Wood holds a special place in the heart of many an audiophile, though most of them are probably thinking of finely shaved and sculpted wood chosen for its acoustic qualities and lovingly shaped into a speaker cabinet or headphone ear cups. The Rockit Log Bluetooth speaker, on the other hand, might be made from wood chosen for its sound, but the company behind it goes out of its way to make sure you know exactly what the wood looked like when it was part of a tree.
The wood in each of these speakers has a history, as the designers of the Rockit Logs source their wood from abandoned logging operations. This also means that each piece of wood looks unique, whether that means an exquisite grain pattern or just a stubborn old knot. We honestly have no idea how these might end up sounding, but it’s undeniable that they’re some of the coolest-looking wood speakers we’ve seen.
Looking at the Kickstarter campaign page, you might notice former pro soccer player Jay DeMerit listed as the designer of the Rockit Log, and this isn’t just an athlete lending his name to a product. Before his soccer career, DeMerit studied to be an industrial product designer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, so he knows what he’s doing when it comes to design.
The team behind the Rockit Log did make a point of choosing wood known for its acoustic properties, specifically western cedar, fir, and hemlock. While the team doesn’t explain the process, it says that each speaker is custom tuned to make the best use of the wood. Considering that the amplifier pushes out up to 60 watts of power, the speakers should be fairly loud.
When it comes time to actually start playing your music, you can connect either via Bluetooth or the included auxiliary cable, if you’d like to use the speaker with an old player or your home audio system. Despite the power that the Rockit Logs pump out, they offer a claimed 10 hours of battery life, as well as a full-sized USB port for charging mobile devices.
If you’ve got your eye on one of these, the Kickstarter campaign is offering the Rockit Log in clear or dark stain finishes for $200. Special editions designed by DeMerit and other athletes like Tim Howard, Eddie Lack, and Sean Pettit are available starting at $500, alongside models designed by actress Eliza Dushku and electronic music duo The Funk Hunters.
The Kickstarter campaign is aiming for $50,000 in funding, and at the time of this writing, it has already passed $30,000 in just a few days. The usual crowdfunding risks are here, but assuming everything goes to plan, rewards are planned to begin shipping to backers in May 2017. For more information, see the campaign page.
