Bose - BOSEbuild Speaker Cube - Clear

Spent a few hours with my kids (7 and 9 ys/old girls) who enjoyed the physics/sounds experiments and completed it by promptly building the speaker. It's an interesting product. There are two parts to it: The first is a science project on how electro magnets and permanent magnets work together to generate sound. Note that it requires an iOS device (iPhone or iPad) to go though the educational steps - It doesn't work with Android, although the speaker should work fine as a standard Bluetooth. First, walks out kids and parent to plug into the wall adapter and pair the sound controller via Bluetooth to an iPhone or iPad. Then it goes through a series of fun experiments like a 'magnet launcher' until kids are able to generate sounds via a magnet and coil provided. Then it goes to explain how sound is generated, including a series of videos made by a pair of engineers at Bose, until kids are able to play a somewhat decent audio from their experiment, building a paper speaker. Finally, the app walks through putting together the real speaker, which is the second part of the project. The speaker itself sounds surprisingly well. It's a real Bose speaker, very capable with decent bass and overall very clear and loud sound. The cube is made of plastic translucent walls held together by clips. Then the kids finish the project by picking from a pack of paper covers with different patterns of their choice, or from a grid paper that's easy for kids to form into patterns of their choice. Some considerations: The plastic clips give away that is a science project. If they had a more seamless way of holding the cube together might look better. Also the thin plastic and paper covers while a nice touch might not be durable long term (Although it holds up just fine, we're planning on leaving the speaker on a shelf). The cube can change colors with a button and a slider, or can play a rainbow or colors or follow the music, with the lights off when there is no music, except for a white BT indicator on the rear. The BT pairing is simple, and through the app can control the lights as well, but there is no way of controlling the lights from the phone/tablet once the project app is complete, so it's done from the buttons on the back of the cube. It can remember several devices, and can pair to two BT devices at the same time. There is no battery, it has to remain plugged in. A battery option would've been nice. It feels that it was built by engineers who genuinely wanted to teach kids in a fan way, and it shows in every aspect of the speaker, from its looks, to the detailed and fun explanations and activity to the surprisingly good sound.

I got this for my 8 year old daughter who has interest in things STEM and in music. She was completely engaged, went through the exercise and put it together with minimal support. The setup is nice and easy with iPhone and step by step process given in the phone app was very helpful for her to complete this project less than 30 mins. The box came with various parts. One is a magnet and a coil (attached to the controller which interfaces with iPhone or iPad) with which you can do experiments and learn about magnetic fields, frequency and amplitude. It is pretty cool. And then you tape the coil to any old box you happen to have around (like the one it came in) and you created a speaker and it plays music. It was truly a magical moment and took my daughter by surprise which made the lesson all the more wonderful. Two is actually building a speaker (here the controller is assembled into a plastic box with the speaker assembly (comes assembled)). So she ends up with a speaker in her room that she can listen to. The cool thing is you can control the lights using phone static and dancing mode. There are lot of design covers to go on the top of speakers and kids can change the look every week. This product made me feel like I was a kid again with my daughter building it. Truly 100% AWESOME AND OUTSTANDING JOB BOSE! I can't say enough about the learning experience for both my daughter and I. Well worth every penny and I will be buying one for my relatives kids as a gift for summer project. The sound quality is great and design looks stunning with different colors. Now, on the complaints side this speaker needs to be powered up using power cable and there is no android app to configure the speakers. Definitely worth to buy for kids who has interest in STEM and music.

