Altec Lansing iMW725 inMotion Air Universal Wireless Speaker

by Altec Lansing

Product Features

• Play your music wirelessly up to 300 feet away from your computer (compatible with Apple's Remote app)
• Also stream music wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad, and other stereo Bluetooth devises
• apt-X technology works within Bluetooth to deliver CD quality audio

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Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Enjoy your music wirelessly with the Altec Lansing inMotion Air Universal Wireless Speaker. This Bluetooth-enabled speaker can receive an audio signal from your computer up to 333 feet away. Using a USB transmitter that plugs into any computer, the inMotion will stream your music wirelessly in real time, maintaining sound quality with apt-X audio coding technology. The speaker comes with a full-featured remote and a rechargeable battery with a run time of up to seven hours. The inMotion can also pair with your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, or any other stereo Bluetooth-enabled device.

inMotion Air At a Glance: Portable Bluetooth speaker streams music wirelessly from your PC up to 333 feet Speaker pairs with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, including iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch apt-X audio technology preserves audio fidelity over Bluetooth Connect up to two inMotion Airs to the USB dongle to expand your listening space to multiple rooms Full-featured remote provides wireless control of most computer media players Rechargeable Li-ion battery gives you up to seven hours of playtime

inMotion Air

The convenient carry handle lets you take your music with you.View larger.

Play your music wirelessly up to 333 feet away from your computer.View larger.

Portable Speaker Streams Music from Your PC

Thanks to its Class 1 Bluetooth capabilities, the inMotion Air is able to stream audio directly from your computer. The speaker communicates with your computer via a USB Bluetooth transmitter, which has an effective transmitting range of 333 feet. This means you'll be able to receive a signal from almost anywhere in your house or yard.

The inMotion Air also connects wirelessly to any other Bluetooth-enabled platform; you can stream music from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch from up to 33 feet away. Audio devices can also be connected through the speaker's AUX input.

High Quality Sound with apt-X Audio Coding

The inMotion Air features apt-X technology, developed to preserve the fidelity of music while it is being transmitted wirelessly. This technology carefully decodes music files and transmits them to the speaker in real time, while minimizing latency and eliminating feedback. The result is CD-quality performance that is nearly indistinguishable from that of a normal stereo.

Full-Featured Remote and Rechargeable Battery

The inMotion Air comes with a remote control, which gives you wireless access to the main functions of iTunes, Windows Media Player, and most other music software. You'll be able to pause, rewind, and skip tracks without having to return to your computer. The remote also allows you to adjust the speaker's volume, treble, and bass to suit your listening preferences.

The speaker runs on a rechargeable battery that supports up to seven hours of playback on a single charge. Its compact design and carrying handle make it easy for you to take it with you wherever you go.

About Altec Lansing: 70 Years of Audio Innovation

For more than 70 years, Altec Lansing has been shaping the history of sound delivery. The company boasts a unique history of invention that includes the introduction of the first "talkie" film speakers, the first set of desktop computer speakers, the first iPod docking station, and the first "Works with iPhone" speaker system. Altec Lansing, LLC is headquartered in Milford, Pennsylvania.

The inMotion Air is backed by a limited one-year warranty.

What's in the Box

inMotion Air wireless speaker, USB transmitter, remote control, and user manual.

Altec Lansing Speakers
	inMotion iMT630	inMotion Air	Octiv 650
	Good	Better	Best
Key Features	Enhanced bass drivers for big low-end sound Video out lets you stream video from your Apple device to a TV Altec Apps add extra functionality	Wirelessly streams music up to 333 feet Connect up to two inMotion Airs to expand listening space apt-X technology preserves audio fidelity over Bluetooth	Nested subwoofer for great bass response Multiple inputs and outputs to connect TV and other audio devices Music Mood app adds graphic equalizer and ambient visuals/sounds
Compatibility	iPhone / iPod	Bluetooth / iPad / iPhone / iPod	iPhone / iPod
Wireless Range	N/A	333 feet	N/A
Speaker Configuration	Two 2-inch, full-range drivers	Two 3-inch full-range long throw drivers	Two 3-inch full-range drivers, one 4-inch downward-firing subwoofer
Rechargeable Battery
Secondary Aux In Jack
Video Outputs	RCA composite and component	N/A	RCA composite and component
Apps	Music Mood, EQ, and Alarm Rock	N/A	Music Mood
Wireless Remote
Measurements (HxWxD)	5.125 by 12.5 by 1.5 inches	4.1 by 13.2 by 3.5 inches	6 by 13 by 2 inches

