Tribit Stormbox Blast 2 vs Blast 1, teardown reveals the big beefy 80W portable subwoofer

Stormbox Blast was a game-changer in the portable boombox market when it came out. It was offering insane value for its retail price. For just $200 it had a very good balance of not feeling cheap while offering very good sound quality. Now with the Stormbox Blast 2, there is a huge upgrade on the drivers. The price is $100 more compared to the original Stormbox Blast, but it still offers very high value compared to other expensive big-name brands. I am particularly attracted to the latest Stormbox Blast 2 because it has a 80-watt subwoofer along with woofers and tweeters. Let's check the teardown of these speakers and find out what's special about the Blast 2 speaker.

The new Tribit Stormbox Blast 2 has a dedicated subwoofer to handle a decent portion of the sub-bass and most of the mid-bass frequencies. This is not a proper subwoofer in a sense where the subwoofer only handles frequencies below 60 Hz. However, I think in portable speakers when you have a bass-driver to handle the sub-bass and mid-bass, woofers to handle the upper-bass and mids, tweeters to handle the highs, you can get away by calling the bass-driver a subwoofer. This is exactly what is happening with the Stormbox Blast 2 speaker. But the original Stormbox Blast only had woofers and tweeters, didn't have any dedicated subwoofer or bass-driver.

So with the Stormbox Blast 2, you can call that a 3-way system as there are 3 types of drivers handling 3 different ranges in the whole frequency spectrum. But the Stormbox Blast 1 has a 2-way system, meaning only 2 types of drivers handling the whole range. I am calling the Blast 2's subwoofer a portable subwoofer in a funny way as it is a portable speaker. However, I really like that beefy subwoofer, which looks kinda big in that portable package. A very interesting thing, JBL Boombox 4 removed the dedicated subwoofer that the previous Boombox 3 had, but here Stormbox Blast 2 added a subwoofer that Stormbox Blast 1 didn't have. What a cheap approach with the new Boombox 4 and it seems like a downgrade specially with those bass-distortion stories coming out now.

Tribit doesn't seem to cheap out on the Stormbox Blast 2, rather it feels like a proper upgrade from the original blast. The subwoofer on the Blast 2 might be the same subwoofer as in the JBL Boombox 3 speaker - according to this source. The RMS power rating is 80 watts for the subwoofer and the peak power will be way higher. It looks like the magnet, cone and suspension on the subwoofer are pretty beefy looking and well built. I think it is a very reliable and durable bass-driver that will drive very powerful and impactful bass without distorting. The rectangular subwoofer measures about 180 x 110 mm - high-quality subwoofer.

So in terms of woofers and tweeters, both the Stormbox Blast 2 and Blast 1 have 2 woofers and 2 tweeters each. An important note, the total power rating for Blast 2 is 200 watts vs only 90 watts on the Blast 1. That kinda feels like too much of an upgrade - a good thing. The tweeters are rated at 15 watts each on both speakers. Woofers are rated for 45 watts on the Stormbox Blast 2 vs original Blast's 30 watts rating. So with the Stormbox Blast 2, we have additional 30 watts for the woofers and 80 watts on the subwoofer. In total a 110-watt increase from the OG Stormbox Blast's 90W, making the Stormbox Blast 2 a 200W speaker. This is how I think a company does better than their previous version - by adding drivers, but not removing like JBL Boombox 4 removed the subwoofer.

Check out this teardown video from "Audio y Mas" youtube channel. The teardown shows that there is a big difference between the woofers. Surprisingly, the new Stormbox Blast 2 has smaller woofers but higher power rating. The woofers on the original Stormbox Blast look much beefier than Blast 2's woofers. The reason for being beefier is that they have to drive the bass frequencies as well as midrange frequencies. But in the Blast 2, the woofers barely drive bass. Also, the woofers on Blast 2 have double magnets which might play in to the higher power rating. Both are 4-ohm woofers with high quality materials. The woofers are around 80 mm in diameter on the Blast 2 vs around 107 mm on the original Blast. Tweeters are around 25 mm on both speakers.

Check out those articles from above, you can click on those linked images to read the articles. A while ago I published a review of the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G smartphone, check that out if you are into budget phones. In case you are interested in portable speakers, I compared 3 Boombox type speakers from 3 different brands such as Soundcore, Tribit and JBL. So don't forget to also check out that detailed comparison article about the JBL Boombox 3 vs Tribit Stormbox Blast vs Soundcore Boom 2 Plus.

The Stormbox Blast 2 has a 79 Wh battery pack vs Stormbox Blast 1's 71 Wh pack. So the new Blast 2 has a bit bigger battery capacity, but you might get similar playback time if you run them at similar loudness. If you run them at maximum volume, the original Blast 1 will last longer as it has way less bass and loudness but not much lower battery capacity compared to the Blast 2. The advertised battery playback time is around 30 hours on both with XBass and lights off. Both speakers have lithium-ion batteries. Tribit uses high-quality batteries in their speakers that are reliable and have very good longevity.

There are 2 boards on the Stormbox Blast 2, one is for power supply and another is for amplification and connection. Both circuit boards have proper heat sinks for heat dissipation. The boards look like high quality construction. They are using quality electrical components so that the board can sustain high power-draw. I am really happy seeing high quality drivers and electronics inside the speaker's body. Overall, both the Stormbox Blast 2 and Blast 1 have high-quality build from both the outside and inside. And after looking at the price, now you can understand why Tribit has pound-for-pound champion speakers.

Also, please check out the JBL Charge 6 vs Charge 5 story for highlights.
IF you're interested in mid-sized portable speakers, check my JBL Charge 6 vs Bose SoundLink Plus article. The JBL Charge 6 did better in the head-to-head comparison.