The iconic egg-shaped chair appeals to our senses for a number of reasons. It’s not only a nice bit of furniture, but also an escapist refuge, a retro-kitch object, and a vehicle for astral projection.
But this particular egg chair adds even more sensual stimulation to the mix. It’s called the Sound Egg, and, given that name, it’s exactly what you’d expect: an egg-shaped chair with a blistering A/V system inside.
The large, womb-like pod — which draws equally from Henrik Thor-Larsen’s Ovalia and Mork’s egg ship — is fitted with a ring of speakers around your head and a subwoofer behind the seat. The interior is coated with sound-isolating open cell acoustic foam. Climb in, crank it up, and you’ve got your own personal capsule for watching movies, playing games or just plain spacing out.
Like the free range chicken tent at your local farmer’s market, there are several colors and configurations of egg to choose from. All the Sound Eggs are the same size, but you can pick different shell colors and padding colors. Choose from either a 2.1 or 5.1 system. In the 5.1 configuration, the left front and right front channels are aimed directly at your ears, the rear channels are behind your head on either side, and the center channel speaker is over your head and forward a little, just inside the lip of the opening. Each Sound Egg comes with a 110-watt amp, which is more than enough power to cook your head however you’d like — scrambled, fried, or over easy.
For the absolute ultimate in escapism, you can add a swivel-mounted arm for an HDTV. Climb in, swing the screen in front of your face, and you’re in the zone.
I tested the 5.1 system, listening to a variety of stereo and surround sources. The Sound Egg’s speakers have a really satisfying punch, not that far from a powerful, extremely well-tuned car audio system. The secret seems to be the proximity of the drivers as well as sound-dampening padding lining the inside of the egg. Nothing bounces around, so the sound stays tight and never gets flabby. The padding also mellows out the highest frequencies, so you can turn up the volume a little more than you normally would without aggravating your ears.
Perhaps best of all, the padding creates a heavily isolated environment. When you’re inside the Egg, you’re in your own space, visually and acoustically. You can’t hear much of what’s happening out there in the big scary world. And when you’re playing a game or watching a movie, the padding keeps your soundtrack from leaking out. It’s surprising how much louder it is on the inside than on the outside.
Back in the 70’s, your dad climbed into his egg chair when he wanted to zone out to his Floyd records. Now you can keep the legacy alive by climbing into one of these and watching the remastered DVD of The Wall with the volume cranked up to brick-smashing levels.
WIRED Your own portable happy place. Ultimately configurable: choose between 5.1 or 2.1, pick your own color combo, and add an HDTV mount or a padded seat. Fiberglass body is sturdy. Gold speaker connectors are on the back and out of the way.
TIRED Surround speakers require a whole mess of cables, so once you hook it up, you won’t want to move it. Built for one, so all trips are solo.
Designer Henrik Thor-Larsen sitting in one of his Ovalia chairs. The Sound Egg echoes his 1968 design.
Top photo by Jon Snyder/Wired