AlphaTheta Wave-Eight review

Introduction

The Wave-Eight is the first speaker to launch under Pioneer’s new professional DJ sub-brand, AlphaTheta. First impressions count for a lot, so the brand is looking to make a splash with this release.

There are plenty of party speakers on the market, but what sets this model apart is its suitability for live performances. It has a plethora of professional-grade inputs, it’s compatible with speaker stands, and it’s rugged enough to survive life on the road. What’s really exciting, though, is something called SonicLink.

SonicLink is an ultra-low-latency wireless protocol that’s designed to make it easier to DJ without wires, and the speaker comes with a SonicLink transmitter included so you can make the most of it. Combine this with a compact design, a pull-out handle, and wheels for transportation, and you might just have the perfect companion for mobile parties.

With an asking price of £859 / $899, though, is the Wave-Eight worth the extra outlay compared to its relatively affordable competition. I was excited to find out, and after annoying my neighbours with some banging tunes for the past couple of weeks.

Design

• Sturdy professional design
• Pull-out handle and wheels
• Speaker stand compatible

The AlphaTheta Wave-Eight has a fairly traditional design that wouldn’t look out of place on a stage or at a nightclub. It’s all black, is constructed mostly from a hardy-feeling plastic material and has a metal grille covering the large woofer on the front.

There’s a grab handle on top and the side to make it easy to manoeuvre, and small rubber feet mean that it can be used in either horizontal or vertical orientation. On the underside, you’ll find a hole that’s compatible with standard 35mm speaker stand poles.

It has two wheels at the rear, and a telescoping handle on the top, so it can be wheeled about like a suitcase. It may be a relatively small speaker, but it’s deceptively heavy, weighing 12.7kg, so these wheels are a welcome inclusion.

I was happy to learn that they’re made from a soft polyurethane material, like scooter wheels, so they’re much better at dealing with vibrations from rough surfaces. This is something I’d love to see other speaker brands adopt, the hard plastic wheels on speakers like the JBL PartyBox series and Sony SRS-XV800 feel awful by comparison.

On the rear, you’ll find a selection of buttons and a couple of knobs to control the speaker’s basic functions. There’s a power button, volume limiter, channel selector, and buttons for pairing Bluetooth, SonicLink and wireless speaker grouping. There’s also a knob to switch between different sound profiles that are more suitable for music or vocals, you can even make the speaker act as a subwoofer.

The speaker is IPX4 rated, which means it’ll handle splashes of water, but it can’t be fully submerged. The inputs are covered by a large rubber bung to keep them protected from dust and moisture, and opening it reveals a pretty comprehensive array.

There’s a 3.5mm input, a 1/4-inch balanced mic input, dual XLR inputs, a single XLR output and a USB-C for charging your phone. Here, you’ll find more control knobs, including microphone level adjustment, bass, treble and reverb controls.

On the right-hand side of the speaker, there’s a hidden compartment, and here you’ll find the SonicLink transmitter. It’s held in place by a spring-loaded clamp, a lot like a smartphone holder. There’s also a short USB cable, and you can charge the transmitter from the main speaker battery while it’s stowed away in this compartment.

Features

• Low-latency SonicLink connection
• Can be used as a PA
• Wired and wireless multi-speaker options

The defining feature of the Wave-Eight is its SonicLink wireless connection. It’s designed to be almost zero-latency without sacrificing quality, so DJs can cue songs with pin-point accuracy without needing a wired connection. I’m not a DJ, and this isn’t the kind of speaker I’d use with my TV, so a bit of latency doesn’t bother me much. However, I can certainly see the appeal for performers.

This system works using a transmitter box that’s about the size of a small power bank. It has its own built-in battery and connects to your equipment via two RCA sockets. This means it’s good to go with any analogue source you can imagine.

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The connection works at distances of up to 15 metres when unobstructed, 5 metres further than your typical Bluetooth connection, and the battery lasts a long time too. Pioneer’s specs don’t list an exact figure, and I failed to drain the battery entirely, but anecdotally, it only lost one bar of battery out of three after around 4 hours of playback.

Of course, you can also use Bluetooth, for times when latency isn’t critical, and that’s a much easier way to play some tunes from your phone. Plus, if it’s more convenient, you can just connect with a wire using one of the many inputs on the rear.

Twin XLRs mean that this could be a good speaker for buskers or karaoke parties, and physical controls make it easy to adjust the sound on the fly.

There’s no app for this speaker, which is both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, it’s one less app to clutter up your phone, which I’m sure most of us can appreciate. However, it’s not quite as customisable as some of the competition. So if you’re not keen on the two main EQ settings, you’re out of luck.

The Wave-Eight can wirelessly pair with other Wave-Eight speakers, either over Bluetooth or SonicLink. It supports up to 4 units, and you can use physical controls to make each speaker act as a left/right channel, or as a subwoofer. I wasn’t able to try this for myself, but it’s always nice to have expandability.

AlphaTheta advertises around 8 hours of battery life on a charge, but as with all battery claims, that depends on how loud you’re cranking it. I took the speaker to a small gathering and it was running constantly for around 5 hours at around 60% volume. By the end, only one of the four battery indicator LEDs had gone out. So it seems like it’ll run for longer than advertised if you’re playing at modest volumes.

Sound Quality

• Powerful 110W output
• 8-inch woofer, 1-inch tweeter
• Vortex Bass Accelerator

The AlphaTheta Wave-Eight has an 8-inch woofer and 1-inch soft dome tweeter, both driven by a 110W class-D amplifier. There’s also a sizable oblong bass port on the rear to give the lower frequencies a boost.

Using the default “Music” profile, the sound is well-balanced, but there’s a little boost in the low end. It sounds lively and energetic, giving basslines a satisfying thump. I think it’s likely to be the mode of choice for events, but if you’re looking for accuracy, you can switch to “Flat” mode and hear things exactly as they’re intended. A speaker like this might be overkill for studio use, but hey, it’s an option.

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I was impressed by the Wave-Eight’s ability to produce sub-bass frequencies, this speaker can extend lower than most of the other party speakers that I’ve tried. It’s still no match for an actual dedicated subwoofer, which makes me question why anyone would use the subwoofer mode. Regardless, it sounds fantastic with bass-heavy genres.

I also appreciated how well the vocals were reproduced. There’s tons of clarity and presence in the vocal range, and that’s not always the case with speakers like this. If you want to kick the party up a gear, but don’t want to sacrifice clarity, this speaker should be on your radar.

Despite being a relatively compact speaker, and having fewer drivers than a lot of the competition, it can get extremely loud. It’s not quite on the level of a monster like the JBL PartyBox Ultimate, but it’ll easily match the Sharp SumoBox CP-LS100. With a couple of these in tow, you’ll be able to rock a pretty large gathering.

I listened to a wide variety of genres from metal to pop, drum and bass, and everything in between. No matter what I threw at it, the speaker sounded superb. I’ve found that a lot of party speakers come alive with typical party genres, but that’s not the case here. This unit is just as impressive with jazz as it is with EDM, and the versatility is really nice to have at your disposal.

Should you buy it?