Wall of Sound is loud, prohibitively expensive, and somewhat defeats the purpose
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Nov 2nd 2009 6:14PM
posted Nov 2nd 2009 6:14PM
You know the problem with most iPod docks? They're too compact, too convenient. Luckily the wild men at Brothers in Drottninggatan, Stockholm, have the cure to tinny sounds that come in small packages. Hopefully a nod to the sound generated by "the bruddas" from Forest Hills, Queens (and not that of a certain homicidal record producer), the Wall of Sound is a handcrafted, 4 x 3 foot, 125 watt tube amplified behemoth. Intrigued? We bet you are. Sadly, the company has sold out of its first run, but you'll need time to save up your lunch money for one of these anyways: the asking price is $4,495 (plus shipping). Hit that read link to get started.
one word: awesomeness
i know this is apples 4G... AMAZING
Ya, this should make all those 128k bitrate mp3s sound AWESOME.
/s
one word: stupid
What? I always wanted to put a hand-built AMG motor in my Geo.
Indeed, aside from obvious design and price point, I can't see that it comes with a remote. Imagine having to walk up to that thing over and over trying to change songs or hell turn if off or down with it going at high volume. I'm sure the "Wall of Sound" would get pretty damn annoying pretty quick if you had to stand in front of it to do anything with the iPod.
one face: :(
Can I get it with hundreds of little stacked Marshall amps screened on the fabric? Yes? I still don't want it.
If you're going to have such a huge speaker, it's a shame to only go down to 40 Hz...
Not a huge speaker, lots of little ones!
--neg
Shipping kills the deal
its a wall of shame
Can some please tell me what is going on in this picture
http://www.thewosexperience.com/default.asp?content=balance
Clearly, it's a monolith like the ones in 2001. So maybe it'll teach monkeys how to use tools.
What's the point of having it tube amplified if you're just going to hook it up to an iPod?
Not only that, but playing the puny, watered downed audio inherent to MP3s and AACs.
agreed
WILD NEWS FLASH OF NEWSY NEWSNESS:
iPods can play lossless audio.
WILD NEWS FLASH OF NEWSY NEWSNESS
The best lossless audio still can't make up for the fact that the iPod has terrible sound quality.
iPod docks have the ability, if tapped into, to bypass the iPod's DAC/headphone amp and access and process the raw file. See http://www.wadia.com/products/transports/170i/technology.php
If any logic was put into the creation of this device (possibly none), they would go that route. So, I suggest some education.
@ Aaron
I guess that's a *little* smaller than just having a CD changer, but I bet it's not cheaper.
I have seen (and listened) to the Wadia iPod dock, the sound quality is amazing. It outputs s/pdif directly from the ipod to an external DAC of your choice. That's the bottleneck in the iPod, you can play lossless audio files, connected to some fancy high end stereo, but the DAC is crap. Apparently it requires some bullshit licensing from Apple though, so it hasn't really caught on much (expensive)
Can always rely on Engadget to rank up the uninformed person. Thanks masses. And licensing fees probably aren't an issue for a prohibitively expensive wall of sound.
Did we learn nothing from Marty McFly?
or the Maxell guy?
The specs just say 40 Hz - 20kHz...doesn't even mention a tolerance or what level of attenuation is at 40Hz...lack of specs = NOT GOOD. I'm an audio engineer and for $4,000 I could build you a system that could rock a small bar. Complete waste of money (and good space)
I wonder what a house would be like if each wall was made of these....
Expensive.
And very, very loud.
You would certainly not HEAR any neighbours complaining =D
There should seriously be some kind of background/apartment check before companies allow people to buy these things.
Stupid loud neighbours.
website says: "A part from being a the wolds most powerful iPod speaker"
4 typos in 1 clause on a 1-page website hawking a 5 thousand dollar piece of precision equipment. nice.
More than that...
And since we're focusing on details...
That same sentence offers gems like "equipped with a graceful mids and a crystal clear highs..."
The sentence that follows has no period at the end.
The first sentence has no space in between "iPod" and "speaker".
And the sentence after that, along with spacing and punctuation errors, says "...the WOS is exceptionally for people who believe that...", bla bla bla...
LOVE the grammar and all the errors. So yeah, I hear ya... really inspires confidence.
Ain't nitpickin' fun?
That would look great in my room!
Looks cool, but couldn't anyone with a bit of engineering know how and some handywork build something like this for about $1000 tops?
I only want it if the gain goes to 11.
Can anyone confirm that this thing really exists??
http://www.thewosexperience.com/default.asp?content=balance
and
http://www.thewosexperience.com/default.asp?content=knowmore
I have trouble buying this but maybe engadget, cnet and gizmodo know more than I
I mean, even just reading the website... "Listening loudly to music is not a statement, it's a way of living"
Seriously ... ?
Wait, "Listening loudly"? As in being noisy while listening to music? That's a dumb 'way of living'.
That picture is quite comical: HUUUUUUUUUUUGE WALL OF SPEAKERS, tiny ipod.
Am I the only one who is confused by the Blitzkrieg Bop video? Could someone please explain the connection?
Phil Spector who invented the "Wall of Sound" recording technique produced the Ramones album End of the Century, which Blitzkrieg Bop was not on, so no, I can't explain the connection.
The one time I saw the Ramones live... the guitar amp was turned up so loud it blew up on the first cord.
This is awesome. The only problem is I would get to use it one time before johnny law would take it from me.
I pretty sure that for 4500 dollars you can buy a kick ass sound system that would have a little something neither this big ass box nor any of of those crappy 100 dollar iPod docks have... stereo separation.
This is like buying a 4500 dollar monaural speaker. If you've got the space for a 4 foot x 3 foot monolith you've probably got the space for a real amp and a real set of speakers.
what a f@ckin' waste of money, up your gay name brand.
The original Wall of Sound:
http://guitarforworship.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/grateful-dead-wall-of-sound-1.jpg
The Dead used to set this up and tear it down between every show.
If I hook two of these up to my car (one on each side facing outward), I can blast drivers with a broadside of sound.
125 watts of weak overpriced-sells-because-its-for-ipods junk. Buy a home theatre setup for cheaper and maybe actually smaller
Big speakers won't make the shitty sound quality from the iPod better ...