Do you dream about speakers? Do you lie awake at night, consumed with desire for a new subwoofer? Do you stare out your office window, unable to concentrate because you cannot bear to be separated from your B&Ws? I doubt it. Only one thing inspires this intensity of lust: the automobile.

Love of the car burns strong in the souls of North Americans. We should not be surprised, then, to discover a speaker line that looks as if it were conceived by Corvette creator Harley Earl. Every model in Earthquake Sound’s Platine Noiree line carries the rakish angles that made cars of the 1950s and ’60s so appealing. And every one is bathed in two-tone metallic lacquer sure to seduce car collectors. Platine noir is French for “black platinum,” but Earthquake’s practice of tacking one or two e’s and an accent aigu onto noir at random detracts from the name’s intended continental allure. (Click image to enlarge)

The automotive look seems appropriate for Earthquake, a company known for robust car audio woofers. In fact, certain Platine Noiree speakers use technology originally developed for car audio—the Symmetrically Loaded Passive Radiator, which Earthquake shortens to SLAPS. A passive radiator is a speaker minus the magnet and coil that make the speaker cone move. The air pushed into the speaker cabinet by the other speaker drivers vibrates the passive radiator, reinforcing the speakers’ sound. SLAPS refines the ordinary passive radiator design so that the front and back are identical, which Earthquake says produces less distortion and clearer sound.

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