FoxRox Bluetooth Vibration “Speaker” Offers Customizable 3D Printed Cabinet to Enhance Sound

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Over the years and with the introduction of the Internet, consumers are more conscious than ever before, so much so that companies like FoxSmart have been able to capitalize on that “consciousness” by offering the same products but for much cheaper, and at a higher quality for your value; more bang for your buck. By working directly with the factories that produce their merchandise, FoxSmart has unadulterated control over the quality of their products, and they ensure that they keep their prices lower than Amazon and Walmart or they will not carry the product; that actually is a FoxSmart promise.

The bottom disk is the Resonance Plate, which produces the “good vibrations”

The FoxRox Bluetooth Vibration “Speaker” is just one of the many awesome products to hit FoxSmart’s virtual shelves. Without the use of conventional (magnet-driven) audio speakers, the vibration “speaker” uses — you guessed it — vibrations to get the sound. Utilizing a resonance plate to produce sound, the speaker can be placed on just about any surface, and the vibrations take hold utilizing the mass of an object to produce the sounds which would normally come out of a speaker. Simply speaking, it makes objects vibrate with your music! Did I mention it produces a ton of BASS?

If you’re “all about that bass,” then this speaker will do you justice: it has all the frequencies of a normal speaker, but produces a “rumble” that will make your neighbor think an earthquake just hit! (Figuratively speaking, of course.) The FoxRox “speaker” utilizes Bluetooth 4.0 technology, which gives its user a premium audio experience and a 30-foot connectivity range, without any cables. Daisy-chaining or connecting multiple speakers together allows for music to be played out of multiple speakers simultaneously.

Yet, a speaker is a speaker regardless of its features… but — here’s what really caught our attention — when you add 3D printing into the mix, something plain becomes something extraordinary!

FoxSmart provides the buyers of the FoxRox Speaker with .STL files that can be printed out on a 3D printer to make a specially designed speaker cabinet that will enhance the natural tendencies of vibration speakers — keeping the thump intact — while enhancing the highs and mids. The cabinets can be printed as-is or can be customized to fit your personal style and sound preferences, meaning they’re giving their users the ability to not only boost the sound put out by the speaker, but to become a part of the creation process and tailor-make your product to fit your desired listening experience.

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This Speaker Cab has a few solid support beams within the interior that give it “different sonic flavors and timbers”

“The main thing we’ve found is that vibration speakers like something solid. Cabs with no support just rattle. Cabs, like this one, with a few solid support beams really bring out different sonic flavors and timbers.  We were pretty excited the first time we played with this because this is the future of consumer product, in our opinion. Customize your products with your printer to create something that works for you. We’re posting the files more as an example than a specific recommendation. Anyone with 30 minutes to kill on TinkerCad can design their own, print it out and play around with the results,” said Tommy Galloway, “Director of Awesome Products” at FoxSmart

In turn, this becomes a sort of call to makers/creators of any level to come up with and experiment on designs for the FoxRox Sound Cab. I myself thought of making a sound cab that utilizes the daisy-chain effect but gives different levels of tones or frequencies to each speaker, creating a “surround sound” effect with highs, mids, and lows. As usual, when it comes to 3D printing, we are mostly only limited by our own imaginations.

FoxSmart has Instructable courses on how to make and print the cabinet, providing step-by-step directions to make the speaker cab. They have dabbled around with a few designs themselves — which can be downloaded at Thingiverse — but I am also eagerly anticipating the designs that will come from the users of the FoxRox.

These are the connections on the FoxRox, with Play/Pause and Change Song capabilities

These are the connections on the FoxRox, with Play/Pause and Change Song capabilities

If you do not have a 3D printer, the speaker works on just about any surface, with some working better than others. Also, if you do not have a 3D printer but still want a cabinet, there are plenty of free design sites like Autodesk’s 123D, Google’s Sketchup, Blender, or any of the other 3D design software available, then after creating a design or choosing one from other users of the FoxRox, sites like 3D Hubs can be utilized to contract a local 3D printer to print the cabinet, or just upload and purchase the cabinet from sites like Sculpteo or Shapeways.

The amazing feat of this company is not that they produce products, speakers, or filament, but how they produce products, and how they make those products work for their consumers, as well as the understanding they have when it comes to knowing their customers on a more personal basis. Something as simple as a customizable 3D printed speaker cabinet could make all the difference, especially for those who want a certain kind of tone or sound, or overall consumer experience that is more hands-on.

The most substantial part of FoxSmart is not their business model or their products, it is the door they have opened to their supporters and 3D printing enthusiasts. A door which has been opened, that I personally do not see closing anytime soon — in fact, I believe FoxSmart is just ahead of the curve and setting what soon will be another 3D printing industry trend. FoxSmart and 3D printing are both signs of the rapidly changing world around us, and only time will tell what these changes will bring.

Interior and exterior 3D renderings of the Speaker Cab can be seen below:

(Exterior View) 3D Render showing the outside of the Speaker Cab

(Exterior View) 3D Render showing the outside of the Speaker Cab

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(Interior View) Support beams inside the Speaker Cab

What do you think about the use of 3D printing to help along the “speaker” vibrations? Have you used a vibration “speaker” before? Let us know if a 3D printed Speaker Cab helped the sound quality! Tell us what you think at the FoxRox 3D Printed Speaker Cab forum thread over at 3DPB.com.

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