The Theater Solutions B83GR is a rock-shaped, wireless Bluetooth speaker designed to blend with your outdoor decor. It's weatherproof against rain, snow, ice, salt, and pool chemicals, though there's no specified IP rating, and we don't currently test for this. You can even link it to up to 99 other B83GR speakers, which is handy if you have a large outdoor space. Unfortunately, its uneven sound profile has an overemphasized high-bass that can make your audio sound boomy, and an overemphasized treble that can make vocals and sibilants honky and piercing.
Our Verdict
The Theater Solutions B83GR performs poorly for music. It has an uneven sound profile. Its overemphasized high-bass can add a boomy quality to your audio, while its overemphasized treble makes sibilants like S and T sound honky and harsh. Like most small speakers, since it struggles to reproduce low bass, you may not hear the thump and punch in bass-heavy music like hip-hop or EDM. It also has to downmix stereo content into mono to play it, which isn't as immersive-sounding. That said, it can get fairly loud.
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Not a lot of compression at max volume.
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Struggles to reproduce low-bass.
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Poor soundstage performance.
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Disappointing directivity.
The Theater Solutions B83GR is bad for movies. Its lack of low-bass can make it difficult to feel the deep thump and rumble in action-packed movies, while its boomy high-bass can muddy dialogue and push it towards the back of the mix. Due to the overemphasized treble, dialogue can also sound honky and harsh at times. It also has a poor soundstage performance, so you don't feel very immersed in your audio. Even so, it has low Bluetooth latency with iOS and Android devices, though some apps compensate for latency differently, and your experience may vary.
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Not a lot of compression at max volume.
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Low latency via Bluetooth.
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Struggles to reproduce low-bass.
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Poor soundstage performance.
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Disappointing directivity.
The Theater Solutions B83GR is not bad for podcasts. The speaker is portable, can get fairly loud, and has little compression artifacts at max volume which can help keep your audio sounding clean. That said, it has disappointing directivity which can result in a narrow and directional soundstage, so your audio may not sound as clear from all angles.
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Not a lot of compression at max volume.
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Decently portable.
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Disappointing battery performance.
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Disappointing directivity.
The Theater Solutions B83GR doesn't have a microphone and doesn't support voice assistants.
The Theater Solutions B83GR is disappointing for outdoor use. Its battery performance is disappointing and can only last over six hours. It also has a poor soundstage performance, which can feel inadequate if you really like to feel immersed in your audio. That said, it's adequately built. It's advertised as weatherproof against rain, snow, ice, salt, and pool chemicals, though we don't test for this. Its rock-like design also allows it to blend well with most outdoor landscapes, and it can get fairly loud.
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Large Bluetooth range.
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Adequate build quality.
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Disappointing battery performance.
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Poor soundstage performance.
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Disappointing directivity.
- 4.9 Music
- 4.8 Videos/Movies
- 6.1 Podcasts
- 2.3 Voice Assistant
- 5.5 Outdoors
- Updated Mar 26, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Mar 22, 2021: Early access published.
- Updated Mar 15, 2021: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Mar 12, 2021: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Mar 07, 2021: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Theater Solutions B83GR comes in three different colors. We tested the 'Slate Gray' variant; you can see the label for the model we tested here. It also comes in a 'Granite Grey' variant called the Theater Solutions B81GG, and a 'Sandstone Brown' variant called the Theater Solutions B82S.
If you come across another version, let us know in the discussions so we can update our review.
Compared To Other Speakers
The Theater Solutions B83GR is a portable Bluetooth speaker shaped like a rock, to blend in with most outdoor landscapes. It's very similar to the Alpine Corporation Solar Bluetooth Rock Speaker in design, build, and performance. It's also weatherproof and can be linked to up to 99 additional B83GR speakers, though we don't currently test for these. That said, it isn't as well-built as some of the other outdoor speakers we've tested, and it has a very uneven and boomy sound profile.
See our recommendations for the best Bluetooth speakers, the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers, and the best Bluetooth speakers for bass.
The Pohopa EF-B210G speakers are better speakers than the Theater Solutions B83GR overall. They come in a pair of two lantern speakers with LED lights that alternate to the beat of your audio. They also have a significantly longer battery life and a better-balanced sound profile. Though the Pohopa speakers don't have a great soundstage performance, unlike the Theater Solutions, they can play stereo content. That said, the Theater Solutions can connect to over 99 additional B83GR speakers and may be better suited for those with a larger outdoor space. Its rock-like design can also help it blend in with outdoor landscapes better.
The Alpine Corporation Solar Bluetooth Rock Speaker is a slightly better speaker than the Theater Solutions B83GR. Though they're both designed to look like rocks to blend with outdoor landscapes, the Alpine Corporation is slightly better built, has somewhat of a more balanced sound profile, and has a significantly longer battery life than the B83GR. That said, the B83GR has a larger Bluetooth range and can link to up to 99 additional speakers of the same model, which can be useful for those with a large outdoor space.
