Nothing’s budget brand CMF launched its first speakers today, and yes, they’re milk cartons.
The Speaker S and Speaker M take the peaked roof and sharp folds of a gable-top carton, and CMF says that’s exactly what it was going for.
We’re into it.
The S is the pint: small, $59, with a carabiner hook so it can hang off a backpack. The M is the quart: $109, almost twice as tall, with a handle cut right through the top like it’s about to be poured.
The carton came first
In 1915, a toy maker from Toledo, Ohio, named John Van Wormer patented a folding paper “bottle” for milk. The story goes that he dropped a glass jug one morning and had simply had enough. It took until the late 1930s for machines to make his carton cheap, and then it was everywhere. It still is.
“Gable” is an architecture word, by the way. It’s the triangle at the end of a pitched roof. So this is a speaker shaped like a carton shaped like a house. Hard not to love that.
Made to be fiddled with
Both speakers have a removable front panel and a swappable knob, and if you own a 3D printer, you can print your own. That fits. CMF stands for Colour, Material and Finish, the corner of design that decides what a thing is made of and how it feels. Here they hand some of that job to you, with the same playful streak as Teenage Engineering’s toy-like microphone.
The knob isn’t decoration either. Turn it for volume, press it to play, skip or boost the bass. No app required to make it louder.
Speaker S vs. Speaker M
| Speaker S | Speaker M | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $59 | $109 |
| Size | 13 cm tall, 334 g | 22 cm tall, 602 g |
| Sound | 45mm driver, two passive radiators, 10 W | Woofer and tweeter, 35 W |
| Carry | Carabiner hook | Built-in handle |
| Battery | Up to 18 hours | Up to 18 hours |
| Toughness | IP68 | IP68 |
IP68 means they’ll survive a dunk to 1.5 meters for half an hour. Both pair up for stereo, join other brands’ speakers in a party mode over Auracast, and play straight from a USB-C cable. Colours are turquoise, orange, white and dark grey.
What we don’t know yet
We haven’t heard them, and a carton isn’t exactly a classic acoustic shape. CMF also hasn’t said what extra knobs and panels will cost. And the pair launched under the name “Speaker S&M.” Somebody signed off on that!
Where to get them
CMF Speaker S
$59. The grab-and-go one, with a carabiner hook.
CMF Speaker M
$109. The bigger, louder one for the shelf at home.
That’s roughly half a million dollars less than this Bang & Olufsen pair, and a lot more fun.
For more everyday objects that turned into design classics, wander through our guide to the design that shaped how we live.
We’d take an orange M and park it on the kitchen counter, where it will confuse someone every single morning.
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