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Wired.com on foxLv2 Bluetooth for
iPad - "Bass-Bustin', Battery-Powered Speaker Invented by Rocket Scientist"
By
Charlie Sorrel,
Wired.com
Bass-Bustin’, Battery-Powered Speaker Invented by
Rocket Scientist
By Charlie Sorrel February 17, 2011 | 7:01 am | Categories:
Accessories and Peripherals
Why should the
audiophile nerds get all the good-sounding gear? Floor-standing speakers,
amps that weight a ton and speaker cables as thick as the tentacles of a
giant squid might sound good, but they’re not exactly portable.
Battery powered speakers are never going to compete with proper hi-fi gear,
but at least we don’t have to settle for sucky portable speakers anymore.
The new foxL v2 joins the Jawbone Jambox in the tiny-speaker-big-sound
category, and better, it was invented by a rocket scientist.
There are two internal tricks. One is the “Twoofer”, a combined tweeter and
woofer which saves space but apparently gives a big sound from a small
(25mm) driver. The other, rather cleverer, trick is the “BassBattery”. This
uses the mass of the rechargeable li-ion battery as an “acoustic suspension
bass driver.”
The foxL comes in two forms: a straight-up wired version and an A2DP
Bluetooth version which also adds a mic for hands-free calling, and a call
answer button. They are priced at $200 and $250.
A word on this kind of speaker. Even with clever engineering and
high-quality internals, the bass from a little speaker is never going to
shake the room. I have been trying out the Jawbone Jambox for the last few
days and it sounds truly amazing for its tiny size, but there is no real
bass thump. You get a good thud, but it’s not the same. The SuperTooth Disco
which I tested a while back has a subwoofer built-in. This gives better
bass, but the speaker is as big as three Jamboxes.
That said, things are a helluva lot better than they used to be.
FoxL
product page
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