The Anker Soundcore Flare 2 is a better speaker than the Theater Solutions B83GR, with a more balanced sound profile. The Anker has a graphic EQ and presets, which are handy if you want to customize its sound. It also supports voice assistants and has an amazing soundstage. However, the B83GR may be better suited for those who prefer a louder speaker with fewer compression artifacts at max volume.
The JBL Flip 5 is a better speaker than the Theater Solutions B83GR overall. It has a much more balanced sound profile and can reproduce a more extended low-bass. It also has much better directivity, which allows your audio to sound clear from all angles, is more portable, and has a longer battery life. That said, the Theater Solutions can get a bit louder than the JBL with fewer compression artifacts at max volume. It can also be paired with up to 99 B83GR speakers and has a unique rock-like design, which some users with a large outdoor space might prefer in an outdoor speaker.
The Sonos Move is a significantly better speaker than the Theater Solutions B83GR. It's rated IP56 for dust and water resistance. It's more portable, better built, has a built-in voice assistant, and can support Wi-Fi. It also has a longer battery life, a room customization feature, and a significantly more balanced sound profile with treble and bass adjustment features. That said, the B83GR may be a better option for those looking for a louder speaker that blends better with various outdoor landscapes.
The Limitless Innovations TikiTunes is a slightly better speaker than the Theater Solutions B83GR. The TikiTunes has a significantly better battery performance and is more portable. However, the B83GR can get louder than the TikiTunes. That said, both speakers are designed to blend nicely with the outdoors, the TikiTunes is designed to look like torch light and the B83GR is designed to look like a rock.
Test Results
The Theater Solutions B83GR is a speaker designed to look like a rock so it can blend in with your outdoor decor. Its protective front metal grille blends well with the rest of its body. We tested the 'Slate Grey' color variant, but you can also find it in 'Sandstone Brown' and 'Granite Grey'.
The Theater Solutions B83GR is decently portable. It's a bit large and doesn't have any handles, so you can't easily carry it with one hand. However, it's battery-powered, so you can bring it outside without having to plug it into an outlet.
It has an adequate build quality. The manufacturer claims it's composed of multilayer composite cabinets made with hi-tech resin. Underneath it, there's a small cover protecting the charging port. Though there's no specified IP rating and we don't currently test for this, it's advertised as weatherproof against rain, snow, ice, salt, and pool chemicals. However, the manufacturer warns against submerging it in water.
The controls are poor, as it only has a power button, which you can press and hold to turn it on and off. You can also quickly double-press it to connect up to 99 additional Theater Solutions B83GR speakers. Unfortunately, there are no additional buttons to help you skip tracks or adjust the volume. That said, it has a light indicator underneath it that turns blue when it's on, red while it's charging, and off when it's fully charged. It also plays a sound when it's turned on and off, when it's connected to a mobile device, and it beeps once it's connected to other variants. If you're looking for outdoor speakers with more physical control buttons, consider the Pohopa EF-B210G lantern speakers instead.
The Theater Solutions B83GR has poor frequency response accuracy. It has a pretty uneven sound profile, with an overemphasized high-bass that can make your audio sound boomy and muddy while pushing vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix. The overemphasized treble range can also make vocals, lead instruments, and sibilants like S and T sound honky, harsh, and even piercing. That said, like most small speakers, it also struggles to reproduce low-bass which would normally add deep thump and rumble to your audio. Unfortunately, there aren't any sound customization features available to help you tweak its sound more to your liking.
This speaker has a poor soundstage performance. It has to downmix stereo content to mono to play it, which doesn't make your audio sound very immersive. Its directivity is also disappointing, so your audio may not sound clear from all angles.
The Theater Solutions B83GR has a decent dynamics performance. It doesn't get very loud, so it isn't really suitable for listening to music at parties. Fortunately, there isn't a lot of compression when you play it at max volume.
The Theater Solutions B83GR has a disappointing battery performance. Though it's advertised to last for five and a half hours off of a single charge, it lasted over six hours in our tests. However, battery life can vary according to usage, so your experience may vary. That said, it also has a power-saving feature that shuts it off automatically if it isn't used for about 15 minutes. It's also important to note that though the manufacturer advertises that it comes with a micro USB to USB charging cable, we received a DC to USB-A cable instead.
It doesn't have a companion app. That said, you can connect it to up to 99 additional Theater Solutions B83GR speakers by double-pressing the power button on each unit, though we didn't test this.
This speaker doesn't have any wired inputs. However, it does come with one DC to USB-A cable to charge it with.
This speaker's Bluetooth connectivity is very good. It has a fantastic range, so it stays connected to your paired device even if you aren't close to it. It also has a good latency performance with iOS and Android devices, which makes it a suitable choice for watching videos and movies. However, some apps compensate for latency differently, so your experience may vary.