When Russound announced the AirGo Outdoor Sound Station in late 2011, it sounded like the perfect way to make the great outdoors even greater -- well, at some point. The announcement actually came in November, which probably isn't the prime time you'd be thinking about music in the backyard, by the pool, or anywhere else associated with the outdoor elements.
It turns out that most of us (depending on your location) had a really weird winter. In some places, there was no winter at all to speak of. Russound must have had a meteorologist or a psychic on staff, because it turned out to be a perfect launch time after all.
The AirGo is what Russound calls "a wireless outdoor sound station." When paired up with Apple's AirPort Express (a must and sold separately for $99), you can create quite the party -- literally. From there, you should be able to easily stream music from any connected iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. Besides being able to play all of that stored music, you can even add streaming services, such as Spotify and Pandora, into the mix.
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Unboxing the AirGo could not be much simpler. Inside the box, there is the AirGo unit, instructions on safety rules, and another little piece of paper saying that the AirGo is shipped in the downward position (and recommending that you angle it upward during playback). That's pretty much it. The AirGo is a self-contained unit that has an attached cord and an integrated handle. While you may want to have an extension cord on hand (that cord is kind of short!), the handle is a pretty awesome perk. It not only makes it easy to get the 16.25-pound AirGo out of the box without rupturing anything, but it also makes the speaker a more portable BBQ companion than most coolers.
Once you get past the fact that the AirGo can't hold frosty beverages, it should be a fairly pain-free setup experience. This is assuming that you already have an Apple AirPort Express ready to rock. If not, you're going to have spring $99 for the add-on. Without it, the AirGo is not much more than a poolside paperweight. Oh, you could plug a portable player's headphone jack into the AirGo's incredibly short line input cable, but then your player would be tethered to the AirGo (via a very short cable) and where's the fun in that?
To really use the AirGo as the makers intended -- as a wireless powered speaker with a window on your iTunes music collection -- there is some added expense and a configuration process involved. You also need a place to put the Airport Express. Fortunately, Russound has thought this through, and includes something called the APX pocket on the back of the unit. This is an integrated waterproof housing that stores and provides power to the Airport Express. With it, the Airport Express tucks neatly away in one portable self-contained unit. After all, how fun would it be to have bit and pieces (and wires) hanging out wherever you go?
For those who aren't familiar, Apple's AirPort Express is basically a two-piece solution. The AirPort Express itself is a little white plastic dongle/cube that connects to your home network, either with a network cable or via its built-in 802.11n WiFi connection. The other part of the equation is the included AirPort Utility software, which you will need to load to a Mac or PC, if you want to stream music from devices on your network to the Airport Express. The AirPort Express sports a network jack, a USB port, a power plug and a 3.5mm audio jack. But what doesn't it have? A built-in speaker. And that's where the AirGo comes in. The AirGo takes the audio output from the AirPort Express and cranks it up to room-filling (or even yard-filling) sound, with your iPhone, iPad, iPod, PC or Mac as the music source and the control center.
For the purposes of this review, Russound made things easy for us by sending along an AirPort Express, pre-configured for use with an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone right out of the box. However, at Big Picture Big Sound, we don't like things to be that easy. We also want them to be complete. Besides using the powered speaker with an iOS device, we wanted to see how the AirGo worked with our PC. We also wanted to be able to experience the setup process, so we just reset that thing like it was fresh out of the box.
First, load that AirPort Utility onto a PC or Mac. Like any new software, it will walk you through an easy on-screen setup. To complete the process, pop the AirPort Express into the APX pocket, connect the power and line out cables and screw the pocket closed.
From there, plug in the AirGo, turn on the power, and get ready to rock from the device of your choice. Adding the AirPort Express into the mixture makes the AirGo show up on your iOS devices like it's a wireless network. So when you go to stream music from your portable device of choice, click on the AirPlay icon (which looks like Pink Floyd album cover with a triangle inside a rectangle), and choose the AirGo unit from the drop-down menu of playback zones.