BOSEbuild Speaker Cube Quick Features on the Product Build and customize your own durable, high-performance Bluetooth speaker iOS app enabled leads you step-by-step through hours of exploration and fun Connect wirelessly to your mobile device Get hands-on with magnets and electromagnets Papercraft projects to make a working speaker out of paper and more Build your own durable Bluetooth speaker with Bose quality sound Customize your speaker with colored LED lighting and interchangeable silhouette covers System Requirements: Any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 8 or above (except the iPad 2) For a complete list of compatible devices, see build.bose.com/devices What's in the box? Magnet Wire coil Control panel Speaker panel Side panels (x4) 40 clips Power supply Papercraft speaker templates (x1) Silhouette covers (x8 designs) Quick start and informational guide Setup/Testing/Conclusion Got kids? This is probably one of the most fantastic and awesome projects that you and your little one can do together (8+ marketed on the box, 6 and above is possible IMO). To be completely honest, my wife and I even enjoyed it together; my son loved it! If you have someone in mind that is interested in getting a Bluetooth speaker and is into music and sound, get them one of these. The setup on this thing was not only simple; it was very enjoyable. Right off the bat when you open up the box, the quick start guides you to downloading the app on your iOS device. Sorry Android users, you won’t have the ability (currently as of 05/22/2017 and not sure if they’ll be compatible in the near future or not). The quick installation guide prompts you to download the app on the App store. Once you’ve downloaded the app; hold on tight cause it’s gonna be a fun and entertaining project. The tutorial/guide on the app is fantastic (good job BOSE!); it's simple to follow and it guides you through the entire process from A-Z. I don’t want to provide too much details because honestly it’s a fun experience and you’ll enjoy it; trust me! So to the pros and cons. You’re probably wondering… You’ve been raving about this thing, aren’t you giving it a 5 out of 5? Honestly, I would personally have to give a 4 out of 5; let me explain. The sound on this thing represents BOSE, the sound quality is great and is crisp. Setup was fun and intuitive so no points knocked off there. The build quality on this thing is pretty nice, not too heavy and not too light and no fingerprints! The other customizations that you can do to this thing (silhouette, different colors, dancing/breathing of the colors, equalizer) are awesome. Now here comes the cons… This is solely based on my opinion. The first thing that made me knock off some points is that you can’t set this up on Androids. Sure it connects to an Android device to play music once it’s all built and put together, but you can’t do the initial fun stuff and setup through an Android. The only other thing I didn’t personally like is that when you customize the equalizer on the app, you can only utilize that function on music that is on your iTunes. What this means is that if you’re playing music on Pandora or Spotify for example those equalizer customizations don’t stick. This also happens even when you’re customizing the colors. BOSE still has a great equalizer preset and on the control panel you can adjust the dancing/breathing of the colors, but it sort of defeats the purpose of being able to really customize the thing like you can on the app itself. The last thing I don’t 100% agree with is the inability for this device to be portable. The BOSEbuild Speaker Cube is stationary and you have to keep it plugged in the whole time you use it. I only mention this because in this day and age everyone wants something portable for the most part. Overall though, I would really recommend this product. As I mentioned initially, if you know someone that is interested in sound/music or you want to spend time with your kid(s); this thing is worth buying. It is honestly some good quality fun and the quality is not short at all in any way, shape, or form. BOSE has done an amazing job in creating this. Who wants just a simple nightlight for your children? Buy a BOSEbuild Speaker Cube so that they could use it as a night light, build it with you as a project, listen to music, and learn! This thing is an all in one. I hope after you read this review and you buy one; you’ll have as much fun as I did and enjoy it as much as I did.

I can't speak highly enough of this BOSEbuild Speaker Cube. The elephant in the room is the price point. This is expensive, which could be off putting to some, however, you will not regret your purchase if you decide to go for it. My 6 year old son and I tackled this project, and he loved it! He was wowed by the technicalities behind how a speaker works, and the real world application behind seeing it in action from the inside out. The attached photo shows everything that is included in the kit. (The iPad does not come with the kit, nor the cute kid!). Opening the box, you are asked to plug in the control panel. Then connect to your iPhone or iPad via Bluetooth. Then download the Bose Speaker App. From there, you are given step by step instructions with videos and animations, running from setting up a magnet and coil, investigating frequency vs power, distance vs surface area, all the way through to building your own, BOSE Bluetooth speaker! We got connected and downloaded the app in just a minute or so. Then I let my son go through the app himself. He read through all the instructions and followed them through. He got great pleasure out of making the coil jump off the magnet, over and over and over again! Moving on, you get to test pitch and tone, frequency and power, then you tape the coil to the box that it all came in to investigate surface area and moving air within a box. You then get to build a paper speaker, and play sounds and music through it. Next, you move onto the 'real' thing... the BOSE speaker. you take the control panel and hook it up to the speaker. You have the concept of the BOSE speaker explained to you via a video, and then look at equalization of sound. You get to play with all different equalization levels and then test the speaker using BOSE's recommended settings. Wow, this little BOSE speaker packs a punch. It's small size belittles it's fantastic sound. Next, you put the plastic enclosure together with little plastic clips. The walls of the enclosure have soft grip rubber edges to ensure a nice airtight seal around the enclosure. Once the clips are in place, you finally put the speaker inside the enclosure. BASS! The enclosure is now sealed and all the richness of the BOSE speaker comes to the front! Sounds fantastic! After that, you are guided through a colorwheel, to light up your cube. The sides of the enclosure are translucent, and 4 multicolor LED lights shine from the back. You have RGB sliders within the app to control the color and a brightness slider as well. On the back of the cube, you have a slider to control the colors as well, and a button that goes through the 'Color ON', 'Color Fade', 'Color DANCE' and 'Color OFF' modes. This is a very full featured little speaker for sure. And finally, there are several templates of graphics that you can clip in as speaker decorations and grilles. If I had one negative of the experience, I feel that these should be made of plastic and not paper. Being paper you can color and draw on them if you want to, but the idea is that you can install them and take them off and change them, and I just feel that they won't last long, with a 6 year old, or an 8 year old... plastic would be a better material for these. My son loves his new speaker, using his iPad and constantly has the sound going through it now. A word of warning from my experience, BOSE provides you with a sound clip to play when testing and learning about the speaker. This instantly became my son's favorite piece of music ever, and we ended up having to listen to it on a loop, over and over and over again, at full volume. So maybe along with the recommended scissors and tape, parents should also include a set of ear plugs for good measure! You have been warned! Overall, this was a fantastic use of an hour and a half with my son, a great bonding and learning moment as well. Valuable family time doesn't have a price you can put on it. I loved going through it with my son as much as he enjoyed building and learning about how a speaker works! As I said, I can't recommend this BOSEbuild kit highly enough!

