The foxLO is small enough that you can hide it behind your desk or even inside the desk without issues. The dimensions of the little device are just 2.5″ H x 4.5″ W x 6.3″ D, which is small enough to fit under the cramped quarters beneath my desk. The gadget has a pass-through output for use with speakers without a subwoofer output, as well as adjustable bass levels.

The sub is able to deliver deep bass from such a small package thanks to its Linear Magnetic Drive, which sounds like a way to launch spaceships to me. The amp inside the box is a 25W unit and there is a passive radiator system as well. It also has a charging port for your iPhone or other USB device on the side too. The point of this is to supplement the low-end for soundmatters’ foxL speaker system. The foxLO will retail for $149(USD) and will hit stores this spring.

It’s supposed to increase the bass capability of your MacBook significantly, picking up just the low-end, and still leaving mid-range and high frequencies to the MacBook’s internal speakers. A single USB cable delivers both power and sound, which cuts down on wires and clutter. The Bassjump 2 comes with software to customize the sound, including volume and crossover frequency – between 100Hz and 300Hz.

If you tend to use your MacBook Pro or Air as a way to share music with your friends, then this is definitely a good option to check out. The Bassjump 2 costs $69.99(USD) over at Twelve South.

San Francisco artist/software engineer Joe Andolina (aka Megaplow) is actually calling this wearable audio system a “Speaker Vest,” but from everything I can tell, it’s really more like a backpack, just built into a vest. Whatever it’s called, you’ll definitely draw attention walking down the street with this booming audio system strapped to your body.

It’s actually constructed from a Dainese Gilet Cali Tessuto vest, with a Boss audio Bass900 subwoofer strapped to the back. I like the two little satellite speakers that sit over your shoulders while wearing this thing. Power is supplied by a 10-cell rechargeable battery belt which might make you look a little like a suicide bomber, so you might not want to bring this thing with you to the airport.

If you’re ready to rattle your bones and be the life of the party, you can get this wearable speaker vest over on Etsy now for $850 (USD).

The subwoofer chair was developed by John Greg Ball from SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, Alberta. He initially designed the chair for teenagers, who usually enjoy playing music and video games very loud. His design is still in the prototype face, but has two 16-inch JL Audio subwoofers which will emit a strong and thundering bass tone under your rear end. The chair will connect to iPods, iPhones, and MP3 players, as well as video game consoles and HDTVs.

Personally, I tend to use headphones a lot, since playing music very loud isn’t an option when your partner or children are sleeping, so I’m guessing this isn’t for me.

[via Designboom]

If you don’t need the coffee maker, you can opt to have your old iMac converted into a home theater device instead. Have Klaus convert it into the iMac A/V Edition and aside from the Mac Mini, JBL speakers, hard drive and optical drive add-ons, you’ll have the option to pack it with up to two iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad docks, an HDMI converter and an Xtreamer Media Player!

G4 Cube owners can also have the shiny case reborn into a housing for an Apple Pro speaker, complete with an iPod/iPhone dock. A USB sync/charging port is optional.

Klaus also has a couple of simpler but still whimsical mods for old Apple computers – one is an iMac mailbox and the other is a 31-plug power strip inside a G4 tower. Visit Klaus’ website Kiwidee for more info as well as for contact details. Price for the iMac Coffee Edition starts at €399 (appx. $570 USD), the A/V Edition starts at €249 ($350), while the SubCube speaker starts at €499 ($710). With these mods, I wouldn’t be surprised if Klaus literally added a kitchen sink on his newer projects.

The guys at digiZoid hope to overcome that problem with their newly-announced zo personal subwoofer system. The portable box connects between your media player and headphones or speakers to create an enhanced bass experience. It’s really a misnomer to call this thing a subwoofer though, as it’s really some sort of digital audio processor, not an actual loudspeaker.

While I’m really not exactly sure how it works, digiZoid claims their SmartVector sound contouring system dynamically adjusts audio equalization on a constant basis, providing deeper low-end than you’ve ever heard through your headphones. I’ll leave it to the smart guys to explain:

“SmartVector sound contouring works to counterbalance the loss in sound pressure level due to the speaker’s and the ear’s inefficiencies. This is achieved by performing dynamic signal gain adjustment in relation to frequency (or what we call dynamic contouring).”

“Knowing the human ear does not perceive all frequencies of sound with equal loudness, and that people have different listening preferences, we’ve applied isophonic science to solve these problems.”

While that all sounds cool to me, I question whether or not digital audio processing equipment like this can really improve the frequency range of your physical listening devices. Guess there’s only one way to find out. You can buy the digiZoid zo over on their website for $99 (USD).

[via Coolest Gadgets]

Modder Klaus Diebel of Kiwidee built this whimsical all-in-one computer using the shell of an old iMac, and loaded up with a full Mac Mini, a JBL Spot sound system, and a WMF1 single-cup coffee maker, punched through the face of the computer. Amazingly enough, the Mac Mini required NO mods at all, and the dvd slot lines up perfectly with the old iMac slot – go figure.