Sound Setup
If you've ever owned a boombox, you know that having music outdoors can be exciting, as well as a real crowd-pleaser. It can also be a chore to adjust radio stations, change CDs (or, gasp, cassettes!), and actually remember to grab that music source before rain and/or wild animals get to it first. The AirGo eliminates all of these issues allowing your phone, tablet or PC to be the music source, and affording you full iTunes control from that same phone, iPod, iPad, Mac or PC.
At first listen, it was hard to get excited about the AirGo and all of its perks. Sure, it's nice, portable, has the AirPlay, works as expected and can withstand some serious weather. However, its sound quality out of the box left a little something to be desired.
Calm down, take a few breaths, and don't worry. Like many speakers, the AirGo just needs a little break-in period. Some folks may pooh-pooh the need for a speaker to break itself in, but after a day or two of regular use, the AirGo starts to sound much better. Like, worlds better. That said, let's not get crazy. Having the AirGo isn't like having a full power multi-speaker backyard surround sound system.
First of all, there's only one AirGo per customer -- well, unless you like spreading these little guys around the yard (which you can do, with up to five AirGo units). That said, they aren't really designed to link up into matched stereo pairs like Sonos does with some of its products. That basically means that the 40 watts of power cranking out of the AirGo is pretty much all you're going to get.
That's not to say it's weak. Using a 6.5-inch woofer and a pair of 1-inch tweeters, the AirGo can crank out some fairly impressive stereo sound out of a small cabinet, although without much in the way of separation, simply due to its size. You aren't going to want to crank it up to frat-party levels, but it can provide some nice background music for a backyard BBQ or pool party. We also had just as much fun with the unit indoors, in some of the smaller areas of our house.
We tried out content from iTunes and what was stored on an iPhone, as well as services such as Pandora and Spotify. The content varied from The Beatles and The Monkees to The Pixies and Motorhead. As mentioned, this unit isn't going to be able to kick out the jams like a full indoor setup. It can't reproduce the same bass levels or the same volumes, but for your portable pleasure, it should serve you well.
Speaking of volume, another handy feature is the volume control. Well, technically the AirGo doesn't have one of those. Instead, you control the volume from your computer or directly from your portable device. Whatever you are using as the source of your music streaming is also typically how you will control the volume on the AirGo. If you like you can also stream your tunes from your Mac or PC and use the iPhone or iPad as your control device via Apple's remote control app or via Apple's "Home Sharing" feature.
And while you've got that unlimited power in your hand, you might think about testing the volume limits of this bad boy, but we'd recommend against that. The louder you go, the less pleasurable the experience will be. That's not to say that you can't crank it a bit; oh, this speaker should fill the yard just fine -- as long as you don't have a palatial estate. However, it's not really designed to annoy the neighbors with insane decibel levels. Poolside, by the BBQ or in a packed porch or living room is where the AirGo plays (literally) best.
Bonus Hotspot
If streaming sound outdoors isn't enough, the AirGo actually packs in a little wireless bonus. Because the AirGo includes a built-in wireless repeater, it can also double as its own WiFi hotspot. So if you're out on the deck, up in a treehouse or lounging by the pool with your laptop or iPad, you'll always have a WiFi signal handy. At home, it can extend your WiFi network up to an extra 150 feet, which is a nice addition, as long as you have a big house or at least a super-long extension cord.
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Final Thoughts
Russound's AirGo may not be the best outdoor speaker that money can buy, however it might be exactly what you need to bring a little musical excitement to your active outdoor lifestyle. Having the ability to rock out from your iOS device of choice without the need for other components makes this an easy audio option. It's not cheap, but considering all you need to add is an AirPort Express, and the set-up is a breeze, its $399 MSRP (and even lower price online) may not be such a bad bargain after all.
Manufacturer's Specs:
Manufacturer's Contact Information:
Russound, Inc.
5 Forbes Road
Newmarket, NH 03857
On the web: www.russound.com
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