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Sep 25, 2010

True Acoustic Art Takes 1,400 Man Hours to Make, $320,000 to Buy

Last weekend I visited the Barnes Foundation art gallery in Philadelphia, and among my favorite pieces were the sculptures of Jacques Lipchitz. The Vox Olympian Loudspeaker hangs with them aesthetically, and it can play music, too.

The Vox Olympians, designed for superyachts, are crafted in England by a company called Living Voice. They're made with some materials you know are good, like gold, silver and bronze, and some that sound like they're good, like tellurium, beryllium and alnico. Each pair takes 1,400 man-hours to make.

The cheapest they run is £210,000, about $328,700, which is outrageously expensive, even compared to the run-of-the-mill ultra-rich-person-gear you normally come across. But if I had a boatload of money, buying speakers that were as good for looking at as they were for listening to would probably something I'd consider.

47 comments:

remzi said...

Wow thats expensive

shirou said...

that looks fuckin awesome..

Monarch said...

way outta my budget though

Brubeck said...

I saw this piece in Newcastle, brass instruments flattened in a circle

Unknown said...

really expensive 0o

tienstormirk said...

wow! that's sick!

Naj said...

even if i have enough money, i'll never buy that! instead, i'll get the logitech z5500! cheap but the sound it superb!

Chromatik said...

Holy shit wow....
That looks awesome. I'd so buy that if i was rich

Janus Kane said...

Hey mate, I unleashed a torrent of 'excitement' upon viewing this beast of craftsmanship. Well played sire, following you as often as you pump the updates out ;)

-JKane

Dr. Phun said...

Holy crap, it looks nice but 320.000 bucks? :O

ShredGuitar said...

Hah, cool post!

brogan bogan said...

That one expensive speaker, even if i had that much cash, I would never buy it, just get a pair of awesome headphones :D

iMonei said...

holy fuck, looks sweet

Drackar said...

For the man-hours that go into building one of those it's not as bad as you'd think.

Splash87 said...

My PC's Logitech Z-2300 set works fine for me!

Horror Movies 101 said...

jesus christ thats expensive

Anne Hero said...

Really expensive 0.o

David said...

Holyyy extrement:d

Crunky said...

wow... audiophiles have more money than sense...

Jeff said...

I wish i had the cash for that

Wafflehaus said...

Jeez.. a little out of my price range.

Have anything for the ramen eating student type?

Structus Postumus said...

Expensive but god damn stunning.

Ishu said...

WOW, like they say "Hard work pays off" =)

bigdonglover said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MC said...

best speaker ever. i bet they get pissed when they blow a speaker!

_lycosa said...

I must say, that those speakers have a very legitimate look to them, however I care to listen to the sound quality in real life as well. Maybe someday I will go back to philly and check out those speakers.

They have seriously gained my interest.

Chibi said...

This is awesome I would buy one if I wanted one. Well I am following and supporting :)

Biff Tanner said...

That's awesome

Anonymous said...

I am impressed by your blog

C.J. Hyatt said...

Work of art is no understatement, especially contrasted with ones I've seen my brother put together in a garage. Wow.

Timothy R. Ray said...

That's insane, wonder who will buy it.

Harrysoon said...

Love the design.

Car Enthusiast said...

prodigal and lavish amenities

Nobody said...

They better have the best sound ever.

~Andrew Wilson said...

My Japanese teacher is trying to make a stereo like this, its gonna look awesome when it's done :D

Tornado Jackson said...

As I've said before, your blog is awesome.

http://tornadojackson.blogspot.com/

iceonnice said...

Holy crap that's a lot.

Charles LeMang said...

I wanna own dat sax.

jneutron said...

just cleaning out my following list. wonderin if you were still "active" cause im showing some love quite frequently.

check out my blog on aussie hip hop
pippapoppa.blogspot.com/

LoneIslander said...

That is true beauty.

annoymouse said...

thats awesome.. but wayyyyyyyyy to expensive.. and besides, im broke :P

peedewba said...

OH MY SWEET JESUS its beauty

Skunkfunk said...

Whoa, it looks really nice though

Travie said...

wow, I don't doubt it either :P

x said...

thats just mental.

Michele said...

Cool!
Supp

Oni said...

i think i'll pass on a 320,000 speaker, i'd rather have a 320,000 pile of cars