Parrot by Starck Zikmu WiFi & Bluetooth speakers with iPod dock

Parrot by Starck Zikmu WiFi & Bluetooth speakers with iPod dock

Parrot have teamed up with designer Philippe Starck to create a new set of wireless speakers.  Called Zikmu, the speakers incorporate an iPod/iPhone dock together with WiFi and Bluetooth; the latter is used both to stream audio from mobile devices such as cellphones using A2DP, and to connect the two speaker columns themselves together.

 

Zikmu uses NXT flat panel technology, rather than traditional speaker cones, and as such doesn’t create a so-called ‘sweet spot’ for the music.  As well as playing music locally from your PMP, they can also stream it across a WiFi network.  Instead, Parrot are claiming full 360-degree sound, while Starck goes one step further and compares it, bizarrely, to a fragrance:

‘We were not aiming to create just another speaker. Our design focused more on making the air vibrate. There is actually a three-dimensional feel to this vibration, meaning that the air is palpable, almost humanlike in presence, like a fragrance’ Philippe Starck

Hyperbole aside, the speakers stand 2.5 feet high and come with a remote control; they’ll also recharge your iPod or iPhone.  The Parrot by Starck Zikmu speakers will be on sale from Spring 2009, priced at $1,500.

(Via SlashGear.)