Being a little different is often the key to success, especially if your trying to introduce a product to a crowded market. Sony certainly has managed to produce something a little different with their new Omni-directional speakers, audio spheres. Using a single speaker Sony’s newly developed Circle Sound system is able to provide crisp and clear audio to every corner of a room.
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The long history of portable music has to take us back to the ghetto blasters of the 80’s. Large silver tape based portable stereo’s that were big on the noise and not so big on the portable. With large integrated speakers and dozens of D cell batteries these bad boys could pump music out to the whole block. Sony’s modern interpretation of the ghetto blaster is a ball, a ball of sound if you will. Sony have not only created a uniquely spherical design for their new wireless dock / speakers, they have also developed a new technology, Sony Circle Sound audio diffusion technology. Able to fill any room Sony Circle Sound audio diffusion technology delivers 360 sound from a single, compact enclosure providing rich sound to every corner of the room, no matter where you place the Sphere, omnidirectional audio.
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Two flavours of Audio Sphere have been announced by Sony, the SRS-BTV25 and RDP-V20iP. Both Sphere’s use a 5.6cm Woofer along with a 2 cm tweeter arranged with their special Circle Sound audio diffusion technology to deliver sound to every corner of your room. The Sphere’s 14.5cm diameter houses all of the input’s/output and cables. Being a single speaker sound system makes this the most organised speaker system ever. For those compulsively organised amongst us this is the cleanest looking audio solution possible. Both models have Black and White colour options, the RDP also comes in a fetching ceramic red finish available.
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The SRS Audio Sphere is your general purpose producer of audio, a wall of sound for any occasion or room. Able to connect to many devices for audio playback the SRS includes an Apple interface for your iPhone, iTouch or iPad. To accommodate other devices Sony has also provided Bluetooth wireless, allowing audio streaming from devices such as smartphones or music players. Cleverly the SRS will connect to any Bluetooth-equipped product, including laptops, PC’s, consoles, all instantly upgraded to rich, omnidirectional audio without the cables. The ability to wirelessly share audio between the two devices makes for the quickest starting boom box in history. An audio in jack is also available to allow any non Bluetooth, non Apple devices to still be connected to the sphere. A USB cable is provided for charging purposes only, as long as your audio source allows charge and playback you can kill two birds with one stone.
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The RDP Audio Sphere is the outdoors-man of the two, with it’s included lithium-ion battery providing 5 hours of audio on the go. Sony has integrated the iPod / iPhone cradle into the top of the RDP’s Sphere, limiting the devices you can directly connect to the Sphere to iPod, iTouch and iPhones. A remote control is included that allows control of the docked Apple device containing your music library. Being a single speaker system really minimizes the number of cables required for a bit of decent audio, the battery takes away that cable last required cable, even if only temporarily.
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Both of Sony’s new speakers are slowly becoming available worldwide, already listed in Europe. The Boombox of the future has arrived and it’s a sphere, with clever technology and stylish design Sony has managed to bring something new to a crowded dock / speaker market. Is Sony’s quirky mojo back, we at Highpants hopes so, ghetto blasters all round.
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Specifications
- Volume Control YES
- Speaker Type 360 circle sound
- Speaker Size (cm) Woofer 56mm, Tweeter 20mm
- Speaker Power 13W
- Equaliser modes Bass Boost
- AC power 100-240V
- Dimensions (W x H x D) (mm) 145x145x145 mm
- Weight (kg) 0.5 kg
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Buddha’s Brother out…
