Sep 4, 2013 9:00 AM

Gallery: The Mechanical Wizardry Behind the Teeny, Tiny New Jambox

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mini, jambox, jawbone, music, bluetooth, Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED
The Mini Jambox, Jawbone's latest wireless speaker, is made possible by a manufacturing approach totally different from its predecessors. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
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mini, jambox, jawbone, music, bluetooth, Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED
The Mini lives up to its name--its roughly half the size of the original Jambox. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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The original Jambox was made like a typical speaker--all the sound-making guts were sealed inside a plastic enclosure, which was then wrapped in a stamp metal piece. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
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With the Mini, there's no plastic--the outside aluminum body doubles as the wall for the sealed acoustic chamber inside. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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The shift informed all aspects of the design. Here, sketches of patterns that the designers then tried to produce using CNC milling.*Photos: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
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The new size was made possible by a shift from machine stamping to CNC milling. It allows the Mini to save precious space. The first Jambox (here on the left), required, say, 3 millimeters for the plastic box, one millimeter for space around that, another millimeter for the metal skin. With this one (on the right) "that 1.1 or 1.2 millimeter wall thickness is all you’ve got," explains designer Yves Behar. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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Here, a prototype shows a clever pinch-out foot for stabilizing the device. Ultimately, the Mini just sports two tiny rubber feet. *Photos: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
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A bottom-view of the pinch-foot that was eventually discarded (but patent-protected). *Photos: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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Since machine time is costly, the designers had to figure out how to make the speaker's signature patterns and textures as quickly as possible. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
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mini, jambox, jawbone, music, bluetooth, Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED
The result is a sharper, sturdier-feeling speaker. And one that can slip into any decent-sized pocket. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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“Putting a seal with the right amount of pressure on the inside of what essentially is your outside..." says Behar. "That’s hard to do." *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*
Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED
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Mini Jamboxes. *Photo: Alex Washburn / WIRED*

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