Klipsch introduced its all-in-one iPod speaker system, the silver iGroove, in 2005. This past summer, the company took the wraps off the iGroove HG, an identical system sporting a high-gloss (hence "HG") black finish. With the iGroove HG, Kilpsch took the iGroove's already attractive design and turned it up to sexy.

Klipsch iGroove HG in profile

At quick glance, the iGroove's design best resembles that of the Bose SoundDock ($299, 2 stars), introduced more than a year before the first iGroove. Both compact systems feature a speaker grille across their entire front with a dock in the center for the iPod. The superficial similarities end there, however: next to each other, the SoundDock stands out the way a boxy mid-'90s Toyota Camry does when parked next to a sleek new BMW 5-series.

The iGroove also packs the brains to match its good looks. Audio quality is exceptional, especially for such a compact system, with very clean highs and well-balanced lows. Most impressive of all is the iGroove's ability to truly fill a room with enjoyable sound. Unlike many compact speaker systems that sound terrific when they are positioned perfectly in front of you but degrade noticeably when you stand outside of that sweet spot, the iGroove wraps your ears with audio richness almost regardless of where you may be. Position the iGroove in a corner and you can feel the entire room come alive. Pushed to the high-end of its 98 dB acoustic output, only minimal distortion can be detected.

The iGroove owes its performance to the high-end components Klipsch builds into each one. The dual 2.5-inch fiber-composite woofers may sound small, but they're capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 65Hz. Balanced bass—not booming—is the name of the game with speaker systems this small, and the woofers match perfectly to the dual 1-inch MicroTractrix horn-loaded tweeters. Klipsch has long promoted horn-loaded speakers, which improve the coupling efficiency between the speaker driver and the air. Physics aside, the result is a tweeter that sounds louder, clearer, and can accurately reproduce more frequencies.

In terms of features, the iGroove delivers what you would expect from a quality all-in-one speaker system, but little more. The uniquely-shaped remote control feels fantastic in your hand, but offers only the most basic controls: power on/off, play/pause, volume up/down, and track forward/back.

A mini-jack auxiliary input is provided covertly next to the iPod dock connector, and Klipsch includes a clever "J-cup" adapter that slides into the iPod dock and gives you a convenient place to put your older iPod, iPod shuffle, PlayStation Portable, or similar device. The J-cup adapter includes a short male mini-jack cable, but you'll have to provide your own cables if you wish to use the auxiliary input with any other applications.

J-cup provides clever support for old-school iPods

What enables Kilpsch to include the J-cup adapter is the iGroove's proprietary dock design. Like Altec Lansing's inMotion iM7 ($249), this provides for arguably more clever integration, but it also means versatility is lost. The iGroove can support any full-size iPod directly, while adapters are included for the iPod mini and iPod nano. Unfortunately, the iPod nano adapter supports only the first-generation iPod nano since Apple changed the dock connector location on the second-generation, meaning owners of the new iPod nano will have to settle for a less secure means of docking their iPod with the iGroove. Of course, since the whole system is proprietary, the universal dock adapter Apple includes with the second-generation iPod nano is useless.

Klipsch deserves kudos for integrating a small handle on the rear of the iGroove that makes toting the 4.6 lbs. unit even easier, unlike Bose's SoundDock, but loses points for not including a video-out port. Other similarly priced all-in-one iPod speakers on the market, like the iM7 and Logitech's new AudioStation ($249), feature such a connection, enabling them to serve double-duty as a means of connecting your supported iPod to a television.

The Bottom Line

If audio quality and an all-in-one design are at the top of your list for an iPod speaker system, you can't do any better than the iGroove HG. The $249 system easily bests the more expensive SoundDock from Bose, matches the iPod Hi-Fi from Apple, and delivers a superior all-around listening experience compared to the iM7 from Altec Lansing and the AudioStation from Logitech (although if maximum volume or booming bass are more important to you, you should consider either of the latter).

While those other speaker systems—with the exception of the SoundDock—offer more features, customers not interested in those extras will surely appreciate the sharper looking design of the iGroove HG.