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An Isolated Case: OM/ONE Is World’s First Levitating Bluetooth Speaker

08.20.14 | By
An Isolated Case: OM/ONE Is World’s First Levitating Bluetooth Speaker

Audiophiles often debate the merits of coupling or isolating speakers from their stands: the “coupling” contingency believes speakers should be conjoined with a stand, theoretically improving sound and room gain via energy transferral. Those believing in “isolation” conversely believe separating the two prevents distortion. The OM Audio OM/ONE is most visibly an isolated case.

White_OM_ONE

The OM/ONE is the innovative vision of former Director of Operations, R&D and Engineering at Velodyne Acoustics, David DeVillez, a levitating driver designed to eliminate all external distortion by isolating a 3.6″ diameter speaker component from its base at a height of about 1.2″ thanks to an electromagnet. Besides its remarkable floating conversation piece presence, the OM/ONE connects wirelessly to mobile devices and computers just like any other Bluetooth 4.0 enabled audio speaker (with a range of 33 feet).

Marty McFly would likely lend his endorsement of this gravity-defying speaker design by OM Audio.

Marty McFly would likely lend his endorsement of this gravity-defying speaker design by OM Audio.

OM/ONE can be used in pairs for stereo sound, each unit capable of producing 100 decibels from a modest 3-watt amplifier for up to 15 hours of playback before the tennis ball sized speaker needs to be recharged. A black, white and slightly questionable-taste mirrored disco ball edition are available for pre-order.

Instead of wasting amplification energy pushing sound waves into a desk, bookshelf, or table, all of the OM/ONEs amplification energy is directed to the speaker driver to create full, crisp and clear sound.

om-one-prototype

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.