This flat-packed sound system will take your breath away

If you fancy getting a bit old-skool with your sounds and don't mind a little light DIY, here's a fab piece of gear that's also brilliantly sustainable. The Berlin Boombox was designed by DJ and designer Axel Pfaender, who wanted to create a cool and fun mobile speaker system with eye-catching design, and it's definitely all that.

The Berlin Boombox is made almost entirely out of stout recycled cardboard, and it comes to you flat-packed; you'll have to put it together yourself (don't worry, it's a pretty straightforward assembly task). Once you've built it you simply plug your phone with it and make with the beats.

Surely it sounds rubbish, though? Well, no; it might be cardboard but the Boombox packs a 2x5 watts amplifier driving speakers by German audio engineers, Mivoc, and the Boombox's body is constructed to provide the best possible sound experience. The electronics are nicely efficient, too, three AA batteries should you get around 200 hours of tunes.

The Boombox comes in a variety of colours, complete with screenprinted graphics, for €65 (plus delivery). However if you want to rock your own look, for a bit extra you can buy a blank Boombox with a set of coloured markers so that you can decorate it yourself. And if you get caught in the rain and ruin the case, you can buy a replacement one for just €14.50.

Words: Jim McCauley

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