This Panasonic rug with a 6.1 sound system inside really ties the room together

This Panasonic rug with a 6.1 sound system inside really ties the room together
This Panasonic rug with a 6.1 sound system inside really ties the room together

There are some things you expect to find in a rug - crumbs, coffee stains, stray Lego pieces - but a complete 6.1 surround system is not one of them.

But that's what Panasonic unveiled this year at IFA 2015, a rug that doubles up as an audio system and TechRadar was given a demo. Here's our feet on impressions...

The speaker system looks just like, well, a massive rug. The particular one we trod on was a very comfortable black shag, with the speakers sewn into the corners - it really tied the room together.

Alongside the rug speakers is a normal 2.1 speaker setup which sits under the television and acts pretty much as separate system.

PAnasonic rug

The idea of the rug speakers are that you don't have to have all of them on at once, it really depends on who is in the room.

I tried them all, with me sitting on the sofa in the centre, and it sounded pretty impressive. if your chair is closer to one of the edges of the speaker system then you can turn just that speaker on and have it work alongside the 2.1 setup.

Panasonic rug

Or you can just have the individual speaker on, if you want to watch a movie and there is someone in the same room trying to read a book.

The rug speaker system isn't going to impress true audio aficionados but it is an interesting concept and one that I can see being used in homes where space is an issue or for those who don't want garish speakers messing up their feng shui.

Panasonic rug

That's if it's ever released - there's no word on pricing or availability.

TOPICS
Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.

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