iPhone Speakers

Since the iPhone is an iPod, iPhone speakers are one of the most popular accessory for iPhone owners. Moreover, external speakers can solve the loudness issue of the iPhone internal speaker.

In speaker mode, I can hardly hear the iPhone sound or music through the built in speaker if there is a little noise in the room for example. Connecting a speaker can boost the volume of both music and phone calls.

There are two types of audio sources that the iPhone and iPhone 4 have.

The iPhone music audio which is the sound that you hear when you play the iPod or any other iPhone video or audio application.

The other audio source is the cell phone audio which is the sound you hear when making a phone call. This is also known as speakerphone audio.

Those two types of audio are different and when shopping for a speaker for the iPhone, it could become frustrating.

You might have an iPhone accessory that works with one audio source and not the other.

For example, you can hear the iPod music with one iPhone accessory, but when your phone rings, you may not be able to answer the phone. If you answer the phone you may not be able to make a voice conversation because the because that particular iPhone speaker doesn't support speakerphone audio.

Therefore, it is important to know if the iPhone speaker you want to buy does actually provide you with exactly what you want. Are you looking for the phone audio as a speaker phone, iPhone music audio or both?

There are several types of speakers available in the iPhone accessory category. They can be divided into wired speakers and wireless speakers.

Each type has tens of styles and shapes. You can connect iPhone speakers through three different ports in the iPhone, the line out port, the dock port, and wireless bluetooth.

Speakers Through iPhone Audio Port:

Those wired speakers range in loudness and in size. Some small portable speakers are powered by AA or AAA batteries, and have a 3.5mm jack that plugs in the line out of the iPhone audio port.





Almost all wired speakers have their own power and volume control, besides the volume control on your iPhone or iPhone 4. Some portable speakers have pretty loud sound even without power. They can be either stereo or mono.

Since this is a standard iPhone audio port, you can connect any stereo speaker. PC desk speakers or any home audio speaker can be connected to the iPhone.

Note that older iPhone 2G have recessed audio jack which require an iPhone headphone adapter in order to work with most standard speakers.

When you connect a speaker through the line out port of an iPhone you are guaranteed to hear the audio from both audio sources of the iPhone, the music and the phone source, so you can use the iPhone as a speaker phone to hear your phone call loud.

Speakers through the dock port:

The dock port of the iPhone is a little tricky. iPhone speakers that connect through this port are specially designed for the iPhone with a special iPhone dock connection.

Once you plug the iPhone to those iPhone speakers, you will immediately start charging your iPhone.

The music audio will automatically start coming from the connected speaker. However, speakerphone calls may or may not be transmitted through the iPhone dock port depending on the speaker.

One thing you will notice when an iPhone speaker is connected through iPhone dock port or though bluetooth is that you can only control the volume from the speaker itself and not from the iPhone. There won't be a volume control on the iPhone anymore. It will change depending on the type of connection.

This is the normal volume control when an iPhone speaker is connected through the iPhone audio jack.


The volume control disappears when audio is transmitted through the iPhone dock, or an iPhone docking station.


Here also, the volume control disappears when connecting audio through an iPhone bluetooth speaker.

With iPhone dock connection you can get far more features and control over your iPhone audio.

For example, you can have full control of your iPod music. You can skip, rewind or fast forward a song.

Some iPhone speakers come with a remote control. Therefore, you can control the volume and the audio playback from a distance.



All iPhone accessories that connect through the iPhone dock allow you to hear all the iPhone Audio Applications. However, not all speakers with the iPhone dock connection allow iPhone speakerphone function.

Those iPhone docking stations have many different styles and shapes that some might not fit your iPhone when it is in a case.

To make them more universal, some of them have an iPhone dock extension that connect to the dock allowing the iPhone to move freely or set on a desk and also allow the dock station to work with different iPods.

This iPhone dock extension is specially useful if your iPhone case interferes with the iPhone docking station . So instead of removing the iPhone case, you can simply connect the iPhone to this iPhone dock extension cable.

Wireless Bluetooth Speakers:

Using stereo bluetooth or A2DP profile of your iPhone is the most powerful way of listening to iPhone audio.

It eliminates wires completely, and gives very clear sound.

Not all bluetooth devices support both hands free iPhone speakerphone and stereo sound or A2DP though.

You have to be very careful when shopping for an iPhone bluetooth speaker. Most iPhone bluetooth speakers support only phone calls while others with A2DP profile support both speaker phone and stereo sound.

The stereo bluetooth option was introduced to the iPhone only with the addition of the A2DP profile in iOS3.0.

Stereo bluetooth accessories give full control over your audio from the iPhone without using any wires.

This means that you can control your iPhone music from a distance while your iPhone is setting on a desk or being charged, or even while it is in your person.

All iPhone music controls of the iPod application such as volume, music skip, fast forward, and rewind are accessed from the speaker itself or by using a remote control that might come with the bluetooth speaker.

With this addition of stereo bluetooth to the iPhone bluetooth capability, a big existing collection bluetooth iPhone accessories became immediately available.

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