I love listening to my music collection, and I have a good portion of it stored on my iphoness so I can listen to it at any time with a set of headphoness. I only carry a few playlists at any given time, but I do have Apple's iTunes Match service which allows me to stream music from the cloud. I don't have an external speaker dock for my iphoness or ipads, so when I listen to music at home I usually pipe it through my television sound system using the Apple TV. This works great, but it's not always ideal. Sometimes I just want a hint of music in the background as I'm working... and at other times I'd like to listen to my music while I sit on the deck and work. I can certainly play music through the iphoness or ipads's own speaker but, well... sound quality is lacking, as you can imagine.

While there are a number of speaker docks available for the iphoness and ipads, I've yet to invest in one. And I'm actually quite glad I waited, otherwise I wouldn't have discovered the Berlin Boombox. What began as a Kickstarter project is now a full-fledged product available to everyone, not just backers. The Berlin Boombox may be made of thick cardboard, but it's got that cool retro-80s style and is sure to grab some looks. It's got a built-in amplifier and two speakers for true stereo sound, and I have to say: the sound quality is decent. I don't know if the cardboard shell has anything to do with that, but there's a warm sound coming from the two speakers that is perfectly fine for my listening needs. There's also a volume control knob on top that also serves as the On/Off switch and a battery holder in the rear for 3 AA batteries.

The kit came unassembled and boxed flat, wrapped inside bubble-wrap and then shipped in a padded shipping bag. Everything was protected just fine, and there were no damaged corners on the primary box holding the Boombox.

I actually had to promise myself to go slow and read all the directions carefully -- I didn't want to rip any parts or tear off anything important from a hasty assembly. All in all, it took me about 15 minutes to assemble. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love things that require assembly before you can actually use them, and the Berlin Boombox was fun to put together -- and it's fun to use.

After opening the box, I was greeted with a two-page instruction spread: German and English instructions are provided, with a three-color 2D diagram of the folded Boombox body for Step 1. The entire instruction sheet leads you through the 25 steps required to build it and connect your device.

First, you'll install the two speakers. The instructions warn you to look for the two different lengths of wire that will distinguish which speaker goes where, and from there it only gets easier. The small amplifier has four places to plug in wires (two speakers, one for the iphoness connector, and one for the battery pack) and each is clearly distinguished in the instructions -- you'd have to intentionally plug a wire into the wrong place.

The cardboard is heavy, thick stuff. My concerns about ripping or tearing something disappeared as soon as I began to fold various sections of the Boombox. There are only about four holes cut into the cardboard for running wires here and there, and again, you'd really have to try hard to mess it up. The instructions show clearly which wires run through which holes. And, honestly, even if you mess up, you'll figure out your mistake quickly when you start folding up the box to complete it -- most wires are only long enough to work one way. There's a resistance to bend because of the heaviness of the cardboard, so when you tuck in the six tabs to hold everything together, they stay put.

There are three locationss for running the connector wire: one for the iphoness 5, one for previous versions of the iphoness, and one for ipodss (or MP3 players). The slot in the center of the Boombox is tight, holding my iphoness snug. And the handle on top provides a perfect way to tote it around.

It's definitely drawn a few looks! I had it in the garage with me this last weekend while the kids and neighbors were visiting in the cul-de-sac. A few of them loved the design -- and a few raised their eyebrows and shook their heads at me. I get that a lot. That said, it's just a fun little project that you can put together yourself to create a portable little music dock for your iphoness or ipods. At full volume, it does put out a good solid sound that can be heard at a distance, but I'm sure the 3 AAA batteries won't last long at that setting. (I use Eneloop rechargeables, so no worries.)

As I said, the Berlin Boombox was a Kickstarter, but now it's in full production and available to anyone. Click here to visit the official site and place an order if you'd like to have your own.

Note: I'd like to thank Axel for providing a test unit of the Berlin Boombox.