Get the first-class fidelity of a Bose audio processing with hand-assembled quality, lovingly constructed by someone you love, for an MSRP of just $149. So your kid could charge you more than $149, but that's how much Bose is charging for its DIY BoseBuild Speaker Cube for kids and tinkerers.
Designed with kids 8 and older in mind, this do-it-yourself cube speaker kit promises to offer hours of hands-on experience. Users will learn how sound and speakers work, the concepts of frequency and waveforms, and basics of magnets and electromagnets.
For those concerned about having to step in to assist their little scientists, there's no need to fret over feeling out of your element. The cube speaker's kit includes a companion app that will help guide users through the process of piecing together the components.
"It includes simple, step-by-step instructions for each activity, explanations of what they experience at each step, as well as handy tips and videos," Bose says. "Kids will discover that actions they take in the app directly effect the physical product and vice versa."
And for those secretly worried about investing in a $149 DIY kit, Bose has built the kit components to be rugged. So while it's a bad idea to force a piece into place, it might not be the end of the project because this thing is meant to be tough.
The kit includes a control panel, magnet, coil, speaker panel, power supply, side panels, clips and eight different grill designs to decorate the front of the speaker — and there's no soldering required. The cube speaker includes a 3.5-millimeter audio jack and Bluetooth.
Beyond having to supply the scissors and the tape, users will need to bring an iOS device to this project. Just about any modern Apple device running iOS 8 or later will do the trick.
The BoseBuild Speaker Cube kit might have intrigued the late Bose founder Amar Bose, who used to like to take train sets apart and reassemble them when he was a kid.
Though he passed away three years ago, "that spirit is still at the heart of Bose," said Bob Maresca, CEO of Bose.
"And it's a great example of what we'd like Bosebuild to offer — fun and relatable ways for kids to make something they really want and can use for years to come, while learning about the incredible science and technology behind it," Maresca added.
