2015, however, they have been upgraded from Bluetooth V4 to V5.1.
Performance
The initial setup and connectivity of the Edifier R1700BT speakers was an easy affair. I preferred the look of the speakers without the black covers on the front so that you could see the speakers behind.
Having multiple audio inputs ready with a press of a knob or button was divine. I find myself switching between sources a fair amount, especially when plugging in my Behringer to practice bass guitar. The Bluetooth connection was certainly strong and I suffered no dropouts while listening to music from my phone. I hardly used the remote control. It’s a nice feature however for me I am usually at my desk in some manner and then control the volume from the PC.
When it came to the sound from the speakers, I found that the low end seemed quite boomy, even at low volumes. While ordinarily, I would not complain about the amount of bass, I did struggle with setting that sweet spot on the EQ dials. I did get to a compromise that I liked and while I have seemingly started with a negative, I found the tone to be rich and warm. Overall the stereo sound given off was enjoyable and transposable between a range of inputs. There was just the odd time that the bass seemed to stand out more than it should have done. And no, that wasn’t when my bass guitar was plugged in! lol.
The angling of speakers makes a big difference to the way that the sound projects to your ears. I found this very handy when sitting in front of my PC, giving you a direct rich blend of sound.
Conclusion
For bookshelf-size speakers, the Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth speakers do pack quite a punch. I love wooden enclosures housing speakers due to the tones they help to produce. The versatility that you get allows for multiple connections, which for me is superb. The less unplugging and plugging in of cables the better! The bass can be a bit prominent at times, however, if you do your best to set the EQ you can create a punchy warm tone that satisfies most musical outputs.
For £120 the Edifier’s certainly provide power to your sound and an ambience that will make you think that there is a subwoofer somewhere.
I give the Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth speakers a Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
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