Flat-panel speakers are nothing new, but a new version of the tech could one day replace boomy public address systems with hidden speakers that produce easier-to-hear audio in large spaces. Under development at the University of Warwick, FFL ("flat flexible loudspeaker") speakers are actually a thin laminate made of layers of conducting and insulating material that resonate when electricity is passed through them -- the crisper, clearer audio is a result of the entire surface creating sound in phase at once, which allows it to produce highly directional audio. Since they're so thin and flexible, FFL speakers can be hidden nearly anywhere -- behind signage, in the ceiling, or even painted and hung directly on the wall. Of course, this'll all come to nothing if the sound quality isn't up to snuff, but we'll find out more when the first commercial FFL product goes on sale later this year.
[Via
PhysOrg]
posted Apr 2nd 2009 9:47PM
I wonder how many more ways we can have commercials shoved up our ass. Never gonna get another moment of peace and quiet outdoors while McDonalds is touting its new burger or Walmart is declaring war on high prices...
+1000 I'm so tired of advertising EVERYWHERE!!!
All your base are belong to us!
...or we could spy on people without using obvious bugs.
Well said.
The people behind AdBlockPlus need to start developing a brain add-on.
In the public bathroom: "Is that toilet paper playing music?"
and suddenly "this song sounds like crap" isn't off the mark...
If your toilet paper looks like that, I must say, you are more of a man than I am.
I predict advertising in textbooks. If anyone actually utilizes this idea, I will hunt you down.
Now presenting... this square of aluminum foil!
haha, thats my project leader at uni.
So he DOES do something! I stand corrected.
This is fucking awesome
Just what we need, walls that will talk to and stop unsuspecting people like Alice in Wonderland..
Couldn't this be used in gadgets? Make the entire rear surface one.
Completely agree although I'd be worried about the speaker being easily damaged if it was behind anything at all.
Pimp my ride.
You guys fell for this? Shame on you Engadget... this is an April fool's day joke from yesterday.. not sure of the original source (wasn't physorg), but it is just aluminum foil.
Notice the lack of inputs. BBL with another pic...
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9055/foilspeaker2.jpg
Actually, a few articles on this topic were published the 31st of march. Little early for an april fools :-)
I debated back and forth, but the source is the university itself, there really is a spinoff company called Warwick Audio tech, and the date on the PR is 3/31 -- all of which either makes this the best 4/1 ever, or actually real.
It's not just aluminum foil. It's thicker and it also has a circular pattern built into it. Take a look...
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/mar09/pg180209-0055.jpg
Even if this particular story is an April Fools joke, flat speaker technology really is in development.
Here's a high-res image. Whatever it is, it's not aluminum foil.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/mar09/pg180209-0055.jpg
Haha, maybe it can be used by SBASAF: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail138.html
Wireless power transmission must be an April Fools joke because it lacks inputs.
What kind of inputs do you expect? An RCA input? Normal speakers simply have speaker wire attached to them... two little copper wires easily could attach to that.
I already have flat speakers - they're made by NXT...
The big deal is bendable speakers flat speakers have been on the market for years, TDK make a range.
The reason he's holding a piece of foil and a piece of grease paper is that is was inspired him, at least read the bloody article.
That guy is saying "Hey! Who stole my sammich?!"
Funny thing is, I actually remember reading on slashdot way back like 10-12 years ago about a technology for doing this, and they were talking about consumer devices like TV's having the screen act as the speaker also.
It was right around when those little speakers you stuck to a surface like a window and plugged into USB, that used the surface as your speaker came out. they were slanging them on thinkgeek and were one of the very first products thinkgeek carried.
By the pic it looks like they rebranded aluminum foil.
new fat model heads could make engadget articles uglier
So i could do my walls, floor, and ceiling in this stuff and throw out the 7.1? Ha! That would be true surround... if they figure out a way to record for it.
advs89 @ Apr 2nd 2009 10:36PM
@crashboy: actually it would only be 7.0 because I'm assuming they have no way to play lows with this (granted, I'm no audio engineer).
Oh good... another excuse for retail stores to play high-pitched music without any lows (bass) whatsoever. I don't understand some people - playing music without lows is like washing someone's car but only washing the top half... it just doesn't make sense.
why would you wash the underside of your car?
i highly doubt that advertisers are going to care whether you can hear the bass in a spokesperson's voice as they cry out "BUY OUR PRODUCT NOW!!! ITS WHAT YOU NEED!!!"
@Spiraling Shape
To get the salt off
actually... there _are_ retail stores that play music without advertisements (Staples is one example). They play decent music (Coldplay, Five for Fighting, etc.) but they play it from what basically amounts to stock computer speakers mounted to the ceiling... It's also common in the JC Penney-esque clothing stores.
@crashboy: actually it would only be 7.0 because I'm assuming they have no way to play lows with this (granted, I'm no audio engineer).
oops... why didn't I just hit reply??
Fixed.
lol thanks...
Isn't "Flat Flexible Loudspeaker Speakers" a little redundant? I guess when I buy one, I'll have to use my PIN number when I get the required money out of the ATM machine. And then when I blog about them, I'll make sure to use CSS style sheets in my review. You think they run on AC current or DC current?
Hooray for RAS syndrome! (Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome)
That's even more evidence suggesting it's an April Fool's Joke (besides, there's no way those pictures of that English guy could be serious)
I'm currently a physics student at Warwick and they're not really the sort of people to make April Fools jokes..
http://www.warwickaudiotech.com/
Plus it's been in development for a while. Kind of funny saying "hur hur, it's a sheet of aluminium foil" - what were you expecting from a speaker that's 0.2mm thick? It's thin, it's going to be a sheet of something - foil is better than paper!
