Harman Kardon - Onyx Studio 5

They’re not expensive new. Pretty good on the volume side of it

Never too old! It has the best bass of the Onyx series, although most would say the 6th was the best.

The 5 is an amazing speaker. I have the 5 and the 9. I've used the 5 a lot more than the 9. Generally speaking, for portable Bluetooth speakers, Harman is in a category of their own achieving such great sound at low wattage.

Tbh, it depends on your use case and luck of the draw. There are user experiences out there where the battery wouldn't hit anywhere near the 8 hour rating out of the box. I never need to go over 50 - 60 % volume(my sweet spot is usually around 45%) to enjoy the music no matter which genre i am listening to. My Onyx 5 even after all these years(purchased in august of 2021), i still get close to 8 hours out of the battery at low - med volume.

Haggle for sure. It's a good speaker but especially used you should be able to snag it for less.

I have same, I can say dang good bass and clean sound, but I paid mine 30$ bc it was broken, and then I fixed it, also I found for cheaper price full working, around 100-120$

Onyx runs a bit bass heavy in general. Good quality but that price is hot garbage.

Another upvote for HK Onyx - preferably second hand. They are so bass heavy that most people dislike them for that very reason.

Keep in mind bigger isn't necessarily always louder or better. Before you buy some big ass rolling suitcase speaker, take a look at something like the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 5 or HK Go+Play speakers. I own both and have used them outdoors at the beach, pool, camping, several parties, and even a few times to DJ small get-togethers. They get super loud quality sound and have the most insane bass coming out of them when you sit it next to a wall that can help project the sound outwards. Battery life is also pretty killer on them. They are heavy and feel like quality. I sold my JBL Extreme and Bumpboxx because the quality of sound they would output at high volumes were trash. Yes, they got loud, but it was hollow sounding distorted music. The HK series sound so good and full in comparison.

Yeah, both the HK Go+Play and Onyx Studio series would blow away the Max. They are my go-to speakers when I want the music to really shine through. Incredibly deep bass and crystal clear mids and highs. None of my other 5 portable Bluetooth speakers come close. Edit - Just saw someone post the HK Go+Play 3 is selling on ebay for $132 right now. At that price, it's a no brainer.

The Onyx Studio series is in a class of its own. It’s the loudest most clear sounding bass portable Bluetooth speaker you can get at that price. I sold all my other “boombox” speakers and kept the Onyx. The Luna is nice, but it’s not in the same category. You’d need like 4 of them to match the Onyx.

Harmon Kardon Onyx Studio the original one. Bought mine 2013 refurbished on eBay and it’s still going. Bought a replacement battery and it was super easy to replace.

I’ve wondered the same thing. Even small Bluetooth speakers were always stereo originally. If you remember, the first few generations of the HK Onyx Studio, JBL Charge, JBL Flip, etc., were all stereo, then suddenly everything was mono. I can understand it for the very smallest speakers - Bose Micro, Tribit Micro, JBL Go, etc. - it wouldn’t make sense to try to cram dual speakers into those tiny housings or to try to create stereo sound in such a small space, but with the rest of them, I don’t get it. The only thing I can think of is the ‘race for the bass.’ After a while, it evolved to where all anyone cared about was ‘how much bass is there?’ and if companies could cram 1 large woofer into the same space that had once held 2, or even 4, smaller speakers, they could produce much more bass. The other possibility, as someone suggested when I asked basically the same question on another post a couple of weeks ago, is so that companies can now force you to buy 2 speakers instead of 1 if you want stereo sound.

HK Onyx Studio, thank me l8r.