The largest waterproof portable LED Bluetooth speaker we have tested to date, the Altec Lansing Xpedition 8 is colorful, exciting, and seriously loud.
Altec Lansing Xpedition 8 – REVIEW
Hey everyone, this is Ian, tech reviewer with JimsReviewRoom. What I have here today is pretty ridiculous. You’ve seen our reviews on the GTK-XB7 from Sony, and the Boombox from JBL. Well, the new Altec Lansing Xpedition 8 is the biggest everything-proof portable Bluetooth speaker that I’ve seen on the market today. In total transparency, Altec Lansing did provide this unit for us to test out, though my review was not altered in any way. As always, check our affiliate links below for the most updated prices in real time.
Amazon.com
PHYSICAL BUILD
Right off the bat, the Altec Lansing Xpedition 8 is gargantuan – our postman had to wheel it into the office on a handtruck. It is the biggest wireless Bluetooth speaker I have personally tested. Coming in at 28 inches tall, 13 inches wide, and 15 inches deep, it’s almost the size and shape of a wedge speaker you would see in a performance venue. Apart from the sheer size of the speaker, it is really designed well also. The entire body is made of a very thick, durable plastic, which has handles molded into all sides which really helped me ease the burden of moving this thing around. The casing is a rigid, industrial design with raised beveled lines throughout, really making the speaker shape and contours stand out.
Great for versatility, the Xpedition 8 was also designed to stand both horizontally and vertically. There are non-skid rubber feet on both surfaces so it can withstand being pushed or kicked around. Honestly, I think this speaker could take a hit from a car and come out less damaged – though I didn’t test that out specifically.
The dual 8-inch woofers are covered by an aluminum grill that keeps them protected, but also gives the speaker another level of tangible durability. Flipping to the back, you have your water-sealed door – I’ll give you more on that in a second. You also have passive bass radiators here, with a more tightly woven aluminum grate covering the back.
LIGHTING FOR THE PARTY
The Xpedition 8 is designed to be just as visually stimulating as the music it provides. Three LED light zones are spread across the face of the speaker: two large central lights that run right across the woofers, two light rings surrounding the woofers, and two white strobe lights at either end. There are a variety of patterns and color combinations you’ll get with the Xpedition.
First, there is a blinking light show – not quite as quick as the 170 BPM of the strobe, more like a continual flashing of different color combinations within the woofer light zones. You’ll get 12 colors – mixes of reds, greens, and blues along with colors like lavender, lime, and turquoise that give the speaker a lot of character and make it stand out from more traditional speakers. Along with that color scheme, they can switch between colors to the beat of the music, either static or multi-colored. Finally, you’ve got a lighting setup of one solitary color – chosen by holding the volume knob for two seconds and rotating to your pick.
WATERPROOFING
Waterproofing is huge in portable speakers – you want to have that freedom to take the speaker with you anywhere without having to constantly worry if rain or splashing will ruin your experience. Well, with the Xpedition, it is IP67 certified, pretty surprising considering just how huge this thing is. IP67 protection means you can have the speaker submerged in up to 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes, just make sure the plastic port on the rear of the speaker is in its locked position. If that still scares you, because you worry you might knock it into deeper water – worry not. The Xpedition is designed to float in water with its woofers above the surface – meaning you’ll continue to get great quality music without the water muffling it.
CONTROLS
As for controls, the speaker has a straightforward lineup right down the center. First thing I want to touch on is the volume knob. It’s slightly octagonal and clicky, so when I turn it, it felt a lot like a throwback to the old analog knobs on 90’s boomboxes. The knob is backlit with red LEDs that increase as you crank the volume up.
Button-wise, above the volume knob you have your power, as well as the Lights and Strobe buttons. Below the knob, you have a couple really cool buttons – Link and Beast. Beyond being great Zelda and X-men characters, these buttons allow for a couple great features. Link lets you connect another Xpedition 8 with your current speaker to have separate stereo channels, dramatically increasing the immersion of your music. Simply click Link on the controlling speaker, then press it on the pairing speaker and they will link together. Beast mode increases the low-frequency response of the Xpedition, giving you deeper, more resonating bass – I’ll go into more detail in my audio review.
CONNECTION
Finally, the Bluetooth connection is down at the bottom – simply click here and connect on your phone. NFC is also offered for quick and easy pairing, just by pressing the Bluetooth button and tapping your phone on the side. I tested the Bluetooth range out on this thing in a real-world scenario, out in my backyard as if I was having a party, and I received about 112 feet of range before the signal was cutting out and unreliable.
An aux-in port is also offered, I really appreciate physical connections and loved this. When connected through the port, the speaker won’t allow Bluetooth, so just keep that in mind. Also included behind the rear panel is a USB charge-out port, at 5V/2A. I tested this with my personal iPhone X and it worked immediately with no problems.
