DESPITE THEIR CONVENIENCE wireless Bluetooth speakers don't get a lot of respect in the audio world. They're what you use to listen to music when you're not really listening to music. Usually, they're small and tinny—something you toss in your duffel bag. To make matters worse, most forgo stereo sound for the tidiness of mono.

Smart Speakers

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

But the Audyssey Wireless Speakers bring some much-needed credibility to the category. Although they're sized for a desktop, the speakers deliver assertive bass along with clear mids and highs at a range of volumes. And the fact that you can put some distance between the left and right speakers gives them an expansiveness that compact single-box models just can't match.

Each speaker in this system has a tweeter, woofer and four-inch passive bass radiator on the back that moves a surprising amount of air. As for unsightly wires, the Audyssey Wireless Speakers have two: the unavoidable power cord (with a chunky power supply) as well as a thin black-and-red cable that connects the left and right channels. (You may want to replace this with more discreet, clear speaker wire if you can't hide it somehow.) Both make the speakers better suited to a permanent set-up than on-the-go listening.

But it's in the comfort of your home or office that you can best appreciate the simplicity of Bluetooth. Connecting to these speakers is a snap. Unlike with other popular streaming protocols, like AirPlay or DLNA, there are no lengthy Wi-Fi passwords to enter. And since Bluetooth is compatible with just about every computer, tablet and mobile phone (not only the smart ones) these days, it's easy for friends or business associates to connect to the speakers, too. You can even use an old-fashioned wire to hook them up to less-portable devices—a desktop computer or CD player, for example. The speakers can play both the wired and Bluetooth sources simultaneously—a handy feature for the deskbound.

The biggest drawback of Bluetooth is that it compresses and degrades audio quality, but my usually picky ears didn't notice the compression while playing back high bit-rate MP3s. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised that a pair of Bluetooth speakers could fill a room with such a satisfying sound. Audyssey has, at last, made a Bluetooth speaker worth listening to. $300,

—Michael Hsu