Ryobi has been on a tear with a series of clamp products that attach to a variety of objects. The most entertaining is the Ryobi Verse cordless clamp speaker. It has a cool design, but is it worth buying a couple (or more)?
Ryobi Verse Cordless Clamp Speaker Setup and Pairing
Something that caught our attention right away is that you can pair 100 or more of these speakers together! We were tempted to ask Ryobi to send that many just to prove the point but decided against it. Whether you have 1, 2, 10, or 100 Verse speakers, the set isnโt hard, but you need to know the process.
Paring One Speaker
First of all, it uses a Bluetooth connection with up to a 250-foot range to your phone. Thatโs in ideal circumstances with a straight line of sight.
The initial connection is simpleโpop any Ryobi 18V One+ battery on the speaker and turn it on. It automatically goes into pairing mode, so just find it in your Bluetooth connections list on your phone and connect it.
Pairing Additional Speakers
If you have more than one speaker, the first one you set up is called the parent speaker and it feeds to all the children speakers. Hereโs a quick rundown of how it works:
- Turn on the speaker you want to set as the parent
- Press and hold the connect button (second from the left) until you hear it tell you itโs set
- Turn on the first child speaker
- Press and hold the connect button until you hear it tell you itโs set
- Repeat for as many speakers as you want to connect to each other
Pro Tip
If you donโt memorize the instructions, donโt worry. Thereโs a QR code on the back of each speaker that takes you to a quick start guide.
The speaker will audibly let you know if itโs a parent or child speaker during setup. Once you turn them on, itโs easy to tell. The parent has a red light and each child has a green light.
Itโs important to know which is whichโyour phone has to stay in range of the parent. The children donโt pick up a signal from it, they only pick up the parentโs signal.
Once your speakers are set up, each child can be up to 150 feet away from the parent.
Ryobi Verse Cordless Clamp Speaker Listening Quality
We ran through our usual range of rock, classical, orchestra, and a cappella music to get an idea of the sound quality. For such small speakers, itโs impressive. Thereโs a clear differentiation in the range from low to high and the vocals come through very well.
However, keep in mind that itโs just a 2-inch speaker. Thereโs no subwoofer to support it and thereโs only so much you can get out of it while keeping the price in check. Itโs not as crisp as premium speakers and it gets a bit muddy at the very top of its volume range. That said, itโs a big step up from the quality Ryobi had in some of its previous radios and speakers.
There are two ways to adjust the volume. If you want speakers at different volume levels, you can adjust them independently on each speaker. If you want them at the same volume, simply adjust the level on your phone and theyโll raise or lower together.
As far as runtime goes, Ryobi claims up to 32 hours on a 4.0Ah battery.
Ryobi Verse Cordless Clamp Speaker Design Notes
As a clamp speaker, you get 1 3/4 inches of capacity to work with. Those of you in construction may already realize thatโs enough to fit over the side of 2x material since its nominal width is 1 1/2 inches.
Thereโs a rubberized pad underneath the jaws, helping keep the clamp in place on metal and otherwise slick materials.
No matter which way you need to clamp the speaker down (or set it on the batter base), you can direct the sound where you want it. The head spins and tilts about 300ยฐ for both movements, and the combination can point it just about anywhere you might need it.
Additional Highlights
- 1.3 pounds bare weight
- 10 inches tall without a battery
- 5-inch head width (6 1/2 inches across the frame)
- Carry handle integrated into the head
Ryobi Verse Cordless Clamp Speaker Price
There are three ways to get your hands on these speakers. A single speaker (Ryobi PCL615B) is $59.97. A two-pack (Ryobi PCL6152P) is $99.97. Thereโs also a kit that comes with one speaker, a 1.5Ah battery, and a charger for $99.97. Whichever way you go, thereโs a 3-year warranty to back it up.
The Bottom Line
There was some internal struggle in our office to see who would get to have our set of Ryobi Verse cordless clamp speakers if that tells you anything (Austin is the winner in case youโre wondering). There are so many great ways to use these speakers that itโs impossible to list them all and the sound quality is enjoyable. The only twinge of regret I have is that theyโre not waterproof, so theyโre a no-go on my flats boat.
