House of Marley Get Together 2 Review
Get together and feel alright with the latest House of Marley speaker
Verdict
The Get Together 2 is heavy on the bass and heavy to carry around, but its powerful sound, sustainable design and long battery life remain appealing.
Pros
- Powerful, bass-forward sound
- Extended battery life
- Sustainable materials
Cons
- Big and heavy design
- EQ button can be fiddly
- Poor tonal balance
Key Features
- Sustainable materialsBuilt using natural bamboo and upcycled fabric
- EQ button With Bass Boost, Acoustic and Signature Sound presets
- IP65Dust- and water-resistant design
- Twenty-hour battery lifeWith support for 18W fast charging
Introduction
When buying new tech, it can be tempting to look beyond the negative impact manufacturing a product could have had on the environment.
House of Marley is an audio brand that emphasises the use of sustainable wood and textiles in its designs, helping to reduce some of that impact and giving its products a uniquely earthy aesthetic.
While not perfect, the company often makes an effort to use planet-friendly materials, such as bamboo, organic cotton, reclaimed hemp and plastic bottles in its speakers – and the Get Together 2 is no exception.
This speaker is one of three in a range, sitting between the Get Together 2 Mini and the Get Together 2 XL in terms of size, portability and price. So, how does it sound?
You can find the Get Together 2 on House of Marley’s website and at HMV.
Design
- Large and heavy
- Built partly from sustainable materials
- 3.5mm jack and USB-C port
The Get Together 2 feels like a portable speaker in the loosest sense. With its long battery life, IP65 water-resistant design and size, it checks all the boxes you would want from a portable speaker. But it isn’t particularly compact or lightweight at 33.4 x 11.7 x 10.3cm and 2.2kg – that’s roughly the length and weight of a 2-litre bottle of Coke.
This isn’t a speaker I would just slip into my bag to listen to some music outside. I’d want to know I was going to use it before putting it in my backpack, as it doesn’t leave room for much else.
That said, this speaker is 10cm smaller and half the weight of the Get Together 2 XL, and it still packs an impressive sound for its size.
When it comes to materials, the Get Together 2 is made from a combination of natural bamboo, aluminium and House of Marley’s own Rewind fabric and Regrind silicone. Rewind is a black woven fabric made of cotton, hemp and recycled PET, including plastic bottles, while Regrind silicone is created by an upcycling post-process and post-consumer waste. The speaker’s packaging is also 100% plastic-free and recyclable.
As far as controls go, the Get Together 2 keeps it relatively simple. The three buttons on the top control playback, including play/pause, volume, skip tracks and calls, while the two buttons on the back are used to turn the speaker on, pair it with devices and cycle through the EQ modes.
There’s also a 3.5mm jack on the back for wired connections, along with a USB-C port for charging.
Features
- Double the Bluetooth range of its predecessor
- Mic allows for crisp and clear calls
- Battery life outperforms House of Marley’s claim
The Get Together 2 doesn’t come with a wide array of features, but it does boast an impressive battery life.
Pairing the speaker with a smartphone or laptop is easy with Bluetooth 5.0, and the 30m range is twice that found on the previous Get Together, meaning you can step further away from the speaker without interrupting the tunes. I found I had no problem maintaining a connection from another room of my flat.
There’s also a multi-pair feature, which allows you to pair multiple speakers from the Get Together 2 line and listen in stereo mode.
A built-in microphone enables holding calls and speaking to your phone’s voice assistant. I found that my voice came out clear and distinct when chatting through the speaker.
The other main feature here is the EQ. The dedicated button on the back of the speaker lets you cycle through the Signature Sound, Bass Boost and Acoustic modes, with the LED changing colour to indicate the mode speaker is in. I found the button to be fiddly, often not responding when I pressed it too briefly and changing the language setting when I held it down for too long.