As for power, Altec Lansing graciously offers two different options – AC/DC. Your traditional AC port is for use charging or powering the speaker at home, and the DC charger ends in a car adapter, so you can charge it on the go, really helpful for those consumers who are going to be using this thing at events, weddings, or parties.
BATTERY LIFE
Touching on charging, click on the volume knob for less than one second to check on battery life – the volume illumination area will fill to the percent of battery you have remaining. With a claimed battery life of 24 hours, you won’t have to charge up often. As always, to the detriment of my neighbors, I played the speaker at about 50% volume from full to dead, performing this test a couple times, and receiving a total of 13 hours and 51 minutes of use – one of the more intense battery tests I’ve done to date. While that doesn’t quite meet the claim of 24 hours claimed, at 50% volume, this speaker is really loud, and playing at 25% is still enough for many situations.
SOUND PERFORMANCE
So as this was the biggest speaker I have tested to date, I looked forward to putting it through the paces. With a bunch of different genres, both indoors and outdoors, I played this thing a lot. It gets extremely loud, one of the loudest single speaker setups I’ve personally heard. It really does live up to the “boomboxes” of the nineties and eighties. At 420 watts of peak power, it can fill large rooms with ease, and even performs extremely well outdoors and while hearing it from a distance. You do lose some clarity, but nothing unexpected at 20 feet. Indoors, you do have to moderate your volume a bit or it will get too loud for space, but it has no problem livening up a party, even with genres from EDM, hip-hop, and rap.
Looking at the audio specifically, the Xpedition has a strong bass performance. It’s punchy and visceral, with tangible bass that you can feel in the chest. It’s not refined or super precise; it provides an exciting, exhilarating depth to the bottom end of the spectrum. Throwing on the Beast button just adds to this presence, shifting the balance even more towards the lower frequencies. This is prime for bass-heads, but not required to enjoy the speaker’s low-end performance.
In the midrange, you’re getting a similar performance. Nothing super delicate or precise, but a really enjoyable sound. The instruments and vocals that make up most of the sound in this range are forward and bright to stand out against the bass. There is some spillover in this range, especially at higher volumes, but it doesn’t affect the overall sound much at all. For instance, in White Room, by Cream, the hammer-like percussion of Ginger Baker doesn’t overshine the high-pitched vocals from Clapton.
Treble isn’t quite as noticeable, but there is some presence which gives some nuance to the music. In Close to the Edge from Yes, the high-pitched sound effects, keyboard, and cymbals weren’t overtaken by the other ranges. With a speaker this big, you will get listening fatigue if you’re listening up close. But using it to just pump some jams and really get excited by your music, everything is clean enough to prevent any ear tinging or ringing.
As is the case with most Bluetooth speakers, there’s not a ton of soundstage or audio separation, but with the speaker being so big, and the center of each driver being so far apart, it is able to get some width and dimension to the sound signature.
VIDEO DELAY
One last thing relating to the sound performance – many speakers have some issues with syncing audio and video over Bluetooth. Testing the Xpedition out with my iPhone, I actually did not have much of a problem. With YouTube, there was a fraction of a second delay, but it was totally bearable, and with Netflix, there were basically no issues at all.
APP
There’s no app coming with this speaker, as everything is right there on the speaker. An EQ would always be nice, but you are able to adjust bass response through the beast button, so there is some control.
OVERALL
I think there was a pretty large hole in the market when it comes to an extra-large wireless, LED Bluetooth speaker, and I feel like the Xpedition 8 from Altec Lansing helps fill that gap with a sincere piece of tech. It is showy, flashy, and its light show will bring mood and excitement to any situation. If you’re having a cookout in the backyard, this single speaker can provide music for your entire get together, all while looking extremely cool and being extremely durable. Even if its thrown in the pool, it’s still floating with the speakers above the water’s surface. If you need portability, durability, flexibility, and volume, this thing is for you.
Hi Jim, I was soooo excited when I saw this beast at sams club. I do a lot of tailgating, pool parties and just hanging out at the sandbar, so when I saw this I had to have it. 24hrs of battery is more than all the other Ion’s and Monster speakers I have purchased before and still have in the back of the closet. I can say I tested this speaker out on Easter. I had it floating In the pool. The bass is incredible. My only cons were no radio and the 24hr battery claims. I charged it up for a full day and only was able to get 5 hrs the first use and this was with no lights on and operating at about 30%. I took it back and replaced it with another one just thinking I had a dud. But nope. I was at the beach operating at about 90% due to the high winds and this one only lasted about 5hrs as well. Good thing I brought a back up speaker. Looks like I will be back to my Monster 4 which has always given me 10-12 hrs of straight play at 100%. I really wanted that Expedition. It looks bad ass and sounds great but just wont last. I also noticed that I had to keep it covered from the sun for it to even last the 5hrs. If they come out with a new model I might give it a shot but for $250 the 5hrs was just not enough.
