Soundwall combines art, speakers and music streaming

Combining artwork with wireless music streaming, Soundwall is an interesting idea. One minute it’s a piece of art, the next it’s a speaker.

Now putting together art and speakers is not a new concept, but to me two things stand out about Soundwall. One, most other systems I’ve seen might look like a picture on a wall, but there’s often a huge space behind to accommodate the speaker. The other point is how many of these connect easily to wireless music systems such as Sonos.

The entire surface of the Soundwall is the speaker. The artwork is printed on a specialized foam core material that displays a crisp, clear image, which also provides for optimal sound reproduction.

Each Soundwall contains a built-in Raspberry PI computer that uses Apple AirPlay and UPnP protocols to wirelessly stream music. It works with iPhone, Android, Sonos and other systems and multiple Soundwalls can be synced to play together on the same WiFi network or controlled separately.

I’ve no idea what the sound quality is like and obviously if you have thick stone interior walls then you probably already know the challenges of wireless connection, let alone streaming music around the house. Our house is small and mainly open plan so running a music system such as Sonos, which I highly recommend, is easy. The downside has always been where to place the speakers, even though they are not that big.

For the artwork I quite fancy the Pissarro depicting Le Boulevard de Montmatre at night and I already have the perfect spot above my fireplace (though no power outlet so that maybe an issue), now I just have to wait for my birthday.

Related posts:

Le Chat Noir – Art Nouveau’s Most Enduring Icon New Motif for Portmeirion Botanic Garden Egg Cups, a Decorative Way to Brighten the Kitchen