An easy fix for this issue would be to download the House of Marley app. Sadly, it doesn’t appear as if the iOS app has been updated in several months, with only the Redemption ANC 2 earbuds compatible at the time of review.
On the brighter side, I found this speaker’s battery life outperformed my expectations.
House of Marley claims the Get Together 2 offers 20 hours of playtime, but I found it was able to go for more than 25 hours at a low to medium volume. That’s almost three times as long as the original Get Together lasted and longer than many of the speakers on our best Bluetooth speakers list, including the B&O Beosound A1 2nd Gen and the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3.
That said, I began hearing periodic low battery warnings around the 18 hour mark, which definitely got annoying by hour 25. When it’s time to charge, the Get Together 2 supports 18W fast charging via USB-C.
Sound Quality
- There’s plenty of bass and a clear stereo image
- The EQ options are limited
- The speaker can get incredibly loud
The Get Together 2’s sound is produced by a 2.5-inch woofer and two 1-inch tweeters. For comparison’s sake, the Get Together 2 Mini has two 2-inch full-range drivers, and the Get Together 2 XL is equipped with two 4-inch woofers and two 1-inch tweeters. The number of woofers would suggest the XL is capable of producing more bass and the Mini the least, leaving this speaker sitting in the middle.
However, while the XL is designed to provide the biggest sound, that doesn’t mean the standard model doesn’t pack a punch in its own right. The Get Together 2 delivers a powerful sound with a good amount of clarity and plenty of emphasis placed on the bass.
Still Life by RM (with Anderson .Paak) is driven by its thumping bass. The low end is warm and emphasised, but it doesn’t undermine the vocals, with the midrange given only slightly less attention.
The tonal balance could be better, however, with details in the treble suppressed under the weight of the bass. Still, the stereo image is distinct and you really get a sense of location when the artists pause to speak towards the end of the song.
I moved on to Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras and found the bass was given a similar amount of attention in this track. Here, the soundstage feels spacious, but again, the treble could be stronger.
Likewise, I feel the vocals could have been treated with a bit more clarity. But it doesn’t take away from how warm and dynamic the song sounds on the Get Together 2.
I cycled through all three EQ modes but found I preferred the default Signature Sound over the Bass Boost or more airy Acoustic regardless of genre.
For those looking for a party speaker, you can be reassured that the Get Together 2 gets loud. I mostly remained below the 50% mark to avoid complaints from my neighbours, but at 100%, this speaker is ground-shakingly powerful and not to be underestimated.
Should you buy it?
You love bass: The Get Together 2 delivers a thumping, bass-forward sound.
You want a small, lightweight speaker: The Get Together 2 might be a portable speaker, but if you’re looking for something slim you can keep at the bottom of your bag or take on a hike, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
The House of Marley Get Together 2 is a large portable speaker with a neutral, earthy aesthetic that contrasts with its powerful, bassy sound profile.
This speaker has a more durable design, a longer Bluetooth range and a significantly longer battery life than the original Get Together, carving itself a good middle ground between the Mini and the XL models in the second generation of Get Together speakers.
I wish it had a companion app with more in-depth EQ options and touch controls, and the treble doesn’t quite get the same attention as the bass, but if you’re looking for a powerful speaker with a long battery life and a sustainable build, the Get Together 2 is one to consider.
How we test
We test every wireless speaker we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested for over a week
Drained the battery to determine how long it could last
Explored the different EQ settings
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FAQs
The speaker has a USB-C port that supports 18W fast charging.
The company claims this speaker will last for 20 hours, but it outlasted this in my tests.
There are three in total, including the Get Together 2 Mini, the Get Together 2 XL and the standard Get Together 2.
Full Specs
Jargon buster
USB-C
The modern USB connector you’ll find on most Android phones, new laptops, cameras and games consoles. It’s reversible and used for charging along with data-transfer.Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest iteration of the standard, and allows data to be sent at twice as much as speed over previous standards, cover four times as much in terms of distance and transfer eight times as much data.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
