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Helium: The first supercapacitor-powered portable speaker
$42,495 raised
of $35,000 goal
Dec 19
Funded on121%
funded9,484
pledges
Our Helium speakers charge in five minutes, play for six hours at full volume, and sound awesome.
As Featured On
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Electronics today are all kind of the same. They're built by huge corporations. They're made from plastic, and they run on batteries that fail in just a few years. They're designed to be sold at big-box retailers. Until now, we've all been stuck buying electronics that are designed around someone else's bottom line.
At Blueshift, we're designing electronics to fit your life. Devices that last, that sound great, and that charge in minutes - so they're always ready to go.
Our Helium speakers work anywhere - from your living room to your porch, and from your next barbecue to your next beach trip. They're Bluetooth enabled, so you can stream music wirelessly from most smartphones and many other devices. It's super easy to connect, and the speaker will play audio from music, video, games, or the web. All speakers also include a 3.5mm input.
Blueshift speakers are powered by supercapacitors - a technology that's changing how we think about energy storage. They can charge very quickly, but are also super durable - they can be charged more than half a million times.
These speakers are open-source hardware. We want to push the world toward longer-lasting, more sustainable products. Supercapacitors are a technology that can help - so we're making our ideas available to anyone who wants to build awesome products.
We're here to change how we design, build, and distribute electronics. By rethinking the entire model, we've created some awesome speakers - but we're just getting started. Blueshift is proving that we can build innovative, ethical electronics in Portland - and sell them at fair prices. Your pledge will help make it happen.
Product Specifications
The Helium is the first supercapacitor-powered speaker. They charge in five minutes, play for six hours on a charge, and sound awesome. They're designed to be upgraded and repaired - these are portable wireless speakers built to last a lifetime.
All or our speakers use a super efficient 4" full-range driver. Full-range means that all frequencies are reproduced by the same cone. On top of super precise imaging, full-range drivers don't need a crossover - so our speakers are much louder than they could be using a two - or three way design. By using a larger, more efficient speaker, our products are an order of magnitude more efficient than most portable speakers - which is what allows our systems to play for a minimum of 6 hours.
Our cabinets are designed around physics, not what you can fit in your pocket. The cabinet is hand built from bamboo in Portland, Oregon. We chose bamboo for two reasons: it's highly renewable, and it's also a great material acoustically, because it's super rigid. We modeled and tested a variety of shapes and sizes, before settling on a six liter (per driver) ported enclosure tuned to 105 Hz - a great compromise between frequency response and portability.
In short, our speakers sound really great - they have an even, natural response that works well with any kind of music. They produce satisfying bass, and a flatter response than any tiny portable speaker ever could.
The Copper series features the same great sound and the same great look as the Helium - but in a fully-wired configuration. This means that the Copper speakers must be physically plugged into a power source AND an audio source to play. A great speaker for the home, at a more affortable price. Available in stereo and mono.
NOTE Both the Helium and Copper series speakers include removable grills and power adapters
Premiums & Pledge Levels
 | Blueshift Builder ($1) We appreciate any contribution you can make! Thank you! |
 | Capacitizer ($180) The Capacitizer is a DIY kit for building a capacitor-powered portable wireless speaker. Build your own enclosure for a high-efficiency driver, OR convert an existing high-efficiency passive speaker. Includes the assembled PCB, four 350F supercapacitors, a power supply for charging, hardware, and instructions. Tools and know-how required! Driver not included. |
 | Copper ($300-$400) The Copper is a wired, powered speaker. It sounds great, and it looks killer - but it does have to be plugged into both power and an audio source. Includes power supply and 3.5mm cable - attach any device with a standard headphone audio output. Available in mono ($300) or stereo ($400). Stereo shown in image. |
The Helium Series
Helium speakers are available in either Stereo or Mono in every production run. PILOT products are a pilot production run that will be built almost entirely in our shop. EARLY products will be part of a larger run and will be delivered after the PILOT. Regular production will follow.
 | PILOT: Helium ($350-$500) The Helium is a capacitor-powered, portable wireless speaker. It charges in five minutes, plays for six hours at full volume, and sounds awesome. Includes Bluetooth receiver with Apt-X and AAC codecs, Fostex FE 126 driver, bamboo cabinet, and wall adapter. Built to last in Portland, OR. This is a PILOT product: it will be built in our shop in Portland, and delivered before other pledges. Available in mono ($350) or stereo ($500). Limited to the first 25 backers. Mono shown in image. |
| EARLY: Helium ($400-$550) Early run. Choose mono or upgrade to stereo. |
| Helium ($450-$600) The Helium is a capacitor-powered, portable wireless speaker. It charges in five minutes, plays for six hours at full volume, and sounds awesome. Includes Bluetooth receiver with Apt-X and AAC codecs, Fostex FE 126 driver, bamboo cabinet, and wall adapter. Built to last in Portland, OR. Available in mono ($450) or stereo ($600). Mono shown in image. |
 | Double Down ($850) A Helium Stereo speaker AND a Helium Mono for the ultimate listening experience. |
 | Custom Project ($5,000) Let's build something awesome! This entitles you to a Custom Project from Blueshift. We'll talk and figure out an idea – then spend a full day designing it and two full days building. Includes up to $1500 in parts – this could be something pretty cool. I want one... |
*The PILOT products are truly a pilot production run. We will be doing almost all work in-house and dialing in our production plan before we start contracting out work. The EARLY products will be part of a larger run that will have more work done out-of-house, including PCB assembly and bamboo cutting. We are 100% committed to shipping only products that look great and work perfectly. That said, there will likely be small changes and revisions from batch to batch.
Manufacturing Plan
These speakers will all be built in Portland, OR.
Blueshift has prototyping shop that can build the bamboo cabinets, PCBs, and perform final assembly. The PILOT rewards you can buy today will be 90% built in our shop.
PCBs fabrication will be outsourced, and PCB assembly will be outsourced after the pilot run. We will also contract out cutting the bamboo panels finger joints to a larger shop in Portland.
We have a supply chain established for all the components and are ready to start building the pilot run as soon as we are funded.
Risks & Challenges
Read More...https://www.crowdsupply.com/blueshift/helium#utm_source=www.blueshiftPDX.com
BlueShift Speaker - Our Helium speakers charge in five minutes, play for six hours at full volume, and sound awesome
- Helium: The first supercapacitor-powered portable speaker | Crowd Supply
- Blueshift: open-source portable sound
- Blog — Blueshift: open-source portable sound
- All Posts | OPEN-SOURCE — Blueshift: open-source portable sound
- Releases · blueshiftPDX/Helium · GitHub
- About — Blueshift: open-source portable sound
- Contact — Blueshift: open-source portable sound
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