Sharp Sumobox Pro CP-LS200

It certainly wasn't Soundboks that invented the concept of the durable, water-resistant festival speaker, which, with its iconic black grille and amplifier-like appearance, has been faithfully playing away alongside empty beer cans as a kind of ceremonial decoration at most camps and festivals. JBl has been flying the flag for decades, and they're by no means the only manufacturer to consistently run a series of "party" speakers - it's almost a category all on its own.

This leads us quite naturally to Sharp's Sumobox CP-LS200, a party speaker just cut from the traditional piece we described above. At just over half the price of a Soundboks 4, it's pretty solidly positioned to become a festival favourite - but does it have the power, reliability, and battery life?

First and foremost, the CP-LS200 is modelled on the standard, almost automated festival speaker outline. It weighs a good 14 kilos, offers IPX4 certification, which means it can withstand light rain or standing near a swimming pool, and has the traditional, almost legendary matte black exterior and a black grille protecting the speaker unit itself. In other words, it looks passable, but there's nothing exactly flashy about Sharp's interpretation of the classic speaker shape. That said, it's almost all about functionality with these speakers.

Battery life is "only" 8-10 hours (our test gave us 9), which was achieved at around 50-60% volume, and the good thing is that you can actually remove the 14.8V battery and replace it with a fresh one (which will cost you around £100), but it's worth considering, for example, a Soundboks can give you between 30 and 40 hours at 50% volume, and the smaller JBL PartyBox Club 120 gives you 12 hours. That's not to say that the CP-LS200 outright disappoints, but it's not best-in-class.

Inside we find two 10" woofers and two 3" tweeters that together produce 200W RMS or a power output of 108dB. That's quite a lot, especially considering that the Soundboks 4, which costs twice as much, "only" produces 126dB, so in terms of power output alone, there's something to like here. What's more, the sound is actually excellent. It's deep when it needs to be and gives Soulwax remixes the kick they need, but at the same time it's not brute force - there's enough separation to enjoy virtually any musical flavour. Perhaps that's because the tuning is done by a "SAM" module from Devialet itself, which also supposedly constantly maintains the base effect so it doesn't distort. Either way, it's noticeable.

You can connect via Bluetooth, AUX, or TRS/XLR, and you actually have an excellent range of controls via various knobs on the back that let you adjust channel volume, treble, bass, and reverb. These settings can also be accessed via an app, but it's quite satisfying to go completely offline and adjust sound live via these, so it was a good idea to include them.

The price is £600, which actually puts the Sumobox CP-LS200 in a relatively reasonable position, as it's quite a jump to the Soundboks 4, and the larger PartyBox models from JBL don't run on battery at all. Therefore, this one is worth recommending, primarily because of the sound, but longer battery life at reduced volume should be a focus going forward too.