Skip to main content

Porsche Design built a speaker within a 911 exhaust port — and it’s awesome

Porsche Design 911 Speaker
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Since 1973, the Porsche Design Group has operated in parallel to the legendary automaker, producing car-related accessories and other products based upon a single principle made famous by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche: “If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious.” From sneakers to smartphones, everything made by the company takes this philosophy into account. Monday, the studio revealed its newest product — the Porsche Design 911 Speaker, a Bluetooth-enabled speaker built within the exhaust port of a Porsche 911 GT3.

For gearheads, the GT3’s iconic exhaust architecture is unmistakable, featuring twin ports wrapped in a rounded, trapezoidal housing. Porsche Design has replicated that aesthetic, except instead of the roar of an H-6 engine, you’ll be hearing your favorite tunes pumped out with power and clarity.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The high-gloss speaker, built from “Porsche-grade” aluminum, combines the convenience of Bluetooth wireless connectivity with the sound signature of larger, heftier speakers. Sixty-watt system output and aptX support ensure the highest quality of sound, while an impressive 24 hours of battery life keep the party going for as long as possible.

Recommended Videos

Hosting a bigger gathering? The 911 Speaker has you covered there, too. Buy two, and you can synchronize the speakers, utilizing them as left and right channels in stereo mode or simply using Papty mode to play the same music in separate rooms.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The 911 Speaker isn’t Porsche Design’s first foray into the home audio market. True Porsche aficionados should appreciate the 911 Soundbar, which integrates both the rear silencer and the exhaust ports from a 911 GT3 to create a collector’s item that also pumps out music with force. The soundbar also features a 2.1 virtual surround sound system that supports DTS TruSurround signal processing to ensure maximum clarity via Bluetooth connection.

If $2,500 is a bit spendy for you, the wireless Gravity One speaker offers a more affordable way to get some gorgeous Porsche Design tech into your home. “Sit-anywhere” Uni-Q technology projects sound 360 degrees around the Bluetooth-enabled Gravity One, which was manufactured with the assistance of British speaker heavyweight KEF. It costs $380.

If you’d like to get your hands on the 911 Speaker, you’ll have to wait a few months. The speaker will release in mid-October and it’ll cost a cool $550 (482 euros, depending where you’re located). The speaker will be available in select Porsche Design stores and Porsche centers, as well as online at the Porsche Design website.

Nick Hastings
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick is a Portland native and a graduate of Saint Mary's College of California with a Bachelor's of Communication. Nick's…
Sony’s SRS-XV900 pumps its party speaker lineup to the next level
Sony SRS-XV900 top panel.

If you're looking to dazzle your next gathering with huge sound, a light show, and perhaps some karaoke, Sony's new SRS-XV900 might be just the party speaker you're looking for. Sony says it's the most powerful and loudest party speaker in its X-Series range of Bluetooth speakers. It goes up for pre-order on September 20 on electronics.sony.com for $900, but will also be available at Amazon and BestBuy.

The tower-like SRS-XV900 mirrors the design of the company's existing SRS-XP500 and XP700, but on a much bigger scale. You get many of the same features, but where the XP700 measures just over 27 inches in height and tips the scales at about 37 pounds, the XV900 stands 34 inches tall and weighs a bicep-shattering 58 pounds. All of that extra size and weight explains why Sony has given the XV900 a set of built-in wheels at its base -- you will want to do as little carrying of this beast as possible.

Read more
LG updates its XBoom 360 speaker with better sound, battery, and water resistance
LG XBoom 360 X03 speaker.

We were pretty impressed by LG's XBoom 360 portable party speaker when we put one to the test earlier in 2022, but despite the good tunes and fun lighting, we noticed a few places where it could improve. Battery life, at just 10 hours seemed meager, and what's a portable Bluetooth speaker without the ability to take a splash or two?

Looks like LG took our comments to heart. The latest addition to the XBoom family is the $300 XBoom 360 X03, a much more robust speaker in every way, that still keeps the original's unique shape, 360 sound, and customizable light effects. LG says it's available to order immediately from LG's website and authorized retailers, but at publication time, we couldn't find any links to do so.

Read more
New leak hints at Sonos’ future: Bluetooth, spatial audio, and lots more home theater
Rendering of a reportedly unreleased Sonos speaker created by The Verge.

You have to imagine that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is getting a little tired of leaks originating from within the company's walls. For the second time in 2022, The Verge's Chris Welch has published details of an unreleased and unconfirmed Sonos product that Welch claims is code-named Optimo 2. According to this information, which he claims was gleaned from work-in-progress images of the Optimo 2, it's a speaker that will likely take over from the current Sonos Five, a product that hasn't been meaningfully updated since it debuted as the Play:5 in 2009.

If the report is accurate -- and it's worth noting that Welch's prior reporting on the Sonos Ray ahead of that product's debut was very close to what was eventually announced -- the Optimo 2 could represent the beginning of a new era for Sonos. It reportedly contains the mics needed for Sonos Voice Control, as well as plenty of RAM for future updates. A wireframe render of the speaker created by The Verge (which is what you do when you need to protect the source material) illustrates an unusual mirror-image shape -- it looks vaguely like a VR headset -- which appears to be designed to direct sound outward in at least two directions -- forward and backward -- though Welch says that some of the Optimo 2's drivers will aim sound upward, too.

Read more