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Home / Hot Stuff / Retro-chic Orange Box speaker packs dual amplification

Retro-chic Orange Box speaker packs dual amplification

Colourful compact speakers promise punchy sound

Orange Box speaker hot stuff lead

Ever since the swinging Sixties, Orange amps have been a regular sight on concert stages and at music festivals. Now the firm is looking to take on the best bluetooth speakers with a pair of brightly-coloured boomboxes: the Orange Box and Orange Box-L. And yes, despite the name, you can also get one in Black. If you must.

According to Orange, they are the only Bluetooth speakers to use both Class D and Class A/B analogue amplifiers, which should give them “tight, punchy bass” and “smooth, natural mids and highs”. Each model has a combined 50W RMS of sound power, which feeds a 4in subwoofer and twin 2in full-range drivers in the Orange Box, or a larger 5in subwoofer and twin 2in full-range drivers in the Box-L. Properly crank the volume and a unique audio safety monitor kicks in, flashing a warning light to warn you if you’re driving things a little too hard.

The battery-powered Box is meant be taken on the move, with 15 hours of playback between charges and a carry strap to make lugging all 3kg around a little bit easier. The bigger Box-L runs on mains power. Both have chunky dials up top for analogue treble and bass adjustment as well as volume control, a 3.5mm analogue input, and a Bluetooth play/pause button. The manual flip switch for power is another old-school throwback, too.

Each model is made from Tolex-wrapped wood, in either orange or black colours. The vinyl covering is a signature feature of Orange’s guitar amps, and the wicker-coloured grille cloth is another nod to the firm’s best-known products.

The Orange Box and Orange Box-L will be available to order directly through the Orange Amps website. Prices are set to start at $299/£275 for the Box, and $345/£315 for the Box-L.

Profile image of Tom Morgan-Freelander Tom Morgan-Freelander Deputy Editor

About

A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews.  When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.

Areas of expertise

Smartphones/tablets/computing, cameras, home cinema, automotive, virtual reality, gaming