iPod Speaker, Just FYI

Well, I had a nice pair of inexpensive speakers for my iPod, but the solder connecting the power feed to the board entirely failed, and if I'd resoldered it, it would have gone the same way after a few more charges. Poor design. So I started looking around for a nice speaker setup so that I could have my tunes at work. I ran across this review from Henry Rollins. With all the traveling he does, I figured he was on to something, and he's a stand-up guy, so I ordered one around the middle of November.

Turns out they were backordered by a month. It might be more now. I finally received it yesterday. Charged it up in the evening (takes about 4 hours the first time, an hour thereafter, up to 5 hours playback on the battery, plus there's a cable). This morning I inaugurated it with "The Distance", figuring that's got a good mix of sounds.

This little bastard is about 5 inches long, and when placed on a mahogany Victorian table at less than half volume the table surface tangibly shook with the bass. It still has very crisp upper tones, but just the ability to hear the lower half of a song as more than a suggestion is amazing in a portable speaker. The guy who designed it built a combo woofer and tweeter for the two speaker elements, then he found a large, flat, heavy lithium ion battery, wrapped it in rubber and turned that into a subwoofer that's nearly the full size of the speaker. There's a provided anti-slip mat to prevent the speaker moving on a flat surface, and it's needed.

The unit is heavy, around 20 ounces I'd guess, maybe a bit more, and made of metal and serious plastic. There's a small stand to angle it; it's a cheaper plastic but it detaches easily so it won't break off the first time it gets knocked around (which took me under two minutes.) It will obviously survive most common drops. This is the best thing; if you invest this much cash in something, it had better be rock solid. And it does seem to be that.

Anyway, I thought I'd put this out for reference for anyone looking for a new speaker for their iPod. Room filling sound with standout bass in a speaker you can carry in your jacket pocket? 2 tweeters, two woofers and a subwoofer in a tiny package? Awesome! Apparently this NASA guy really knows what he's doing.