You know how once in awhile LG decides your TV needs a completely unnecessary update that you don't want? You turn your television on and it tells you that you need the update?

And of course the last thing you want to do is update the tv because when you turn on a tv it's usually because you want to watch something and not so you can do some software update.

Now, I don't want to cause anybody's mind to break with this completely radical suggestion, so prepare yourself: How about instead of asking you to update the TV when you first turn it on, you request the update when the user turns the TV off?

When a person hits the power button to turn the TV off, it's usually because they're done with it. So they don't care what happens with the TV at that point. That would be the perfect time to request an update.

The TV says, "Hey, can we do this update? Your television will turn off after the update is complete."

Then the user says, "Why would I care? Knock yourself out."

Everybody's happy.

Quick disclosure first, same as in my first review: LG sent me the xboom Stage 501 for free after I got picked for this event on r/PioneerDJ (https://www.reddit.com/r/PioneerDJ/comments/1ue7nzl/looking_for_djs_to_test_lg_xboom_stage501/). The deal was that I'd use the speaker and share how it went. Nobody at LG told me what to write, and everything below is my own opinion, nothing else.

Some background, in case you didn't read the first one. I DJ at home, and I'm also part of a small non-profit group, a "Verein," that runs an urban art shop in a small German city. When we do events, music runs all day, opening until late, inside the shop or out on the street depending on what's going on.

Monitor duty outside: powerful bass from a compact party speaker

Outside, the Stage 501 was my monitor, on a standard speaker stand right next to the decks. If you've ever tried using a compact Bluetooth speaker as an outdoor DJ monitor, you know why I call this the hardest job you can give one. No walls helping you with bass, and plenty of noise around you. For beatmatching you need clear, strong low end right in front of you, and that's usually where small speakers fall apart. The Stage 501 did better here than I expected, honestly.

Kick and bassline stayed separate, same as I noticed at home in my first review, the mids stayed clean, and there was more level on tap than I ever needed. One thing I picked up along the way: leave Sound Field Enhance off when you're using it as a monitor. That mode is built to spread sound out into a room, not to stay precise right in front of you. My takeaway is simple. If a speaker can survive monitor duty outdoors, a garden party or a street corner is not going to be a problem.

A full day on battery indoors and outdoors

LG advertises up to 25 hours of playtime. I still haven't done a stopwatch test and I probably never will, but this was the real-world version: one charge, from setup in the morning until late in the evening, carried back and forth between the shop and the street whenever we needed music somewhere else, never plugged in once. It made it through the whole day. In fairness, I kept the lighting off during the day and we weren't at full volume the entire time, so I wouldn't count on the full 25 hours with everything switched on.

But battery life just wasn't something I had to think about all day. Not hunting for outlets, not running a cable across a doorway, that changes how you use a speaker more than any number on a spec sheet does.

Why a PartyBox has wheels

The party speaker I owned before this is the JBL PartyBox 310, and I've used it a lot over the years at festivals. Plenty of output, no argument there. It also has its own wheels and a telescopic handle, because it needs them. Anyone who has dragged wheels over cobblestones knows what kind of day that turns into ;). The xboom Stage 501 is a one-person, one-trip carry, and with the four positions (vertical, horizontal, tilted, pole-mounted) it went straight onto a standard stand and looked like a small PA top. For this kind of use, that matters more to me than a few extra dB would.

AI Karaoke, my honest take

On another day it turned into karaoke night, so here's my straight opinion on the AI Karaoke. The Vocal Remover mutes the vocal of whatever you're streaming, level 1 keeps a quiet guide vocal, level 2 removes it almost completely. Honestly? It's not the greatest. On dense productions you can still hear traces of the original vocal, and the processing sucks some life out of the track. For spontaneous fun with zero preparation it does the job, and the Key Changer is genuinely useful because it moves songs into a range normal people can actually sing. But the part that impressed me far more is on the back of the speaker: the mix inputs. We already have a karaoke setup with proper instrumental tracks and mics, and you can plug those straight into the xboom Stage 501. Real instrumentals through the inputs plus a mic plugged in directly sounded far better than the AI route. So my honest advice is to treat the Vocal Remover as the backup plan for spontaneous moments and the mix inputs as the main act if you own any karaoke gear at all.

Compared with the PartyBox this is still a clear win, by the way. The 310 plays what you bring, and if you want karaoke you need ready-made karaoke versions of every song. The xboom Stage 501 gives you options.

The lighting actually surprised me

I expected the built-in AI Lighting to be a gimmick. After dark it was honestly nice. It syncs with the music and seems to read the track instead of just flashing on the beat, calmer in the housier moments, busier when the energy picks up. It costs battery though, so my tip is to keep it off during the day and let it earn its keep in the evening.

So… what compact outdoor speakers deliver powerful sound?

After this day my answer is: the ones that don't make you choose between compact, outdoor and powerful. That combination used to mean picking two out of three. The xboom Stage 501 is the first Bluetooth party speaker I've used where I didn't feel that compromise.

At least that's been my experience so far. Happy to answer questions about the setup in the comments.