Music flows naturally as a part of life. Our goal was to make it an unobtrusive presence in the environment. With Relit, both music and light flow from a single pillar that does not look like a speaker, helping to create a more pleasing space.
Revolutionary
We wanted to give equal prominence to both sound and light so that people can relax and enjoy music better at night. By carefully laying out the light source and the sound source, we have made it possible to express the idea of light as sound made visible.
Well-Made
Viewed from the front, most of the body is covered with a muted leather surface, bracketed by metallic fittings at the ends. The layout of parts and the controlled use of materials conveys a sense of quality that harmonizes with most interiors.
Minimal
We gave the Relit system the slimmest design possible without interfering with sound quality. And because the basic functions of the system can be accessed through a smartphone app, its physical controls can be located on the rear, along with the light source and sound source, for a minimal design with the fewest elements possible.
Masaharu Ono
Designer
Yamaha Design Laboratory
Visualizing sound as light.
Relit is a new audio system that combines a speaker with lighting. We unified sound and light into one object, making everyday life more beautiful in the process.
We started the design process by asking the question: How will Relit’s design help music flow naturally through daily life? As much as we want everyone to enjoy music, we can’t ask them to give up a lot of space for it, so we decided to package Relit into a single slim column that would fit easily into the corner of a room, where it would be out of the way. We imagined it being used in the evening, when people want to relax by listening to music. That gave us the idea of combining indirect lighting with indirect sound that would fill the room.
The way lighting is expressed became the main characteristic of Relit’s design. On Relit, the speakers that are the sound source are on the same level as the LEDs that are the light source, both facing the back. Both sound and light fire into the walls and reflect off them to fill the room and envelop the people in it. Our goal with the design was to create the impression that the light is the sound made visible. The metallic grillwork that protects the speakers also shades the light to cast an evocative shadow.
The compact midrange speaker in the cap also includes a light source that casts a faint light from that position. This shines like the flame on a candle, creating a focal point in a dark environment and giving the eye a place to rest when one is relaxing.
Building on the theme of light as sound made visible, we started by imbuing the space with a light that is felt as part of the environment, but the design of Relit was made complete when we added a light as something to look at.
