That’s also true of its sonic capabilities. iHome has kept iP1 simple, but made it more than competitive with its peers. The only other port is for wall power, provided by a large but physically nice-looking external power supply. Neither Bose nor JBL nor virtually any of iHome’s other competitors in this space offers any form of video-out, let alone higher-quality component-out, a nice little bonus feature for this system. There’s a dial behind the iPod and iPhone dock to provide a little extra adjustable padding for the device’s back, a set of component video out ports, and a line-in port-you supply the cables. And the back of the system packs a few surprises. Additionally, iHome uses lights behind the volume buttons to indicate when the system is receiving bass and treble boost commands from the remote control-functionality and signaling that are completely missing from both the Bose and JBL systems. Though the power and volume buttons mightn’t be necessary on the face of the dock, and Bose has eliminated power buttons entirely from the bodies of its SoundDocks, iP1’s front-mounted position is smarter than JBL’s inconvenient rear power buttons. To iHome’s substantial credit, almost everything else in iP1 was obviously well thought-out. On a related note, iP1 comes with a slate-like black remote control that is almost identical to the ones it ships with its $150 clock systems-arguably worthy of an upgrade here-and finally, the system’s transparent plastic has been smoke-tinted rather than left completely clear, a color choice that some users might like we’d have preferred no tint, a la the Lars & Ivans and similar Celestion free-standing speakers we’ve loved for years. We view it as a blemish and a “bad sound” button the quality of Bongiovi’s work speaks for itself, and neither Bose nor JBL wastes space or electronics on a button that takes the wind out of their speakers’ sails. Quizzed about why anyone would ever want to deactivate the feature given that iP1’s audio sounds completely flat without it, iHome told us that it provided a clear sense of the benefits offered by Bongiovi’s tuning. The iPod and iPhone dock is adorned with four buttons-two more than the SoundDock, one more than On Stage-that provide an white glowing power control, intermittently white illuminated volume controls, and a blue “B” button that is designed to activate and deactivate the Bongiovi Acoustics audio processing feature. If iP1 has any aesthetic flaws, they’re small and admittedly picky ones. The resulting all-in-one unit is larger than the Bose SoundDock Series II and JBL On Stage 400P, but packs more audio and video hardware than both it also comes with two types of detachable front speaker grilles so that you can either shield its larger cones with metal mesh, or leave them exposed. Though iP1 is similar to both of the other speakers in concept, it bests them in execution: iHome’s nearly 1/2”-thick plastic is beautifully rounded at the edges, matching the speakers mounted inside, and solves the problem of how to cleanly incorporate the iPod or iPhone into a system of this sort-something neither Lars & Ivan nor Altec Lansing really did. Like Altec Lansing’s Expressionist Classic and Lars & Ivan’s BoBo, iP1 uses a flat sheet of transparent plastic to suspend speaker drivers above the surface of a table or desk, here mounting a total of four drivers inside black cans, along with a matching black platform that houses both electronics and an iPod/iPhone dock that protrudes through the unit’s face. Consequently, iP1 is as aesthetically close to the ideal iPod and iPhone audio system as anyone has yet come, a design that mightn’t be the very first of its kind in the speaker world, but is the first made specifically for iPod and iPhone users.
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