The Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ Beatbox™ iPod® Dock is part of a line of electronics developed by Monster in consultation with Dr. Dre. According to the company, the Beatbox was designed to recreate "the driving bass, lush midrange, and soaring highs of a multi-speaker club system." If the sound produced by the Beatbox is the way Dre hears music, then the Doctor has pretty good ears. I took the system home recently to audition, and I have to admit it not only sounded great playing the club-friendly genres it was designed for, but it did a good job with other types of music as well.

Sort of portable

Although this powered speaker system is marketed as something you'd take to a party, I'd consider the Beatbox semi- rather than fully portable. First, there's no battery power option — the Beatbox is powered by an AC adapter only. While it does come with a built-in carry handle (it's the big opening in the top of the cabinet in photo, left). it weighs a little over 16 pounds. So the Beatbox is a little bit harder to tote around than your iPhone.

On the other hand, the system's entirely self-contained, so I could set it up and rescue a moribund party within minutes. All I had to do was plug in the power cord, and dock my iPod. (There's also an auxiliary input for other devices, but for full remote functionality, you'll need an iPod or an iPhone.)

Built to take it — and dish it out

This is no cheap plastic speaker system! The cabinet is nice and thick, with a metal mesh grille covering the speakers — similar in build to a PA speaker. There's a rubber strip outlining the bottom of the cabinet, which prevents the Beatbox from slipping. Which is good, because when the bass gets thumpin' the cabinet starts jumpin' (or at least vibrating  — more on that later).

Each stereo channel has a 5-1/4" woofer and a 1" full-range speaker, all powered by a built-in amp that can deliver 200 watts of peak power. This system was made to be played loud. The speaker array threw out a fairly wide sound field, distributing music throughout our family room. At higher volumes, the sound field got even bigger.  And with two woofers, the low end got a lot of sonic love, regardless of the volume level.

Golden ears, solid gold sound

Dr. Dre's a successful hip-hop producer, responsible for breaking several major rap artists. Many of the tracks he's produced have cracked the Top 40. His ears know when a track's got everything it needs in the proper balance to be a hit. So it's no surprise that the speaker system designed to Dre's specifications does best in popular music genres, such as hip-hop, rap, pop, and rock.

Overall, the system tended to emphasize the bass, and gave the high-ends a little extra crispness. I also thought I detected a little bit of added reverb with the Beatbox  — similar to the reverb I normally hear in PA systems. It seemed to be a little more noticeable at higher volume levels, as could be expected. 

The Beatbox's cabinet was angled so it could be placed in a corner. When I positioned the Beatbox in one, the walls reflected the low tones back into the room, further reinforcing the bass. If you want to get the party started, put this baby in the corner.

Two optional rubber foot pads let me slightly angle the system upwards. This can help lift the soundfield bringing the sound into deeper into the room, depending on how high the surface it's set on.

Beatbox treats

As expected, the Beatbox did an exceptional job with the rap tracks I played. The low bass kicks had real power behind them. The voice sounded suitably tight, and the overall sound had a sort of crunchiness to it that was entirely in keeping with the genre. Standing next to the Beatbox, I could not only feel the cabinet vibrate with my hand, but my feet also detected a little vibration that had transferred down the table and to the floor. And that was only at one quarter volume

I heard similar qualities in the pop music I auditioned. This genre normally has a very compressed sound to begin with, and the Beatbox reproduced it faithfully. Tracks like Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone," and Doughtry's "No Surprise" didn't sound smeared, even at higher volume levels. Instead, the Beatbox just punched them through with even more presence. The sound reminded me of a PA system. A very good PA system.

Modern country music is being mixed along the same lines as Top 40 and hip-hop, and as expected, the country tracks I heard also sounded great through the Beatbox. "You Belong to Me" by Taylor Swift had the same edge to it that Kelly Clarkson's track did  — pretty much the way I remember hearing it on the radio. Ditto with Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," which sounded suitably crispy.

Other genres, other effects

Moving away from popular music, the BeatBox's voicing did very well with near-related genres, less so further down the musical spectrum. World beat tracks, such as the soundscapes of "Sinister Grains" by Anoushka Shankar, had real presence with plenty of detail. As noted earlier, it seemed to me that the system added a little bit of reverb. For genres using primarily electronic instruments  — like rock, pop, modern country, world beat, etc., this was a real plus. It sometimes sounded a little odd with more acoustically-oriented genres, though.

Listening to bluegrass artists the Gibson Brothers, for example, I heard a slight metallic edge to the music that was a little out of character. The jazz tracks I auditioned were a mixed bag  — newer recordings or recent remasters sounded fine, but older tracks and vintage mono recordings seemed a little too electronic in some way.

Passical the classical?

To be fair, the Beatbox wasn't designed primarily for classical music, but what's the point of putting a speaker system through just some of its paces? So I checked out some classical tracks on the system. The music sounded a lot better than I thought it would. The added reverb sometimes enhanced the music, and sometimes slightly detracted from it. The Mozart string quartet I listened to had a steely edge to it that didn't sound quite right, but for the most part orchestras and chamber groups just sounded a little brighter than they did through other systems.

Surprisingly, harpsichord music sounded great. Although an acoustic instrument, the harpsichord's timbre tends to give it a crispness in recordings that sometimes resembles an electronic sound.  I think because it was so close to what the Beatbox was voice for, Jean-Philippe Rameau's Pieces de clavicin came through sounding not just different, but better than they normally do.

Remote control

The system comes with a small remote, which covers the basic functions. I could turn the system on or off, play pause or skip tracks, and fast forward and reverse through songs. I could also adjust volume with remote (which also had a mute button). One unusual feature  — rather than bypass the iPod's volume control, the Beatbox uses it. This meant the volume control bar on my iPod changed with volume adjustments, serving as the system's control display.

Overall impressions

If you enjoy music, and you like it loud, then the Beatbox was made for you. At maximum volume it pumped out everything I threw at it without overdriving the speakers. And it didn't lose any detail when I pulled the volume back down, either. be aware that this system does add its own color to the music. But for 90% of the songs out there  — especially party tunes  — that's a definite advantage. With the Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox  you'll hear your music loud and clear, even in a room packed with rowdy friends.