I love beautiful looking things, hey that’s half the reason I religiously buy Apple products.To me industrial design is important and in many cases I have been guilty of buying gadgets and peripherals that are more beautiful than practical.

This was the case when I bought my first set of LaCie speakers, designed by Neil Poulton. I’ve always loved the minimal styling of Poulton’s work, who’s design sensibility is very complimentary to that of Jonny Ives’ masterpieces. For me, they were the first set of computer speakers that looked as beautiful as the Apple hardware that I was going to use them with. They looked great, but the sound quality didn’t match their good looks. So when I was asked to review the LaCie Sound2 Speakers, I didn’t have high expectations.

The LaCie Sound2 Speakers are a collaboration between LaCie, designer Neil Poulton and Cabasse, who as the packaging says are one of the most respected hi-fi sound-system companies in the world. On first listen, I have to say the collaboration have yielded some great results.

Although the proof of the pudding is going to come in how they sound, lets start with how they look. Unboxing the speakers revealed a few surprises. On first impression, they look slick, minimal and like nothing more than big white speaker cone. Although these aren’t designed specifically for the Mac, they are very complimentary to any of the recent Macbook or iMac range.

Another surprise is the size of the speakers. You don’t really get an impression of the scale from the external packaging, but when you open the box you are immediately struck with how large the speakers actually are. The external casing is are made from a good quality white gloss plastic, similar to that of white plastic MacBooks, with black mesh fabric covering the entire face of the 20 cm wide speaker face. The speakers have all the connections you’ve come to expect. The volume is controlled on the back of the master speaker that also has power, line-in, and USB connections keeping the front of the speaker clean and clear of any switches unsightly knobs.

The speakers can be used in two ways. Firstly plugged into a Mac or PC through the USB cable or via an audio line in which requires the use of a AC adaptor which is included along with a variety of international adaptors. To turn the speaker on and control the volume requires you to rotate a swivel switch at the back of the main speaker unit. The documentation points out the switch but does not really explain how the to use it. After a few minutes of poking and prodding, I finally worked it out, but it had me wondering how practical this would be if I had to turn these on and off on a daily basis. The swivel switch also doubles as a clever way to keep your cables tidy by wrapping the excess cable around it.

The setup could not be easier. There is no software to install, all you need to do is plug in the USB, connect one speaker to another and a LaCie option becomes available in the Sound panel of your Mac’s System preferences. Just switch over to the new option and your ready to rock.

I tested the unit with a variety of music and movies on a Macbook and iMac via the USB as well as an iPhone via the audio line in option. The good news is that 30W speakers do seem to be of reasonable quality and is quite an improvement over the MacBook and iMac speakers. In all cases the class D digital amplifier offered a decent amount of bass and there is minimal amount of distortion when they were cranked up to full. Saying that though, even at it’s loudest setting, it’s not ear blisteringly loud. The sound from the iPhone was also good, but did not seem to sound as clear as it did when used through the USB connection.

It’s clear that LaCie care about the way their products look and I can say in this case that these look as good as they sound. If you can afford the $150 price tag (can be had on the street for about $120) and are in the market for speakers that make statement then I’d recommend these. If you’re a die hard audiophile or have limited amount of desk space and need something that are easily portable, then I would avoid these.