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The ELIE 6 measures 7.7 x 4.8 x 4.1 inches and weighs 4 pounds. It’s not completely submersible like new Play SonosBut it offers basic dust and water resistance (IP54). As with the Play, you can pair it with a second speaker via Bluetooth, or group multiple Fender speakers together.
On the top panel, analogue volume dials for both speaker and tweeter modes give the ELIE a vintage look, but can be a bit of a hindrance in everyday use. This is not the first portable amplifier to bear the Fender name (see File Fender Tuefel Collaboration Speakers), but it’s the brand’s first solo effort, and it shows.
Photography: Ryan Wanyata
The main dial controls both volume and power, and I had to move it closer to full volume to fill my room. Its analog design means you can’t control it from your phone or other source device, so you have to adjust the volume settings separately. There’s also no auto-off feature, unlike most headphones I’ve tested. Fortunately, the ELIE 6 offers up to 18 hours of battery life, which equates to about 17 hours in my marathon testing at about 75 percent volume, so this isn’t a huge issue.
A play/pause switch set between the dials keeps playback control simple, but there are limitations as you can’t skip forward or backward with double or triple clicks like most competitors.
The input switch is a control you won’t see on most other amplifiers, allowing you to adjust the side of the amplifier for your microphone or guitar (or digital devices like a synthesizer that use the input mode). Move around the back, and you’ll find multiple inputs, including a USB port to power your speaker or your phone, a mic/instrument input, a headphone output, and even a 48-volt phantom power switch that lets you plug and play studio-quality microphones. It’s a very loaded package for the musically inclined.
Unfinished business
Musicians will be less impressed with the ELIE 6’s digital chops. Competitors e.g Positive Network Spark Mini The portable speaker showcases the power of digital processing, with an app that lets you explore a maze of plug-ins to add every color of distortion, reverb and reverb to your guitar or bass. Fender doesn’t offer any plug-ins and doesn’t even include an app for basics like equalizer controls – crucial to dialing in a guitar’s tone.
Fender representatives say an app is in the works “later this year” with features like EQ and plug-ins, citing a Q2 or Q3 timeline, when that happens it will dramatically improve the experience. Since the speaker is currently only available for pre-order, I’m hoping it will be released at launch, but I haven’t been given any specific timelines. After several launch rollbacks, the speaker still feels like a work in progress without the app improvements, but I have to test it as it is now, not as it could be.
Energy block
Photography: Ryan Wanyata
It was hard to get too upset about the ELIE 6’s digital shortcomings once I turned it on and pressed the power button. I unboxed the speaker on the same day Bruno Mars’ first solo album was released in a decade; Romanticand I spent the night listening to the speaker’s impressive interpretation of his Latin rhythms and incredibly catchy melodies while shaking some homemade Mai Tai. It was a great atmosphere.