If you ask most consumers to name a consumer electronics brand, the chances are most will come up with Monster Products on their list. Starting in 1979 Noel Lee, working in his garage created his first set of Monster speaker cables, and grew those cables into one of the best-known audio video brands in the world. No longer just cables, over the years they have diversified into a wide variety of markets, from speakers, headphones, earphones, cables, music, etc. In this interview recorded in the Monster Tent at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia on a soaking wet rainy day we discuss their new products including their new Monster Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker, their ongoing litigation with Apple over its acquisition of Beats for $3 billion, and their new retail strategy.

We spent some time with the Monster® Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker and found it a solid performer. With a bright (500 lumen) LED light, it can be used as double-duty photo fill light, as well supply a party with loud, room filling sound. The light has 7 hours of run time at 5000 degrees Kelvin, so pretty close to daylight. It offers stereo sound, and with a passive bass radiator it produces a surprisingly rich bottom end for such a small unit. It’s rated for 25+ hours of playtime, and depending on the level, we achieved a bit more that that. As befitting any decent speaker expected to hold up to serious partying, it’s splash resistant with an IPX-5 rating, and it comes in four colors, Black, Gold, Red, and Green Camo.  It’s compatible with Bluetooth 2.0 standard and above, and a standard 3.5mm minijack input. The only feature we were surprised wasn’t included was Qualcomm® aptX™ compatibility for near lossless audio over Bluetooth. And with the built-in microphone you can use it as a speakerphone. We think the Monster® Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker is a solid choice for partying, camping, dorm rooms, and has the added benefit of a useful color correct flashlight perfect for fill light, or finding the S’mores supplies around the campfire.

Harris Fogel, posted 10/7/2017

For more information on the Monster® Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker visit: https://www.monsterproducts.com