Audio (4856)

GEAR4 launches the SoundOrb Aurora

IFA 2009: Shedding light in your living room

4 September 2009 12:45 GMT / By Ben Crompton

As IFA gets under way in Berlin, the news that Pocket-lint brought you earlier becomes official as GEAR4 announces its flagship launch for 2009, the SoundOrb Aurora, which is the first made for iPod and works with iPhone speaker system to feature a separate wireless sub-woofer, including an integrated ambient light.

The combination of a soundbar speaker with a separate down-firing sub-woofer, that can be placed up to 30 metres away, apparently "provides a unique spatial quality missing from the sound of other iPod speakers".

CEO of GEAR4, Tom Dudderidge, commented, "Few iPod speakers are able to play music or movies with the depth and clarity that SoundOrb Aurora does. The combination of great sound, DSP effects, iconic looks and the built-in mood light help position this speaker as a real first for the iPod/iPhone speaker market".

The DSP technology mentioned delivers two additional audio settings - "Virtual Wide Stereo" and "Virtual Surround Sound", whilst the "mood light" is achieved through LEDs on the unit which can either be set to cycle through different colours, stay on a colour of your choice or, for when the novelty's gone, turned off.

The unit can be connected to a TV, enabling you to play video content stored on your iPod or iPhone or alternately, if your TVs lacking a little punch in the sound department, you can hook this up to get the benefits of the sub-woofer via an audio input.

SRP for the SoundOrb Aurora is £249.99 or 299.99 euros and it should be available across Europe from October.