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Shinola, the Detroit-based industrial design and manufacturing company named after the long defunct shoe-polish company, has partnered with Barefoot Sound, the Portland, Oregon-based maker of high-end professional studio monitors, to create its first Bluetooth speaker.

The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers, designed by Thomas Barefoot, CTO and co-founder of Barefoot Sound, are a “completely reengineered” version of Shinola’s previous Bookshelf Speakers and mark Barefoot’s entry into the consumer market.

The speakers launch Thursday, July 12 and will sell for $1,500/pair.

Assembled and tested in Portland, Oregon at the Barefoot Sound factory, the two-way speakers support Bluetooth/aptX streaming plus hard-wire hookups via 3.5 mm minijack or RCA analog inputs and S/PDIF or USB Type-C digital inputs.

The system’s onboard Class D amplifier is rated to deliver 2 x 100 watts RMS. Each speaker mates a 1-inch "dual ring radiator" tweeter — the same one Barefoot uses in its Footprint01 pro monitors, which cost $3,745 a pair — with a 6.5-inch woofer featuring a custom high-excursion surround, 33-ounce ferrite magnet, and cast metal basket. Everything is housed in a slot-loaded composite cabinet measuring 12 x 8 x 9 (HxWxD) inches and hand-finished in black or natural oak with a removable magnetic grille.

Frequency response (acoustic) is rated as 48 Hz-22 kHz ±3 dB.

“We couldn’t think of a better partner to help re-launch our bookshelf speakers,” said Shinola’s CEO, Tom Lewand. “Thomas Barefoot’s know-how and reputation in the pro-audio world married with our commitment to quality and our design ethos has produced a stunning speaker system.”

“Working with Shinola has been an amazing experience,” said Thomas Barefoot. “I grew up in Pittsburgh which has a similar riches-to-rust story as Detroit. Creating U.S. jobs while building incredible products is Barefoot Sound’s mission. I can’t think of a better way to enter the consumer space than partnering with a company that so deeply shares our core values. I’m very excited about this collaboration and bringing studio level sound to a wider audience with this new bookshelf speaker.”

For background on Barefoot Sound, visit barefootsound.com.

For more information on the Shinola Bookshelf speakers, visit shinola.com.