Teenage Engineering's OB-4 minimal portable speaker is a mini masterpiece
Inviting the listener to play an active role, the OB-4’s secret weapon, is an endlessly looping digital ‘tape’ that lets you create quirky sonic adaptations
![A close up of Teenage Engineering OB-4, a black double speaker device with handle.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2WhKiGaCpPm5wHYpXHUDWb-415-80.jpg)
Swedish brand Teenage Engineering is renowned for combining cutting edge engineering with neat, retro-tinted design. Their cult OP-1 synthesizer and Pocket Operator music machines riff respectively on classic Casio keyboards and the 1980s Nintendo Game & Watch, for example. The Stockholm-based company also builds speakers, starting with the OD-11, a recreation of the ortho-directional loudspeaker designed in 1974 by the late Swedish engineer Stig Carlsson. Teenage Engineering’s newest product is the OB-4, a portable speaker that follows the current trend for combining Bluetooth and regular line inputs into an object designed to go anywhere.
Thomas Howard, Teenage Engineering’s Industrial Designer, describes their minimal approach. ‘We try to keep it simple and let the acoustics become the basis for how the machine feels,’ he explains. ‘From the outside, you see a square box. Then we turn all our focus to the inside and try to make that part magic. We’re engineers, so that’s most interesting to us.’ The ‘magic’ he’s referring to is the OB-4’s secret weapon, an endlessly looping digital ‘tape’ that lets you rewind what you’ve heard, even time-stretch it and create quirky sonic loops. ‘As well as the traditional inputs like line in, Bluetooth and FM radio, you have "disk mode",’ says Howard, ‘in a sense this is our public research space, where we will continuously develop new experimental features for the OB–4. It’s a place to allow ourselves to explore and prototype everything that this media-instrument, as we call it, can become.’
Our machines are platforms, not products
Thomas Howard
‘Disk mode’ currently has three key functions: ambient, karma and metronome. Each creates a unique soundscape from the audio coming out of the OB-4. ‘We think a speaker can do much more than just take an input and play it back to you,’ Howard continues, ‘we’re interested in how we can create better environments for sleeping or working, but also more active things — what if OB–4 could be the drummer in a family band? Or an alarm clock?’
As with all Teenage Engineering products, sound design is cloaked with love, humour, and exceptional attention to detail. Alongside the standard speaker, there’s a special Bill Amberg Edition, with a custom leather bag supplied to maximise the portability of the OB-4. Available as a strictly limited edition, the Amberg edition has a detachable leather strap for you take this elegant audio oddity out and about. ‘Our machines are platforms, not products. OB–4 is an active listening experience,’ Howard says, ‘you can loop what you’re listening to and remix it. Or rewind radio. right now, that stuff happens in the moment, and then it’s gone.’
INFORMATION
OB-4, from £599
teenage.engineering/products/ob-4
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
The new HMD Skyline is a repairable smartphone that won’t rule your life
Human Mobile Devices has pulled out all the stops to ensure its flagship HMD Skyline can not only be easily repaired, but helps divert you from doom-scrolling
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Analogue Pocket Aluminum Editions: the cult video gaming console shows its new metal
The strictly limited-edition Analogue Pocket Aluminum Editions bring high-quality materials to Analogue’s elegant combination of hardware and software design
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Moog’s mood-altering Labyrinth and five more new synthesizers and sound tools
Explore soundscapes and ambient realms with these new synthesizers and other desktop composition tools for shaping all forms of audio
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Radio alarm clocks round-up: wake up to these clever bedside companions
Our selection of the best new radio alarm clocks, from smart speakers to compact DAB boxes and more
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
CMF by Nothing launches its first phone, and an update of its talented smartwatch
The new CMF Phone 1 is joined by next-generation versions of its CMF Buds Pro 2 and the excellent CMF Watch Pro 2
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The latest portable tech for boosting productivity out on the road
Nine new gadgets for agile workers to get out and about with, from pocket projectors to slimline keyboards, charge blocks and more
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
From Tangerine Dream to cult PlayStation hits, eight books chronicling the art of noise and play
We explore eight titles that get under the skin of music history, technological evolution and the art and experience of digital culture
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
San Diego-based audio specialists Wrensilva update their elegant Record Consoles
With new materials, upgraded electronics and input from three industry greats, the new Wrensilva Standard and M1 Record Consoles are the ultimate in audiophile furniture
By Jonathan Bell Published