Related Sections: Art & Design Home Theater iPhone
Hands on with the Parrot Zikmu, an elegant wireless speaker for our iPhone-filled world
Parrot founder and CEO Henri Seydoux joined forces with industrial designing heavyweight Philippe Starck, pictured above, to give birth to the "Zikmu" — which, surprising given its looks, the pair of French gentlemen consider a step forward for speaker functionality rather than aesthetics. It's not enough to focus on the design alone, Starck told us, as the look will go out of date as fast as the parts. The important thing is to give people something they can use, and continue to use.
So the Zikmu came to be. The tall, svelte speakers are designed to work in pairs (though we wouldn't be surprised to see a full home theater suite from Parrot in the future) over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, feature 360° NXT surround sound and can play from music from a computer, or from iPods and iPhones by way of the dock up top. It's the dock that guided the rest of the trim design — Starck called our attention to the fact that the top of the speaker isn't much larger than the iPhone it'll cradle, with only enough room for a few buttons.
As for performance, a pair of Zikmu speakers do pretty much what you want a more expensive set to do: rich sound, with all the highs and lows where they should be. They'd be perfect for easy listening in the living room or even a party. Really, though, this is a set that should appeal to anyone who digs the design, or wants a pair of fancy, no-brainer wireless speakers for their iPod or iPhone.
Look for the speakers in April for $1,500 for a pair, including a heavy duty carrying case that, as Starck joked, took more time to design than the speakers, and will make you look like a mafioso hitman.
 |  |
|
CORRECTION: The speakers were previously called the "Zimku" speakers in the post, and have been changed to their correct name, "Zikmu." Nice catch, IlanKGB!
By DorkMan at 5:21 PM ON 01/21/09
I like the speakers .
By IlanKGB at 5:39 PM ON 01/21/09
Actually it's called Zikmu and not Zimku, it's a way of speaking in french in which you put the last part of the word at its beginning and it stands for "musique". Kind of like master Yoda, but instead of messing up a sentence you just mess up a word...
By BoxerFanatic at 5:49 PM ON 01/21/09
Elegant design, I am sure they sound good and all...
If they play wirelessly with the iPod/iPhone in your hand... that is good.
If they only play from your iPod/iPhone when it is docked... not so good.
The iPod and iPhone are smaller, and more intuitive than most remotes, and are too small to be read from across the room, and most people don't sit with their ears (and eyes) right up next to free standing speakers.
It makes much more sense to keep the media player in your hand, and use it, if you plan to manipulate it, playing wirelessly to the speakers.
But setting the device on the speaker and using some sort of IR remote or something, and trying to control it from across the room, is kind of pointless, when the media player is a better remote than any dumb remote could be.
Having the dock on top isn't necessarily a bad thing for having somewhere to perch the device to charge, or playing a playlist, and getting the device out of your hands for an extended period of un-managed play.
But how is that different than running Apple's Remote app to play a computer based library? (which is usually larger than most iPod/iPhone capacity, save the largest classic models. Or docking an iPod, and playing via computer interface to these speakers...
It just gets me that so many devices think it is such a fantastic idea to plant your lithe little music device out of reach, and out of visual reading range, and then control it with an IR remote... Keep the device in your hand, and play the music to the properly placed speakers!
By Kevin Hall at 6:19 PM ON 01/21/09
@IlanKGB
Nice catch, and thanks for the extra info. Very enlightening.
@BoxerFanatic
I see what you're saying. Like most of these iPod docks though, you can control the speakers with a remote. Your iPod/iPhone does have to be docked, though, and the remote doesn't have the same functionality you get manipulating your library directly with the device, so, as you say, you lose that.
By hollywood_hillbilly at 7:52 PM ON 01/21/09
Does it come with leather pants?
By dplugg at 7:52 PM ON 01/22/09
if its so good why is there a JBL eon speaker in the back ground.. lol.
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
dplugg:
if its so good why is there a JBL eon speaker in the back ground.. lol....More »