iLounge

XtremeMac Luna SST

By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Category: Speakers - Clock Radios, Speakers - iPhone Shielded

XtremeMac's original Luna was one of the very best alarm clocks ever designed for the iPod, but a corporate shakeup at the company effectively scuttled its official Luna sequel, and a smaller, portable follow-up called Luna Voyager was nice enough but not particularly powerful or innovative. Now XtremeMac is back with Luna SST ($130), which borrows an idea that iHome tried a few years ago with certain of its early iPod alarm clocks: a detachable speaker. Luna SST is shipped by default with a tiny telephone cord connecting the base dock, clock, and speaker to a satellite speaker unit, but you can flip the system over, connect a longer cable -- not the most efficient design -- and detach the speaker to place it someplace else for a wider stereo image or sound on the other side of a bed. The dual-alarm system doesn't include its own backup batteries, so you'll need to pop them into the compartment on the bottom, but it does have a bright red clock face, an FM radio, and simple controls. A remote and international wall blades are included; the system arrived covered in stickers to protect its ultra-glossy surfaces, oddly with a prototype reference on the bottom. We'll have to wait and see whether it makes it into orbit.