Speakers
Buy and sell speakers in Costa Rica.
The same box can be anything from a JBL clipped to a backpack to a pair of 15-inch speakers on poles at a quinceañera. New and pre-owned both belong here: waterproof Bluetooth portables for the beach or the river, party speakers with lights and a microphone input, and the powered PA boxes that discomóviles and church groups carry from one event to the next. A used one is worth what its battery or its amplifier still delivers, so hear it loud before agreeing a price.
Battery speakers, party speakers and powered PA boxes:
what separates them is where the power comes from and what you can plug in. A Bluetooth portable such as a JBL Flip or an Ultimate Ears Boom runs on a battery sealed inside the case and takes nothing but your phone. Party speakers like the JBL PartyBox line add lights and microphone and guitar inputs, and some newer models have a battery that slides out and swaps for a charged spare. A powered PA speaker runs from the wall, takes XLR cables from a mixer and sits on a pole stand. A passive box has no amplifier of its own, which puts it with the receivers under audio. Anything you wear goes in headphones.
A party speaker or a pair of bafles for an event or a wedding:
it depends on whether anyone needs to be heard talking. A party speaker fills a terrace with music and copes with a few toasts. For a hall or a reception with speeches, two powered PA speakers on poles work better, because they throw sound over the crowd instead of into the people nearest. That is why discomóviles and church sound teams buy them in pairs, and why a single 15-inch box is harder to sell than a matched set.
Salt, sand and the IP rating on a beach speaker:
the code on the box says what it survives. IPX4 covers splashes and rain, all many party speakers claim, so they belong on the dry sand at Jacó or Cahuita, well back from the water. IP67 means dust-tight and able to survive a dunking, which suits a speaker that rides to the river in a backpack. After a day at the sea, rinse it in fresh water: salt left to dry in the charging port corrodes the contacts.
The sealed battery in a used Bluetooth speaker:
a mid-size waterproof speaker from a major brand costs around ₡100,000 new, and its used price is mostly a bet on a battery the owner usually cannot replace. Powered PA speakers work the other way. A branded 12- or 15-inch box runs from about ₡300,000 to ₡450,000 new and has no battery to fade, so one that lived in a living room holds its value. One that did a season of rentals has worked its amplifier and horn driver hard, and should be priced like it.
Passive radiators, swollen batteries and fake JBLs:
those are the three things to check on a portable. Pair it with your own phone and play something bass-heavy and loud: a buzz or rattle usually means a torn passive radiator, the rubber panel that pumps with the bass. Run a finger along the seams, because a swollen battery pushes the casing apart, and that is a speaker to walk away from. JBL has never made a mini Boombox, so anything sold as one is fake. On a PA speaker, try every input with a cable and a microphone and turn each gain knob slowly, listening for crackle. A blown horn driver leaves the treble muffled, and a tired amplifier starts to hum or cut out once it has played loud for a while.
Generation, battery hours and the matched pair in a speaker ad:
those three answer most questions before anyone asks. Give the exact model, because older JBLs link over PartyBoost and the newer Auracast generation will not join them, and photograph the label with the serial number. Say how long the battery lasts now and whether it has been to the beach. For PA gear, say whether it is a pair, whether it played at home, in church or for rentals, and which covers, poles and cables go with it. Someone coming from Cartago or Heredia for a pair of bafles will want to hear them loud from their own phone, so meet where they can be turned up, not in a car park.