My son is big into tech, and I can't say I am not the same way. Also, I am a big Bose fan, as their products are excellent quality for the price. They also make a large variety of products, and to date I have not purchased a single thing that I was not amazed by. So, in keeping in that mindset, I decided to try out the Bosebuild Speaker Cube as a fun project for my son and I. He loves listening to music and of course like any 12 year old he is really big into YouTube and the like. So the speaker itself is a simplified deconstructed version of what I would think would be a product they already make. What is unique about this product is the fact you get to put everything together to include the housing box. Then, you get to program it with your iPhone to a certain extent. Most specifically, you get to change the color that emanates from the speaker, and the colors actually play along with the music. Pretty cool effect and nice simple custom design for the novice electronics enthusiast. You can also change out the paper patterns you place on the speaker in which the light shows through. So at the end of things, you have a custom, high quality, bluetooth speaker that is pretty good size. And honestly, the best part of all this? The sound quality is definitely on par with their other product lines. The sound is crystal clear and a solid balance of highs, mids and bass. I was expecting it to be a little less quality, more because if the chance of imperfections created by either myself or my son when making it, but it was actually impressive. For $150 there are a lot of things you can do with your kid. But this is just another option you have to do something truly unique and we enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone what wants to spend some quality time with their son or daughter.

This was a fun project. I did it with my 9 year old child. We talked about electricity, magnets, current, paper/cones/enclosures. Everything you need is included, just have some tape and scissors on hand. It is easy to build and comes together nicely. There are inserts that can be colored too. The sound for the main speaker was surprisingly nice. The LED's strobe with the music and you can change the colors. BT hookup is easy to do. Nothing bad to say about the physical product itself. The only bad thing is the BOSE app to control all the functions, and the directions is only available on iOS. If you go to the products site, there isn't even a pdf download of the instructions, later gen iOS or nothing. But, it's easy to figure out without directions, and know some of the experiments can't be done directly without the app. Hopefully they add the Android app version soon.

My 7 y.o. Daughter and I sat down and unboxed the cube. Besides the cube you get to build, the unit came with customizable side art you can press on to the cube, also included were a magnet and a Copper core for experiments. The instructions were very clear and easy to understand as I let her do the driving. We downloaded an app that would guide us through the process (IOS ONLY). This was awesome. We learned how sound is created through speakers, and got to do a few experiments along the way. We used the magnet and a copper cylinder that plugs in to the main part of the cube, to power it up and run experiments. This was eye opening, and very interesting. All areas were covered and easy to understand the concepts of electromagnets and sound waves. We took our time. I made sure she understood everything. I let her put the cube together and decorate it as she wanted to. It comes with some pre made cutouts and some cards you can make your own cube side art. We were able to choose what color of LED lighting we wanted for certain tones or for a solid color if we wanted, via a color chart on the app. A slide in the back of the cube along with a button will let you customizes your own personal light show. When we were finished with our build and done with the app we connected the cube via Bluetooth to many devices with no problems. (even an android) The voice prompts from the cube were a nice touch. Sound quality is excellent for the cube and its very small speaker. This project was a great bonding experience for us and the fact she gets a very nice speaker for herself that she designed and can show off only ads to it. I highly recommend this to any parent whose child may be interested in electronics or just cool projects in general. 5 Stars

BOSEbuild is great gift for any person who is into sound - kid or adult. It all starts with the beginnings of the sound reproduction - magnet and coil - you'll get these in the kit. Then you launch a mobile app, connect it to the circuit board over bluetooth and start building your very first speaker. First exercise is to put a magnet on the table and put coil over it - then press the button on the screen and coil will launch into the air - that trick grabs kids attention immediately! Then you get a few demonstrations of frequency and end up with making a speaker out of the cardboard box which your kit came in. Following that - you kinda put together a small speaker made out of a paper (scissors required :)). At the end - you use a real Bose supplied acoustic driver and plastic enclosure to build yourself a little cube speaker with colored LEDs insight, and it actually does sound pretty good! I mean for something that you've just put together on the desk in 5-10 minutes and that something easily outperforms a LOT of factory bluetooth speakers! Overall - it's not just yet another boring bluetooth speaker, it's a whole acoustic science experiment kit with video tutorials and you get yourself a great speaker at the end as a reward. No tools required, just the scissors and tape. Assembly time if you carefully follow all experiments (you won't pass into another experiment until your previous one is verified) is about 30 minutes. This is the most fun experiment kit I had for a very long time, highly recommended!