SIGNALS

James Atkinson invented the "Little Nipper" mousetrap in 1897. Its familiar spring trap snaps shut in 1/38,000 of a second and is still the go-to method for addressing your rodent issues. Still, the trap's simple and efficient operation hasn't stopped other inventors from trying to build better mousetraps and patenting over 4,000 of them. All of which raises the question: can you invent a better Bluetooth speaker? Meet the Vamp.

If I was smarter, a lot smarter, I would have thought of the Vamp. I wasn't even smart enough to know it existed. Hats off to my friend Mitchell Zarders for pointing it out to me. I am, however, barely smart enough to appreciate a rather clever idea. All of my Bluetooth speakers, and I have a pile of them, contain a Bluetooth receiver, rechargeable battery, power amplifier, and speaker. I imagine your Bluetooth speakers are much the same. The Vamp has the same components, except for the speaker.

The clever part is that since there isn't a speaker, but instead speaker output terminals, you can hook up any speaker you want. As the Vamp website says, "transform any speaker into a portable Bluetooth speaker." That appeals me because a) the drivers in many portable Bluetooth speakers are pretty mediocre and b) I have another pile of unused but sweet-sounding bookshelf speakers. With a Vamp module, I can re-purpose any of them into wireless speakers. And if I get tired of one speaker, I can easily swap out another.

I have not gotten my hands on a Vamp yet, so I can't comment on its operation or quality. But I can safely say that 99% of the time, the limiting factor in Bluetooth speakers is the driver. By choosing my own (sweet-sounding) speaker, I am pretty confident that the Vamp can do the rest. Now, of course, I'm not going to ask the Vamp to drive a home-theater tower. Clearly, its amp won't be up to the job. But bookshelf speakers should be good to go.

Another there's another reason why I like the Vamp. It's the whole save-the-planet thing. I've recycled my fair share of consumer electronics, but I'm bothered that so much of the output of our industry goes to landfills. That's just not good. Vamp (a U.K. company) states that every month, 10,000 speakers are sent to one major U.K. recycling center alone, and Lord knows how many others go to landfills or incineration plants. Vamp lets us put those old speakers to good use. Don't have any old speakers? If you order a Vamp you can ask for a free recycled speaker. A gimmick? Sure. But I think their heart is in the right place.

The concept seems clever enough. But is the Vamp (patent pending) really a better mousetrap? I'll let you know.