Designer apartment, designer sound system

You have your brand new apartment, the last thing you want to do is ruin your pristine aesthetic with cumbersome and clunky-looking speakers.

Thanks to audio manufacturers who care as much about the look of their products as they care about the sound, it’s no longer a problem. We take a look at some of the coolest, un-speakery speakers around.

Bang & Olufsen’s BeoSound Shape

One of the most appealing new wall speakers on the market, Beosound Shape feels more like a piece of art than a speaker. With a low profile and hexagonal shape that looks like a flattened cube, you can link up to 44 of these isometric wonders on your wall for, literally, a complete wall of sound.

Available in a range of contemporary, mix-and-match hues, they’re decked out with a textured wool covering and can be tessellated in almost endless patterns throughout your apartment.

source: curbed

Urbanears

Once makers of just headphones, Swedish company Urbanears recently launched a range of multicoloured, wireless speakers. Decked out in muted, homely colours, these speakers couldn’t be more minimalist in design.

Each speaker can provide individual music for individual rooms, or they can all sync to play the same music at the click of a button. And that’s the real beauty of these speakers – getting back to the physical, with physical buttons. As it says on their website, “Leave the app twiddling alone for a while…”

source: urbanears

Beacon

This one isn’t quite an actual product just yet, it’s a kickstarter concept from Living Labs, but we like the way they’re thinking. It’s a wellbeing speaker that, of course, plays audio but has a number of other health-focused benefits.

It keeps a check on your apartment’s air quality and temperature, has built-in lighting that changes to mimic the natural lighting changes that occur throughout the day – particularly helpful when winding down the day before sleep – and has built-in natural ambient sounds to soothe and keep you connected with the real world.

source: techaeris

Sonos Playbase

If it’s great sound from your tv you’re looking for and you don’t want to fill your living space with a gaggle of small speakers, the new Sonos Playbase is a much more elegant solution.

It’s a super-slim flat speak that sits underneath your tv for crystal clear highs and booming lows thanks to no fewer than ten audio drivers. If you already own another wireless speaker from the Sonos range, you can also link that into the loop for even more oomph.

source: theweek

Magnetic Sound2

What about a few tunes in the kitchen, we hear you cry. How about the Sound2, which has built-in magnets so you can pop it onto your fridge, the underside of a metal shelf or, well, anything that’s metallic.

These cute, fuss-free little speakers are about as minimal as you can get. With a boxy look and choice of grey or red, they’ll hide away anywhere you can stick them. But we think they look pretty cool.

source: dezeen

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