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While the iPod currently rules the mobile music arena with its stylish appearance, storage capacity and a hefty dose of street cred, it is hardly the most convenient way to listen to music in the home.  It hasn't taken long for products to appear that have been designed to help in this respect.  With its long association with Apple, it is not surprising that Kensington is one such company.  One solution that Kensington is offering to enhance the iPod experience in the home is its SX2000 Speaker unit which requires its own mains power source.

Tastefully coloured milky white (what else would you expect with an iPod accessory), this is a flat-panel speaker that adopts a simplistic design that should not look out of place in most modern room settings.  The unit's dimensions are 16.2 x 7.2 x 3.9 inches (W x H x D) which make it more of a static rather than mobile device.  This speaker system is based on NXT SurfaceSound bi-directional technology that delivers sound from both the front and rear of the speaker unit. 

See also: iPod docking stations

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While you can definitely hear stereo output from both the front and rear of the panel, it is hardly going to appeal to the hi-fi enthusiast and it is not really being marketed as such.  Instead this is a product that has been designed for those who put appearance over substance and are casual listeners who wants to enhance access to their collection of music files stored on their mobile device. In that respect this product is fine and capable of producing a reasonable performance.

Sitting on a small extension platform to the left of the speaker panel is a docking unit for the iPod.  By attaching your iPod to this docking socket, the SX2000 will take over the role of providing speaker output and double as a recharging station for your mobile device.  The docking unit conforms to the Apple Universal Dock standard and comes with a couple of Dock adapters to ensure a good connection for the various types of iPod.  Apple iPod Shuffle users, however, will need to purchase an addition device to facilitate a connection.  Situated just in front of the docking socket are buttons to turn power on/off and adjust the volume level.

Although the SX2000 has been designed with the iPod specifically in mind, it is not restricted to this particular purveyor of mobile music.  At the rear of the unit, right next to the power input socket, is a mini-jack socket that can be used to attach any MP3 player via its headphone socket - however you will have to provide the linking lead.  In the same way you can link the SX2000 to a hi-fi system (possible but hardly a likely occurrence for the enthusiast) or, more likely, your computer.

The SX2000 has been priced at £99.99 which does seem a little high for what you actual get.  It is more pleasing to the eye than to the ears and will face competition from other products.  Having said that, I'm sure this speaker system will appeal to a certain section of the iPod fraternity.

http://www.nxtsound.com/index.php?id=566&MP=523-631