The market is flooded with wireless speaker options, but this Indiegogo project called Sound Heroes by Kalium Labs brings one in a more than unusual form, with the aim of “changing speaker design forever” (ahem). We’re including it here more from eye-rubbing disbelief than anything.
Sound Heroes is a cross between a robot action figure (think Cubism meets Ultraman) and a traditional Bluetooth speaker. It also functions as a wireless charging dock for your phone, a WiFi range extender, and a subwoofer. It claims to be able to illuminate your room with over 16 million colour variations of ambient light, and has a water-based smoke effect that surrounds the speaker too.
While its look and feature list place it more in some kind of “bizarre Chinese curiosity” category than with other”serious” speakers, it does have some chops: There are currently two versions available to back, the Prime (20w) and the Premium (60w), which come in at 42cm and 72cm tall respectively. You can pair up to 12 of these together for a surround sound effect.
So I guess after the inevitable “whaaaaat?!” reaction, the next thing those still remotely interested may wonder is: Does it sound any good? After all, the design is toyish and gimmicky – imagine DJing with your controller between a pair of these (never mind the latency, you’ll probably get laughed out of town). If Kalium Labs can’t get them to perform properly, then that’s all Sound Heroes will ever be, a gimmick.
It has already surpassed its funding target, so it won’t be long until we will find out!
Check out the promo video below and see what you think.
Promo video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=131&v=zSjZQPu1uuM
• Sound Heroes is seeking funding until 24 July 2017. Check out its Indiegogo page for more details.
Are we missing something? Is the Kalium Labs Sound Hero, in fact, the Bluetooth speaker of the future – or just a gimmick? Would you be happy to have one of these pride of place in your living room? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Christian Yates
