Speakers in Glass Houses for $1,000

Got money to blow? Why not sink your wad in a set of glass-encased speakers!

Is it a work of art, or just plain ugly? As with any painting, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For some who behold Harman/Kardon's new GLA-55 two-piece speaker system, they may wonder what's the point; others may willingly shell out the $999.99 for the set of speakers made out of... glass? That's an assumption anyway, given the press images and the play on the word "glass."

PCLaunches originally pointed the way to the product, and seems to really like the sound produced by the speaker system. "From the facets of the bass reflex enclosure and custom copper tubing, to the powerful bass of its Atlas woofers and crystal-clear highs of the CMMD tweeters, the GLA-55 is an expert in both beauty and sound," the site reads, yanking from the official product description.

According to the actual specs however, the driver technology used by the speakers is Atlas AL, and has a frequency response (-10dB) of 35 Hz - 20 kHz. Additional tech specs report of an input impendence of >5k Ohms and an input sensitivity of 250 mV for rated power. As for power consumption, each speaker sucks in 56 Watts at 1-percent THD.

Naturally, the GLA-55 two-piece speaker system is for those with a little money to blow. Consumers can sink their funds into a shiny set that can be used not only for the PC, but for the iPod or any other audio device with a 3.5 mm (1/8-inch) output.