Product Description

Altec Lansing iMW725 inMotion Air universal wireless speaker

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

370 of 382 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely amazing wireless speaker system with versatility and great sound July 28, 2011

By M. Erb HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Length: 8:09 Mins

This is an absolutely amazing speaker that just blows me away. I am completely enthralled with the capabilities that the speaker has. It is a wireless (or wired, your choice) speaker system with built-in, lithium-ion battery. It has a very pleasing sound quality coupled with a surprising amount of volume given the small size of the enclosure not to mention the light weight of the entire unit.

I absolutely love this speaker and will explain why.

I have been involved with music as a professional DJ since 1985. I listen to music incessantly. I'm always looking for less clutter in my life and with my equipment. To be able to have a speaker that is wireless is a big deal since it removes all the hassles that having wired connections involves. What's brilliant about the design of this Altec Lansing inMotion speaker system is that it offers two types of wireless connectivity. Bluetooth and a USB transmitter dongle. Bluetooth wireless enables iPod, iPad, iPhone connectivity (or other compatible bluetooth devices to connect.) The other option, a USB transmitter dongle that can be plugged into any computer, laptop or desktop enables connectivity for non-bluetooth devices, or where you need greater range. But what good is a speaker if it doesn't also sound great. This does sound great. It has a brightness and clarity this is very pleasing to my ears. Admittedly it is lacking in the bass area, but I found the sound to be balanced and the lack of "more" bass was not a negative for me.

Suddenly, I am able to have my iPhone play my music wirelessly using bluetooth to the Altec Lansing speaker. And since the speaker also has a built-in battery, I can take it anywhere. It's not that big, only about 13 inches long, 4 inches high and 5 inches deep. It could easily fit in a small backpack. This means you could take it with you on a camping trip or into your office, upstairs, downstairs, into the backyard... wherever you want to take it. Once you begin to realize that you are no longer tethered by wires, it opens up an entirely huge number of options. As I'm writing this review, I have the speaker hooked up to my tiny, Sandisk Sansa mp3 player by a short mini-plug cable that runs from the headphone jack on the mp3 player to the Line In jack of the speaker. I could just as easily have my iPhone be the music source using bluetooth. The speaker has a very comfortable, built-in handle that lets you easily "grab-and-go."

I was able to quickly and easily pair my PC laptop to the inMotion speaker using the USB Transmitter. It was also easy to connect my iMac using either bluetooth or the USB dongle to the inMotion speaker. And my iPhone via bluetooth was also flawlessly connected. I was easily able to switch between the different devices too, all it required was a re-pairing of each device since the speaker does not retain pairing information once you switch to anther device. This is not a big deal in my eyes since pairing is so easy to accomplish and takes but a button push and a few seconds.

Here is something else that makes this speaker so useful... there is a remote control that slips perfectly and securely into a slot on the back of the radio. The remote lets you not only launch the default music player on your PC laptop or desktop computer, it also lets you change tracks, pause, and adjust the volume. For instance I use iTunes for my music and to listen to Internet radio. When I'm listening to Internet Radio in iTunes, I can change stations by using the "|<<" and ">>|" buttons of the remote. These same buttons let you skip through music tracks. There is also a mute button, a power on/off function and an ESS (expanded sound stage) button that adds a spatial quality to the sound if you choose. Unfortunately, and one of the very few cons for the device, there is no indicator showing whether ESS is engaged either on the remote or the main speaker unit. But you can "hear" whether it is, so not a big deal.

For Mac users, the "Launch" function of the remote is not useable. You have to manually launch your music app. You will also need to modify your Sound > Output preferences to specify the "inMotion Air" when you are using bluetooth or the USB Dongle. But otherwise the remote works on a Mac in all other regards. I do not have a UNIX or Linux computer to test how it works on that operating system.

