James Coleman, a Product Design student at the University of Brighton, UK, has conceived of a revolutionary way of producing sound, for use in freestanding loudspeakers (eg hi-fi, TV surround sound and desktop computer speakers) named Levitating Superconducting Speakers. We have featured his work previously when he tried to redesign Kodak Box Brownie.

The Levitating Superconducting Speakers concept works by having a superconducting element housed inside a transducer, which can be suspended in a superdiamagnetic field by an electromagnet. Changing the electromagnetic field strength will cause the transducer to oscillate, which will impart sound directly into the air.

Designer : James Coleman

There are two contrasting designs. The first has a black base with gold transducers. The upper sections of the base rotate in opposite directions to allow the transducers to provide stereo sound. This version of the Levitators has no user input and is controlled entirely by whatever device it is connected to.

The second design of Levitating Superconducting Speakers has a blue/green base and silver transducers and consists of two separate units to provide stereo. This version includes a touchscreen around it’s base, and by moving one, two or three fingers up and down anywhere on the screen, the user can control the volume, bass and treble respectively. The display can also show information about the currently playing media. Power and data are transmitted wirelessly in both designs.

These Levitating Superconducting Speakers concepts have been made not as a realistic present day design, but as a design concept of a future product. The technology required to create these speakers exists today, but the superconducting material does not yet operate at room temperatures and is too expensive for mass production, and the wireless power is not efficient enough to provide the power required. These technologies are improving every day and it is likely that these speakers will be a viable product in 20-30 years.

Currently James Coleman is available for  freelance product designer and photorealistic 3D/CAD product visualization artist. If you are interested, you can contact him: [email protected]