Pump up the volume! This month's 1 Hour Design Challenge was a hit! From fur-balls to rockets, we asked Core readers to design the next "Kick-Ass Speaker." Our guest judge, speaker-design guru Kurt Solland of Harman Consumer Group offered his professional opinion this round (see his thoughts after the jump) and threw in a set of Spyro Speakers as a prize!

We're thrilled to have him on board and congratulate all the winners. Be sure to check out the boards for a look at all the entries.

First Prize: Peel Speaker by Eric Nichols (above)

Second Prize: Something for Fun (previously known as 900MHz Wireless Speakers)

Third Prize: 1hrdc

Special Mention "Ass-Kicker" Prize: Speakertron

click through to see moreStraight from Kurt...

The Peel Speaker I loved the use of negative space giving the speaker a light and airy feel. The cord management contributing to the negative space was very clever. This is a speaker [that could go] anywhere in the house and also be used as a sculpture.

Something for Fun (previously known as 900MHz Wireless Speakers) ...Clever thinking on this one. With more design time and engineering, these "bud" speakers could be detailed into a possible marketable idea. The concept of flexibility and portability within your environment is what consumers are asking for.

1hrdc ...Visually I like the simplicity of these speakers, however acoustically it would be challenging. Since there is zero internal volume of these speakers, the only way to emit any decent sound level would be to utilize a compression driver to make it a "horn". This could be price sensitive marketing wise since compression drivers are expensive and need to be used next to a subwoofer for low frequencies.

Speakertron This is a realistic concept; I see this stuff all the time in LA. You know...50 foot flying robots blurting out "Speakertron"...