Flat-Pack "Eco" Speakers Made from 100% Recycled Materials
Yes, these "Eco Speakers" have cabinets made from cardboard. But the manufacturer also claims they are made from "100% recycled materials," which should include the drivers and housings as well, which is laudable. And they're only $15—if you can find them. They appear to be sold out from the manufacturer's store.
If you look at Gearlog's pictures from CES, it looks like they are actually sold in stores as flat-pack. Maybe that will only amuse me, but I think that's pretty great.
Product/Catalog Page [Fashionation.com via Gearlog]
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I like the idea of the recycled materials, but it also looks like recycled design. Do these remind anybody else of MUJI's cardboard speakers that came out a few years ago?
Since the pressboard they use to make most speaker cabinets is made from recycled wood chips, either bought from the mill or reused from other internal wood projects, it's hard to see where these are that great of an idea. Speakers don't really come to mind as a particularly wasteful product, since all they are is a magnet, some steel, paper and pressboard, maybe with some plastic bits and nylon screen here and there. I'd rather spend the money on speakers that do their job right and find other ways to be ecologically conservative.
These look more like disposable speakers, making them sadly ironic.
Would the boxes even do anything, besides holding the drivers up?
Howabout a subwoofer made from recycled concrete, that'd be something.
You can still get the Muji speakers through the MOMA catalog...ironically I was just thumbing through their catalog the other day while waiting for my chinese takeout. They are more spendy than the 'eco-speaker' at $40 or so...but they are collapsable, and come with their own carrying bag. I wonder, though, how many times you can build, re-fold, and rebuild cardboard speakers before they lose their integrity and require some assistance to stay together (duct tape and cardboard speakers?)
The Mac version: iKEA?
OK, like this, but 5.1.