That glorious orange finish. Warm metal, glowing-coal energy and absolutely no chance of losing it on a dark campsite table.
NIX STORIES · LIFE & TECH · SOUND OUTSIDEBONFIRE
ORIGINAL NIX PHOTOGRAPH · FLICKR ↗SCROLL TO TURN IT UP ↓BONFIRE
BOOMER.
THE RUGGED LITTLE SPEAKER THAT TURNED FRESH AIR INTO A LISTENING ROOM.
4 SEPTEMBER 2026 · 7 MIN READNOT JUST ANOTHER SPEAKERIT ESCAPED
IT ESCAPED
THE HOUSE.
GOOD.
Some gadgets are bought for a job and quietly disappear into a cupboard. Bonfire Boomer did the opposite. It escaped the house, joined the NIX travelling circus and became part of the atmosphere wherever I stopped.
Officially, it is a Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore. In real life, it is the bright-orange thing on the campsite table making an ordinary evening feel as though someone remembered to add a soundtrack.
01 · THE NAMEBANG & OLUFSEN
BANG & OLUFSEN
CALLS IT EXPLORE.
I call it Bonfire Boomer.
A compact speaker with a voice far bigger than its footprint—and just enough swagger to earn a proper NIX nickname.
NIX LISTENING MODESWHERE SHOULD
WHERE SHOULD
BOOMER PLAY?
Choose a scene. The visual soundscape changes with it; Bonfire Boomer already knows the rest.
ACTIVE SCENEVANILLA · CHAIRS OUT · LAST LIGHTVISUAL MOOD · SOUND NOT AUTOPLAYED
NO WALLS.
NO PROBLEM.
Most speakers sound happiest with four walls helping them. The Explore feels designed for the moment the walls disappear. Its machined aluminium body is waterproof, dustproof and built to be carried, clipped down and used rather than admired from a safe distance.
Outside, the sound has room to breathe. It is warm, wide and confident without needing to shout. You do not hear a small box fighting the countryside. You hear music belonging to the space.
03 · VANILLA AFTER DARKTHIS IS WHERE
THIS IS WHERE
THE NICKNAME FITS.
Vanilla is parked. The Cadac is cooling. The chairs have found their places and the last orange light is disappearing behind the trees. Bonfire Boomer sits on the table like a glowing coal while the evening chooses its own soundtrack.
It does not dominate the moment. It finishes it.
DEPECHE MODE · UNDERWORLD · SIMPLE MINDS · DIRE STRAITS · GARY NUMAN · ORBITAL · LEFTFIELD · GAT DECOR — PASSION ·
04
THE TRAIL-SIDE TESTTORQUE RESTING.
TORQUE RESTING.
BASS MOVING.
At Cannock Chase it feels equally at home on a bench or beside Torque while tired legs negotiate the merits of another loop. It is tough enough for the outdoors and compact enough not to turn a simple stop into a transport operation.
That matters. The best equipment does not demand a ceremony. It comes along, does its job and quietly improves the moment.
THE BONFIRE BOOMER RULESOME SPEAKERS SIT ON A SHELF.
THIS ONE EARNS ITS PLACE IN THE STORY.
05 · PROPER HI-FI, SET FREETHE OLD PRINCIPLE.
THE OLD PRINCIPLE.
A BIGGER WORLD.
I still appreciate the old idea of hi-fi: a proper chair, correctly placed speakers and an album given your full attention. Bonfire Boomer does not replace that. It takes the same belief—that music deserves to sound good—and lets it follow real life outside.
Kitchen. Garden. Campervan. Trail. Campsite. Sunset. The location changes, but the principle does not: the right music, sounding right, exactly where the memory is being made.
BRIGHT.
TOUGH.
NEVER QUIETLY GREY.
Because subtlety is for people who buy grey speakers.
SOUND, EXACTLY WHERE LIFE HAPPENS.