Teufel Motiv 3: Glorious orbs of sound-producing joy
Crave welcomes our new spherical overlords, and looks forward to working with them in a spirit of boxless, curvy co-operation
Spheres, eh? Can't live with then, can't live without them. As you read this, on a site with a spherical logo, you're sitting on a giant globe orbiting an even larger ball of total flame. You can't escape three-dimensional circles, so why try? Crave, for one, welcomes our spherical overlords.
Teufel agrees with us. Its Motiv 3 speaker system is made up almost entirely of spheres. The 5.1 surround-sound system has a total of six speakers -- five of them are round, and one, the sub, is a boring old cube. Still, even the cube has the decency to feature a round speaker grille, and, ultimately, a round speaker.
And that's the crux of the matter. Speakers are round, so why not put them in cases which are round too? Teufel claims round speaker enclosures are advantageous because they minimise refraction artefacts. The speakers themselves can produce noise in frequencies from 120Hz to 120,000Hz. What the smaller satellite speakers can't produce, in the 20-120Hz range, is handled by the subwoofer.
The 80mm drivers are made from a light, cellulose membrane, which combined with a fancy magnet means you get low distortion levels, leading to a well-rounded sound (oh yes we did).
One of the problems with spheres that aren't secured in some sort of orbit is they have a tendency to roll off on their own. Luckily, those clever fellas at Teufel have provided little magnetic bases that keep the orbs in the right place. Speaker stands are also available that make them even less likely to go awry.
The Teufel Motiv 3 speakers are available now for £436. You'll also need a home-cinema receiver to power them, and some cable to wire them up. So don't be square, get some roundness in your life -- trust us, you'll have a ball.