The only real downside to the iMac CS? The monitor no longer exists, so Klaus has to plug it into an external display if he wants to actually use the computer and enjoy his morning cup of joe. If you’re interested in having one of these for yourself, Klaus would gladly build you one if you contact him here.

Of course, I won’t be truly impressed until he can figure out a way to cram all this stuff into one of today’s svelte LCD iMacs.

[via TUAW]

Created by Q Acoustics, the Q-TV2 straps onto the back of your flat-panel television, providing true 2.1 stereo sound that should beat out anything that’s built into your TV. Just snap the QT-V onto the back of your set, plug it into your TV’s optical, RCA or headphone jack, and you’re all set. The whole thing measures in at just 38mm (appx 1.5-inches) deep.

If you’re sick of your  TV’s thin, tinny speakers, the Q-TV2 should blow you away. Left and right channel sound is provided by a four wide-dispersion balanced-mode radiator speakers, powered with a 25w per channel amp. For big bass boom, there’s a slim vibration-free subwoofer that hides behind your display, powered by a 50W amp (the sub uses 4 individual to fit into such a thin package). Both the left and right satellites offer swivel mounts so you can adjust the angle of the speakers too.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While the base model of the Q-TV2 is designed for TVs that are sitting on a stand, they do offer optional wall mounts (both stationary and cantilevered) for an added charge. Since the Q-TV2 is made in the UK, you’ll probably need a power adapter if you want to use it in other countries, and at this point it’s only available for TVs between 30 and 42-inches diagonal. So if you have a bigger screen than that, you’re out of luck. The system is available now from Amazon UK for £299.99 (appx. $497 USD).

Acousticom’s Sound Egg is an acoustically-insulated pod, loaded up with a 5.1 surround sound system. In addition to the 5 precisely positioned satellite speakers, there’s also a hefty 10-inch subwoofer right under your seat. Talk about some serious rump-shaking. The guys at Acousticom claim the speaker system offers solid frequency response all the way from 20Hz up to 20KHz. As you can see from the photo below, you’ll still need to B.Y.O. home theater system and amp, but the chair has all of the speakers built-in.

Originally created for audio testing and home theater demonstrations, the Sound Egg is designed to provide a completely enveloping audio experience, that’ll have you never wanting to head out to the theater again. At least not when you’re by yourself, since there’s not really a good way to have multiple people share in the Sound Egg experience at the same time.

Ready to sit inside a giant egg and chill out to the latest blockbuster movies and video games? Don’t care for red and grey. No worries – the Sound Egg’s outer shell is available in 7 different colors, and you have 11 choices for the sound-deadening foam lining (a few colors cost $25 bucks extra). You can sit your butt in your very own Sound Egg for $1450 (USD) over at Acousticom’s online store.

Modder d_stilgar spent the last several months painstakingly recreating the details of the Companion Cube, carefully mounting a heavy duty subwoofer and amplifier into the cabinet.

And when the lights go down, the subwoofer glows in the dark, thanks to some cleverly integrated pink EL lighting.

D_stilgar says he’s working on a pair of matching Portal-inspired speakers, but won’t reveal what they look like yet. I’d wager that he’s working on a couple of slices of cake. But then again, that could be a lie.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can check out the build log over on Mods and Ends. GLaDOS would be proud.

[via Modding.ru]

MBL’s 101 X-treme speaker system cranks out sound using a set of four custom built towers. Two of the towers feature pairs of the company’s proprietary omni-directional drivers (like the ones in their smaller 101E speakers), while the other two will rattle your bones with a stack of four 12-inch subwoofers.

Handcrafted from quality materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum, steel and wood, these mammoth speakers truly live up to their “extreme” name tag. The whole system is built-to-order and requires about a month to construct from start to finish.

[via Audio Junkies (thanks, Lukas!)]

Now Infinity and JBL (both part of the Harman International family) have announced subwoofers that can be placed anywhere in your room without running any speaker wires. Using a 2.4GHz transmitter/receiver pair, they grab their sound signals over the air. Supposedly, they offer “interference-free” operation, but there’s bound to be some noise on at least one of the four selectable RF channels if there’s any other electronic gadgets in the area.

Infinity’s PS212W model ($679 USD) is a 400-watt, 12-inch sub, while the JBL Cinema Sound CSS10W ($559 USD) has a smaller 10-inch driver and 300-watts of power. I’m always a bit skeptical about analog wireless audio and video devices, given their tendency to drop some information. You’d surely be better off with a hard-wired connection, but if you just have to be wireless, these might be worth a look.

[What Hi-Fi via Audio Junkies]

The enormous multi-element subwoofer looks like a giant twelve-sided die to me. And yes, even though there are just ten speakers, it really is a dodecahedron. It’s just that there are no speakers in the top or bottom two sides.

The Dodecasub can crank out 600-watts per speaker, for a total of 6000-watts of bone-rattling bass. Interestingly enough, the speaker is designed to maintain a very tight sweet-spot, confining the biggest boom to a relatively small area. There’s a video explaining the tech behind the speaker’s unique design here.