The sound quality is quite remarkable for such a compact speaker. There is a clarity and openness to the sound that is quite nice. Whereas some systems sound muffled, this was not muffled in any way whatsoever. There is a lack of deep bass, as is to be expected in something of this size and purpose, but overall the sound was balanced and had enough bass to satisfy my critical ears. There is no adjustment for Bass or Treble on the speaker, but you are usually able to adjust that on the source if need be. I must also say that given the small size of this speaker, the loudness it can achieve is more than adequate and can easily fill a good sized room with plenty of sound.

I've not noticed any interference or static with the wireless function of this speaker. I've also found the range to be as advertised. I can walk around my house using bluetooth wireless and not experience any dropouts or loss of signal. The effective range of bluetooth in this radio is "up to 33 feet" and I believe that to be accurate. The USB wireless is advertised as "up to 333 feet" and I've gotten pretty close to that, but towards the extreme end of that range there begins to be some breakup of the signal. Of course, line of sight is huge when dealing with wireless and if you have lots of walls or obstructions your distance will be reduced.

It is also possible to have multiple speakers all playing the same audio from one wireless music source. You simply pair each device to the source.

Thoughtfully, there is an auto-shutdown feature that will automatically turn off the speaker after a period of inactivity: 4 minutes when using the battery or 10 minutes when using AC adapter power.

Is there anything I don't like about this speaker? Well not much. These are just terribly small quibbles, but I do wish there were an LED indicator showing that battery charging is taking place. As it is, when it is plugged in but off, there is no indication that charging is taking place. Another minor issue is that the ESS button does not have an indicator light either on the remote or the main unit that indicating that it is active. Again, this is minor and in no way affects the amazing capabilities of the speaker.

My only other thought is that I wish the battery were of a higher capacity to enable this to run longer without AC power. That's about the only thing that could make this any better than it is.

Very impressive speaker that offers great flexibility in how and where it can be used.

UPDATE: 8/24/2011 - I am pleasantly surprised to learn that somehow this speaker remembers multiple Bluetooth connections of devices it has previously been paired with. In other words, If I have at one time paired my iPhone as well as my laptop computer with the speaker, I do not have to repair the speaker each time I switch between devices. It apparently remembers devices it has been paired with and will connect with each device when that device is active and bluetooth of the device is on.

I've also got a wish that there was a place to store the USB bluetooth dongle in the speaker itself, when not in use. I've also got to mention that the dongle is a bit wide so depending on how much clearance you have between multiple USB ports on your computer, you may have a tough time having plugging in another USB plug at the same time you are using the dongle.. .they may be too close together. Other than that I am loving this speaker and it sounds fantastic to me.

UPDATE: 10/28/2011 - I have recently acquired a Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker - Nylon and have also done a video review of it on the Bose Soundlink page. Just want to quickly say that I actually prefer the sound of the Altec-Lansing iMW725. It has vastly superior midrange and highs. It has a clarity and brightness that is lacking in the Bose. Although the Bose can boast that it has more bass, I found it to be a boomy bass, not well-defined and lacking in mid and high range presence. For $100 less, the Altec-Lansing is the better choice for accurate sound reproduction. I did like the Bose form factor though and it did exude a certain quality. But for my money, the Altec-Lansing produces better sound quality and that's more important to me.

UPDATE: 12/8/2011 - I get quite a few people telling me that they are undecided between the Inmotion speaker and the Bose Soundlink. You really do have to listen to both before making your decision. I can definitely make a couple claims though and that is that the USB dongle that the Altec Lansing can use if you choose, provides a much great distance of useability for the speaker. Normal bluetooth has a range of around 30 feet, but the dongle gives you much great range. And the other thing I can say is that if loundness is your only criteria for being good, then the Bose is definitely capable of playing louder than the Altec Lansing Inmotion.

Again, I like them both but for different reasons. Your mileage may vary.

