Named after one of the kitschiest, but also one of the most memorable James Bond films (who could ever forget the film’s scene-stealing Lotus Esprit Series 1, aka the “Submarine Car”?), the Bossa Moonraker sound system exhibits an aesthetic that wouldn’t look one bit out of place in a Bond villain’s lair.
The retro-futuristic design comes by way of the California based loudspeaker designer and manufacturer Bossa, the result of a rotomolding polymer shaping process that produces a spherical housing to enclose two Class D amplifiers. The internals are rated for a total of 150 watts RMS each: one for bass for 50 watts RMS x 2, and the other for treble for 25 watts RMS x 2. Meeting the expectations and standards of speakers today, the Moonraker also plays nice wireless with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with AAC and aptX connectivity.
So why a sphere? Bossa co-founder Nicholas Bletsch believes pragmatic cost issues limit the imagination and design of most speaker manufacturers.
In general, speakers are box shaped because boxes are economical to manufacture, not because they provide the best performance. Moonraker was conceived as a sphere to eliminate some common issues like panel resonances and internal standing waves. This approach has resulted in a shape that is not only beautiful, but also has substantial performance benefits.
Bossa claims their spherical design results in an eye-catching mod design, but also emphasizes their engineered “low-diffraction, low-resonance speaker” offers exceptional acoustic properties attributable to the Moonraker’s curved polymer shell.
Moonraker is sold as a two-speaker system, with one powered speaker and one passive speaker. All audio travels and outputs from a pure analog signal chain.
A white LED panel adds to the speakers retro-futuristic design while also displaying the unit’s volume levels.
Moonraker is primarily developed to be enjoyed for music playback, but the paired system can also operate as audio bookends for nearly any home entertainment television set-up thanks to its 2×2 connections situated on the back: two analog inputs and two wired digital inputs.
Customers can additionally customize the all-white spheres with their choice of hardwood legs in reclaimed walnut, bleached as, or teak manufactured from cutoffs sourced from the yacht building industry.
Bossa’s cabinets, legs, circuit boards, and packaging materials are all manufactured and handmade in California, arguably warranting the system’s $2,399 price tag…an audio system that doesn’t require a Bond supervillain bank account.
from Design MilkDesign Milk http://design-milk.com/bossa-moonraker-speakers/
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