Blue room s alien minipods

Vincent--While I can't comment on their sonic abilities in detail, I did hear the minipods at 2001 CES. After room upon room of Chinese-death-chant drum whacks (what are they supposed to sound like in real life, anyway?), the minipods were playing real music over a --hold your breath-- Japanese receiver! Guess what? It sounded great! The pods were pumpin' rock, pop and other "non-audiophile approved" tunes. They had a forward presentation (due to the receiver?), with good mid-bass. The setup did not allow for much in the way of critical listening. This was due to the fact that they were displaying about a gazillion colors of the pods on a long table with one pair of the dizzying array actually playing. Given the setup, the sound was better than you might expect. Because they weren't afraid to play real music, I'd say the speakers will make good sound in real music systems. When their add-on sub was playing, the bass was a bit deeper and seemed alot tighter. Overall, I think if you like the design and look, you could probably do much worse. Knowing that, you also could look on the used market and maybe get speakers that aspire to "higher-end" standards--if that's what you are after. Anywho, the pods are unique looking and very cool.

These were designed and I think also manufactured by B&W ??

Yes they did make them, one of the Nautilus if I remember. They released the huge shells around the same time as well I think. But the retail prices are ridiculously higher (4000$+ for a pair or something similar).

Any advice on what to power these little toys with?

I just ran across the Pods in LA earlier this week but did not have time to audition them, will try next week. The spec sheet stated 90db @ 1 watt @ 4ohms, so they should be easy to push if the impedence is fairly level. The cabinet was made of plastic and they seemed very light, around 5 lbs each I would guess. I thought that they were cheesy (plastic), but cute looking.