104 of 109 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic sound, terrible customer service August 16, 2011

By C. Fernandes

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I have quite a mixed reaction to this product. When I first got it, I was surprised by how light the speaker was. It was very easy to setup and to pair my Blackberry with this speaker via blue-tooth. When I played the music.....I was blown away! The sound was beautiful. It was really clear and with enough bass that my wife and I were both very impressed. My wife loves bass while I prefer more treble and clarity. It's really impressive that we were both very satisfied with the sound!

But onto the bad news. This comes with a USB transmitter that you plug into your computer so that you can play songs from your PC on the speaker. For me (I use Windows XP) drivers installed automatically and everything seemed to be set up okay. Except that the USB transmitter couldn't pair with the speaker. I tried it again and again, and on different PCs, power-cycling, etc. But as of today it's still not working. I find that amazing since it's the transmitter that they ship with the product. I don't think they even tested it! And like others, I've tried emailing customer support many times with no response. It has been 16 days now with nothing more than automated responses indicating that someone will contact me within 3 business days!

If I hear back from customer support, I'll update my review. But till then, I just wanted to share that the sound is really fantastic. But the USB transmitter they shipped didn't work, and there's practically no customer support on this product right now.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, all around wireless speaker August 3, 2011

By S. Lionel TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The Altec-Lansing iMW725 inMotion speaker is a handsome dark-gray parallelogram of a box. The front and back sides are sloped and there is a deep recess in the back for a handle that makes it easy to carry around. While it can be connected via a standard stereo miniplug, it's the Bluetooth wireless that really makes it so versatile.

The Altec-Lansing paired easily with both my iPhone 3GS and my iPad 2, though you must repeat the pairing process if you switch devices, first telling the latest device to "forget" the Altec-Lansing if it had paired before. The audio quality over Bluetooth was very good, considering the size of the box. Bass wasn't window-rattling, but the sound was clear, undistorted, and it could play quite loud. It is said to be able to connect up to 10 meters (33 feet) "open air". In my house, it got to about 20-25 feet before breaking up, but still had some connectivity at 30 feet.

Also included is a Class 1 Bluetooth dongle that plugs into a USB port on a computer (PC or Mac). This is rated up to 100 meters (333 feet). I had some breakup at about 40 feet through two walls on the same level as the dongle (which has a swing-up antenna), but when I went upstairs, even further away, it was fine. The inMotion automatically pairs with the dongle if it is active, even if it had been paired with something else before, but if not, there is a pair button on the dongle.

The controls on the box itself are power, Pair/Source-select, volume up and down, previous and next track and pause. There is also a nifty remote control that slides securely into a recess in the back - this has the same functions (except Pair - it does have a source button), and adds mute. Another remote button is labeled ESS - this supposedly activates an "Expanded Sound Stage" circuit, but I could not detect any difference. There's no indication on the box if "ESS" is enabled or not. The last button, Launch, will bring up the default music player on a Windows system (Mac users must do this manually.) The remote is infrared, so you have to point it at the box for best results.

There is an internal lithium-ion battery which is said to last for up to six hours. I had to give up after three hours of relatively loud playing and it was still going strong. A switch behind the remote storage slot can disconnect the battery in case you plan on storing the speaker unpowered for a prolonged time.

In addition to the minijack input on the speaker itself, there's another one on the USB dongle. You can connect a second set of powered speakers to this to get another "zone". (It turns out there's a trick to this not mentioned in the manual. Once you have your speakers connected, press the Source/Pair button on the iMW725 once - sound will now come out of the speakers attached to the dongle. Press it a second time and sound will also come out of the iMW725, though delayed a fraction of a second from the dongle-connected speakers.)

I have just a couple of minor quibbles with the inMotion speaker. First, I would like to see a similar storage slot for the USB dongle so it doesn't get lost. Second, the internal battery is not user-replaceable. It should last several years if not abused, but once it fails you have to junk the speaker (or find a way to disassemble it and locate a compatible battery elsewhere - there are no exposed screws so this may be difficult.)

I have read other reviews indicating that the speaker stopped working after a couple of months. I've now [December 2011] had the unit for four months and it is still working fine for me.

I have not auditioned other similar wireless speakers, but I can say that, based on my experience so far, the Altec-Lansing inMotion is a winner.