Quincy
Hi I’m not a sams club member but I’m curious what the price was? Thanks!
$250 sounds great big sound cool lights floats in the pool but only 5hrs of battery.
Want one so bad ,but I keep hearing how bad battery life is
The battery life wasn’t anywhere close to the 24hrs that they claimed sadly. Me and my editor had tested it three times just to be sure at 50% volume. Each time, we’re getting around the 13hr mark. The offset, 50% volume is loud enough for most situations. I can see cranking it higher would reduce battery life even further. Thanks for writing in Chris!
I heard it on youtube. Really awesome perfomance. What about wattage? As altec says 420 watts. Please check the actual total RMS watts of the system.
I saw your review which is close to reality being that I own two of these. As you would expect, two speakers can make stereo and sound so much better than just one (try turning off one channel on any stereo for the effect!). In stereo they sport a good sound stage with range and depth. As for battery life, these things come with a 12V cord with a cigarette lighter plug. So… if you want 24/7 music at 100% volume, just plug them into a 1000 amp hour marine deep cycle battery setup, and save their internal juice for when it pours rain.
First of all, the watts you state are claimed as PMPO (peak music power), and second, if you wanted to power RMS’ that is half PMPO at 210 watts, you would need a lithium Ion battery that would cost £1000 plus for 13 hours. Third, the amp discharge of Lithium Ion is too low to achieve those watts RMS or PMPO at low prices, at most an expensive LITHIUM ION battery that cost £399 retail has 40 AMP HOURS capacity could handle 16 Amps discharge that equals an estimated 225 WRMS though at that amount of watts it would clip and last over 2 hours. Fourth point, the speakers are most like polyresin and an 8 inch polyresin speaker can not handle 105 watts RMS, at most I would say they can handle 75 WRMS and based on the maximum discharge of the batteries that the capacitors are small inside.
No matter what’ it is nice, though it does not compare to the one I have at home that would make it cower in fear:-)
Last point, based on information I have been learning from battery companies, they say the most anyone can achieve is 120 watts RMS because the louder you go the lower the voltage of the battery drops to. I tested a 12.9 volt battery with 10 amp discharge nominal and the voltage dropped to 11.9 with the volume on the amp down to zero and the phone on 20/30. At 200 watts a battery with over 90 Amp Hours kept going for 8 hours. I turned it up to 10% then 25 then 40 percent in 1 hour. At half volume an amp starts to peak after warming up for 4 to 6 hours and achieves it’s maximum WRMS, I tested my homemade one for 4 hours and switched it off, then 4 hours the next day, when the voltage dropped to less than 8 volts and it started clipping, meaning the volts were too low to keep up with the number of amps current the audio amplifier requires. It was loud.
No complaints for your review, I Love the product and think it is great value and know how much these things cost to make.
Thanks, Robert.
Hey Robert! Appreciate the feedback and your knowledge! Are you an electrical engineer? =D And correct, at the time, we only had the claimed Peek Power output. =)
I know, the problem is that the batteries would cost more than the product to generate that amount of PMPO. I am engineering the same type of product. Do you have any testing equipment to measure the real WRMS and PMPO. If I had the cash to buy one for testing I would. You can buy the testing tools at a low price.
I am not criticising you. I saw one stereo in pcworld that claimed 1700 watts, they did not say RMS or PMPO and when I turned it up, it sounded like 30 WRMS per channel. It sounds loud by your explanation, though not plausible to achieve 420 PMPO based on the cost of batteries. The batteries I have cost £250 retail. If you know the Amp hours for the battery you could calculate the real watts RMS by timesing the VOLTS BY AMP HOURS like this 12v x 100Ah = 1,200 / 320 WRMS = 3.75 HOURS.
I am still learning though I have built my own and it costs significantly more at wholesale prices than what they claim for the price.
It’s no big deal to me, I am here to support.
What up, I purchased one and love it, and will say battery life is definitely at 12+ hours without lights and 50-75% volume, and 10+ hours with lights. The overall sound is great, but funny thing, at higher elevations (thinner air) the bass disappears and it’s an all treble speaker. Tested it out in Tahoe (6000+ elevation) and it was loud but all the bass went away or sounded horrible. Went down to sea level, or lower elevations and it kicks, bass and treble rock out for hours. Other than that, this speaker is great for BBQs, beach trips, or any standard elevation event. Plus you look super cool carrying it around!!!
Thanks for the input! Very interesting about the elevation change!
All the claims I have read, I feel I must have received a LEMON. This speaker was trash. Had no bass at all. Volume was being out done by pocket size speakers on rafts next to us. The altitude thing sounds fishy to me as well. But I had NO bass so I can’t imagine anything other. I just want a bass thumping speaker that is water proof battery driven. Yet I can’t seem to find anything worth while.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to link more Xpedition 8 speaker together? And if so how many speakers can be connected to make a party feel like a concert is going on?