Hi DAve, Regarding turning off the speaker, when headphones or powered speakers are plugged into the headphone jack, the speaker would automatically shut off. I've seen plenty of devices that act that way, so suspect it wouldn't be a problem with the bp. If they implemented a true on/off switch, then shutting the unit off would also turn off the speaker, as well as stopping whatever other small battery drain occurs when the machine is "asleep" as opposed to totally off. Or, as someone suggested, for people who don't ever want to use a speaker, there could be a setting in the menu to turn it off. Mary