Still, if you’ve got this thing dialed all the way up to eleven, you still might end up rattling the nerves of your closest neighbors.

[via Audio Junkies]

The Fohenz Aqua FA-350 2.1-channel sound system features the requisite blue LED accent lights and comes in either white or black glossy finishes. The satellites and subwoofer look sort of like Apollo spaceship landing capsules to me (or giant Hershey’s Kisses when I’m feeling hungry.)

I’m baffled by the specs on these speakers, offering “RMS” wattage around 1.2 watts per channel (2.5 for the subwoofer), but “PMPO” wattage rating of a whopping 1200 watts. I’m gonna take a wild guess that the higher number is grossly exaggerated, and that they’ll sound about the same as any other cheap computer speakers. Still, they do look pretty cool.

They’re available from Korea’s dcx design shop for 21,000 KRW (just about 22 bucks), so at that price I wouldn’t expect much from these other than looks.

The Rosetta speakers come in a 2.1 configuration, with two satellite towers and a downward-firing amplified subwoofer. They feature a striking modern case design with sleek curves and cool red LED illumination throughout. Like many other 2.1 systems these days, they feature some sort of virtual surround technology (in this case IHSS: Independent Harmonic Surround Sound), but in my experience, most of these just add a general sense of depth to the soundstage, but nothing resembling true surround sound (Yamaha’s innovative YSP series excepted.)

Keep in mind that the Rosetta speakers are best designed for use with computer or video gaming setups, since they’re not all that big. The twin speaker towers measure about 3″(w) x 11″(h) x 3.5″(d) each, while the subwoofer measures about 10″(w) x 8″(h) x 11″ (d). Amplification isn’t anything to write home about either, with the satellite towers running at 9-watts per channel, and the subwoofer delivering just 32-watts of power.

The complete Rosetta 2.1 speaker system retails for just 85,000 Korean Won (about $90 USD) and is available from The Earlyadopter’s World.

Their 101 E Radialstrahler Reference speakers offer a striking sculptural design that makes them look more like something you’d see at a power plant than something that would crank out world-class audio. Apparently, the unique design of these speakers radiates sound waves in all directions, creating an amazing level of depth and realism.

Each one has four separate speaker elements, including a conventional 12-inch subwoofer as well as MBL’s special radial woofer, midrange and tweeter. Frequency response goes from a booming 24Hz all the way up to an inaudible 40,000 Hz. They can handle continous power up to 500-watts, and peak up to a massive 2200-watts per channel. However, since the SPL of these speakers tops out at a wimpy 82dB, you’ll need to drive them with a ton of wattage if you want to experience the best sound they can offer.

All this style and substance will set you back a pretty penny though. A pair of 101 E Radiostrahler Reference speakers retails for about $50,000.

[via NOTCOT]

The Pioneer HTP-LX70 system features a standalone control “pod” which has a bright backlit display that shows the current input and other settings. It’s got full support for the latest surround technologies, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master audio as well. It’s also got a special 3D spatialization technology which is said to provide some serious soundfield expansion.

The system has 400W of total power, driving the left, right and surround satellites at 50W each, but adding dual drivers to the center and subwoofer channels, so they each get 100W of amplification. Pioneer also opted to split the center channel in half, so you don’t have to try to fit the speaker under or over your television. I’m not sure what this means for center channel imaging, but I think that’s part of what they’re trying to accomplish with the 3D sound feature.

I like that this system offers three HDMI 1.3a ports, making it easy to hook up and switch multiple high-definition sources. The HTP-LX70 is definitely at the “high-end” of the Pioneer price range though, within a retail price of ¥261,000 (about $2200 USD.)

[Press Release]

He’s carefully painted it to match the classic “question mark” brick from the Super Mario game series. Looks like that little stuffed Yoshi won’t be long for the world when Michael cranks up his next big bass extravaganza.

Now you’d think that the best part of the story would be the speaker design, right? Well I think the REAL story is the fact that Michael appears to be a time traveler from the future…

…sent here to bring us stuff that only the advanced civilizations of tomorrow could envision. Even if he’s only from next week, a lot can happen in six days.

[via Joystiq]

Amazingly the $800 DAV-IS10′s five tiny little speakers can crank out 50-watts each, which should be more than enough for producing decent levels. In contrast to the minuscule satellites, the system comes with a massive Subwoofer with dual 100-watt amplifier, so you can get your whole house shaking.

In addition to its audio capabilities, the IS10 has a 720p/1080i DVD player on board with slick touchscreen controls. The system includes Sony’s BRAVIA Theater Sync for interoperability of compatible devices over HDMI and will offer plug-and-play options including an iPod dock and wireless streamers via a Sony Digital Media Port.

The SUBstage200 Stealth Subwoofer fits neatly underneath most couches thanks to its 4-inch height profile. The subwoofer hits your derrière with 200-watts of Class D amplification, and solid bass down to 32Hz ensuring a serious bone-rattling for everyone seated on or around your couch.

The SUBstage200 is expected to hit this July and will cost $399.

[via ChipChick]