The Lowdown
As a competent all-rounder for casual DJs, the JBL Eon One Compact does it all. You could use one or two of them at home for practising. Use it as a kind of wedge monitor for personal monitoring when playing gigs. Pop two of them on poles and use it as a small DJ PA system. Or just chuck it in the trunk of your car and use it as a loud, durable bluetooth speaker for using down the beach or whatever. It’s well made, sounds good, and a pair of these might be the only speakers you ever need.
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Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
It’s a thoroughly modern, well-made speaker. A nice design, high-quality moulded, lightweight (but durable) feeling. The battery is securely fastened into it and switchable. The inputs and controls are all indented to reduce the chance of accidental damage. The handle is comfortable, and there’s even a stand for a phone or small tablet should you want to use their optional app to tweak some of the settings. There’s a pole mount underneath for putting a pair higher up to use as party speakers. Thankfully it has a proper IEC power socket rather than the DC sockets you sometimes see on speakers like this.
It might take you a second if you don’t want to look at the instruction manual to figure out how to get it going. Ultimately, as long as there’s power in the battery (shown on a clear indicator), you can just press the on button and then use the channel select button to switch to the input that you have plugged something into. At this point, you can adjust the volume, EQ, and so on for that input. Let’s take a closer look at that now.
In Use
The selection of inputs reflects who this speaker is aimed at: not only DJs, but also singer/songwriters, fitness instructors, churches, and so on. We have two mic inputs: one of them can work with a condenser mic thanks to phantom power on XLR and quarter-inch jack combo sockets with docking and reverb, but it can also be switched to line inputs if needed.
Then we have a guitar input plus the one most useful to DJs: a stereo 1/8″ auxiliary-in jack for plugging directly into your DJ gear (if you don’t want to take up both of the mic/line inputs with that function). Unfortunately, this is also the socket that gets switched with Bluetooth, so you can’t have a Bluetooth backup permanently online just in case – it will take you a second to switch over should you need it.
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Once you’ve got your input in (I use the auxiliary input), you select that using the channel selector. Then you’ve got bass, treble, volume, and in the case of the microphones, reverb, plus a master volume control.
The control knobs are all endless encoders, each with an LED ring to show you where it’s set. A nice touch is that when you put the speaker into the horizontal position (which you can do to make it a floor wedge monitor), the controls adjust accordingly so that all the way off is always at the bottom. Two USB-A sockets allow you to charge devices or power devices that you’re using with it, which is another nice touch.
I used it in a bar as a personal monitor. I’ve also used it casually just as a Bluetooth speaker and in the Digital DJ Tips studio to DJ on, and it sounds great in all these circumstances. There’s a very, very slight background hiss that you really don’t even notice at home quietly, never mind anywhere else – but apart from that, the sound quality is excellent full range. Not harsh at all.
Conclusion
If you’re a regular at our school, you know that we really like kit that can be used in more than one circumstance.
Typically, DJs might buy several kinds of speakers for various scenarios: a pair of monitor speakers for casual home use plus a sturdier booth monitor for gigs (or risk needing to take one of their delicate home speakers). They’ll often rent a PA system to play at parties because they won’t risk damaging their home speakers…and then have another different Bluetooth speaker to take down to the beach.
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A pair of these could fit in all those circumstances. Add some poles and the correct leads, and you’ve pretty much got two speakers that you can do anything with. That would make them a good investment for all day-to-day uses, including small parties.
You’re never going to get stomach-churning bass out of speakers this small, but for what they are, they sound very good. The JBL Eon One Compact is a thoroughly modern and versatile speaker, which I’m happy to recommend should you want something this small and lightweight.
