Wednesday, January 09, 2013

JVC Kenwood's wooden cube speakers offer realtime streaming of nature sounds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/jvc-kenwood-offers-wooden-cube-speakers-with-realtime-streaming/

JVC Kenwood offers wooden cube speakers with subscription service for nature sounds

This year's CES has seen no shortage of wireless speakers of all shapes and sizes, but none quite like these options that JVC Kenwood has introduced in Japan. Available in 12.2 and 5.35-inch sizes, the cube-shaped speakers are made of wood and little else, with a vibrating frame producing the sound. As The Asahi Shimbun reports, that system isn't the best for producing deep bass (making them less than ideal for music), but it apparently fares considerably better with the medium and high-pitched sounds of birds and rustling tree branches. JVC Kenwood didn't just stop at the speakers themselves, though. It's also offering a subscription service to go along with them, which will stream realtime sound from microphones set up in the mountains of Takayama and Morotsuka. Not surprisingly, these don't come cheap. The small one with set you back ¥60,000 (or about $680), with the larger model running a hefty ¥300,000, or more than $3,400 -- the subscription service also comes with an unspecified monthly fee.

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Source: The Asahi Shimbum