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Press Release

DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

MrSmith Studio Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Tone Wireless Home Speaker in Audio and Sound Equipment Design

MrSmith Studio acknowledged for audio and sound equipment design by the international grand jury of the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 22, 2020 /DesignNewswire/ Tone Wireless Home Speaker by MrSmith Studio, designed for CONCRETAmente, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Audio and Sound Equipment Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

About the Silver A' Design Award

The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

About Tone Wireless Home Speaker

Tone is a wireless home speaker with body made in concrete, material chosen for its dense nature providing a solid enclosure. It's equipped with two full-range and one subwoofer speakers that provides a continuous power output of 200W. Built-on batteries and Bluetooth allows Tone to be placed anywhere in the house providing a Hi-Fi sound experience. Both color of the concrete and material of front and back panel can be customized and the optional aluminum front grid is kept in place trough magnets.

Award Record

This recognition makes MrSmith Studio a winner of 9 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2016 - 2017 and the 2019 - 2020 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.

About the A' Audio and Sound Equipment Design Award

The A' Audio Products Design Award is an international product design competition recognizing best audio equipment by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to audio product designers, sound equipment designers, industrial designers and product engineers from all countries. Typical entries include headphones, microphones, speakers, amplifiers, soundbars and turntables. The awarded audio products designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/audio-products

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project
Tone Wireless Home Speaker
Function
Wireless Home Speaker
Category
Audio and Sound Equipment Design
Discipline
Industrial Design
Industry
Electronics & Appliances and Entertainment
Colors
Dark Olive Green, Dark Slate Gray, Black, Silver and Dim Gray
Images
5
Client
CONCRETAmente

The Recognition

Laureate
MrSmith Studio
Country
Italy
Recognition
Silver A' Design Award
Edition
2019 - 2020
Design ID
#104463

Credits

Image Credits
MrSmith Studio

Design Details

Unique Properties
Tone is a wireless home speaker with the body made in concrete. The reason behind this is that concrete is perfect sound transmission, therefore is one of the best materials for this kind of purpose. It is equipped with built on batteries, so you can bring it anywhere in your house and listen to your preferred songs with a high quality sound experience. Both color of the concrete and material of front and back panel can be customised in order to provide to clients a custom made product. An optional aluminum front grid is kept in place simply trough magnets.
Inspiration
Because of it high sound transmission characteristics and stiffness, concrete has been already used in high end speakers, but because of its weight, none of them are portable. Therefore the idea was to create the best sound experience in portable speaker segment, with a body made in concrete.
Research
The aim of this project was to create the best sound experience in a wireless home speaker. We made a deep research on components in order to find the best solution for a deep, clear and powerful sound experience. In addition to that, we made a research on materials with the purpose to find the best solution for the body and frame. Came out that concrete has great sound transmission properties. In order to reduce the total weight we opted for a specific kind of concrete that has high structural strength properties and allows thin sections.
Challenge
Main challenge in this project has been fitting 200W of power output in a small portable speaker. We've made several prototypes and mockups before landing on the final version of the speaker.
Realization and Technology
Body is made with UHPC, Ultra High Performance Concrete. This particular concrete has very high mechanical characteristics that allows to reduce thickness of sections. In addition to that has a very fine grain and whiter color, related to standard concrete. Pigment can be added to the mix and this allows to have body of different colours.
Operation and Interaction
Interaction is very simple. Power and Bluetooth buttons are on the back plate. Once paired with your phone you can play your favourite track experiencing high quality audio. Tone is equipped with built on batteries so you can bring it anywhere. Next to the pool or in your living, wherever you want to hear some good music.
Project Duration and Location
Project has bee entirely developed in MrSmith Studio headquarter in Milan. Started in June 2019 and has been released in February 2020
Specifications
Channels 2.1 2x50w 4 inches Full-Range Drivers 1x100w 5.25 inches Subwoofer Frequency response 35Hz 20KHz Continuous power output 200W Max. SPL 100dB Bass reflex port on the back Acoustically isolated midrange chambers Bluetooth 4.0 Class-D Amps Active Crossover Battery 5500mah Dimensions 490 x 206 x 260 mm Weights 9Kg
Keywords
speaker, audio, portable, hifi, concrete, design, MrSmith, wireless, bluetooth, sound, experience

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