I could see theme parks being interested in this. With as many times I've been to Disney or Six Flags I've gotten into a habit of playing "where are they hiding those speakers now?"
Now Mr. Six can wear them while he's harassing you for money.
The next iPod Shuffle will use this instead of earbuds, because people are tired of headphones that burn out or fall out. The new model will look like a bluetooth headset.
I think they're missing their penny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8fbnShPcw
First of all, this is not new. This wafer-thin speaker technology has been in the news before. Also, there's another similar tech which attaches a block to a wall causing the wall to become a speaker (as long as the conditions are correct). Unfortunately, due to the physics, the best sound reproduction comes from the smallest point - not a large surface. That's why the best speaker systems have small speakers all over and large base units tucked away in a corner. Accurate mid to high tones come best from small speakers.
SIZE is not what matters...... many high end speaker makers, like Quad, Martin Logan and Sound Labs (FTW!) make full range speakers out of 1 large panel (the Sound Lab A1's, for example, are 8ft tall, about 4 ft wide), and they play plenty high in frequency.
First off all this is a different device than what you're talking about. Unlike earlier versions where the sound came from the smallest point, with this the sound emanates from the entire surface area uniformly. You would know that if you actually bothered to read the article.
http://dvice.com/galleries/lsffl/wallline.gif
FAIL!
April fools joke or not, what is described here is a basic electrostatic speaker. This technology has existed since the mid 1950's! I once made some out of anti-static foam and some saran wrap. No big deal. Google "Quad" or "Martin-Logan" for more info.
Seems history does repeat!
That may be the case, but how many speakers have you seen that are actually flat?
That's like saying "OMG, Ford have released another car. Holy crap it's got an ENGINE inside it!". Why reinvent the wheel when you can make it better?
ESL's are affected by magnetic fields (induced or otherwise), these aren't - which means you won't get that "dut dut dut.. dut dut dut" sound if your mobile goes off near them. The one critical difference is that these speakers don't use magnetic fields in the first place. Instead of messing around with magnets to move a cone, they simply use an electric field to flex the surface hence vibrating and making the sound. Plus, they've (in theory) massively increased the efficiency of the speakers.
But yeah, it's a bit stupid just saying "oh no, these are just ESL's".
I remember this technology from over 20 years ago from speakermakers: Quad, Acoustat, Magnepan and Martin-Logan. What's new about this technology? Is it really cheap? The article doesn't tell us, instead it seems to imply that it's simply new which just isn't true. The author also apparently just accepts the idea that "highly direction sound" is a good thing. Since this implies that sound volume and clarity diminishes rapidly off-axis that would probably make this technology a very poor choice for PA systems where the goal is that sound volume and clarity will be consistent across a broad angle from the speaker. In general, this seems like a teaser that tells us that something interesting has happened and then really doesn't make any real effort to tell us what it is. It does sound like a reissued press release that wasn't really critically considered. As Engadget produces more and more of these kinds of "articles" it becomes less and less valuable and I begin to look elsewhere for meaningful news.
Sigh, use your initiative and go to their website.
"I remember this technology from over 20 years ago from speakermakers: Quad, Acoustat, Magnepan and Martin-Logan. What's new about this technology?"
Care to back up your research? What's new? Well it appears it's more likely to go commercial rather than flop in the RnD department.
"Is it really cheap? The article doesn't tell us, instead it seems to imply that it's simply new which just isn't true."
If you look on their website, they state that it lends itself well to large scale manufacturing - they don't need to worry about magnets for a start. It's just a laminate that they pulse an electric field through. That also means it's a lot cheaper and (coincidentally) more efficient too (less W for more dB).
"The author also apparently just accepts the idea that "highly direction sound" is a good thing. Since this implies that sound volume and clarity diminishes rapidly off-axis that would probably make this technology a very poor choice for PA systems where the goal is that sound volume and clarity will be consistent across a broad angle from the speaker."
Here i agree with you, however, the design is literally very flexible. All you'd need to do is make a convex mirror type shape and it would do the job fine. What their argument is, is that conventional speakers create a pretty muddled "sound-scape" which FFL's attempt to rectify. For somewhere like a lecture hall you'd just need lots of panels (and it's comparatively cheap, remember) to do the job for you.
"In general, this seems like a teaser that tells us that something interesting has happened and then really doesn't make any real effort to tell us what it is. It does sound like a reissued press release that wasn't really critically considered. As Engadget produces more and more of these kinds of "articles" it becomes less and less valuable and I begin to look elsewhere for meaningful news."
That's more Engadget's fault than Warwick Audio's. Would you rather see article after article of smart phone, Apple or PDA news? Personally the only stories i click on these days are the ones that look vaguely interesting and aren't just "a new phone" or "ooh look, another new phone". That's not to say they're not valid stories, but this is a technology blog and this is most definitely technology - and interesting too.
Just imagine car roofs with this, and Apple/HP/Dell incorporating this into it's next laptop/desktop. It's going to make things even smaller and cooler, and probably still sound better than the crap speakers we get on most laptop these days. I'm all for it.
Reminded me of The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy when the Vogons addressed the whole earth via that awesome speaking system.
Absolutely amazing.
put it in the notebook (behind the LCD, i hope it does not matter), and you are my favorites - direct crisp sound without weight and place, it is exactly what i want.
That already exists. It is called NXT SoundVU. There are laptops with the whole screen as seperate left and right speakers and hitachi have just released a photoframe with this built in.
Imagine wrapping your tuna fish sandwich in this stuff and it speaks to you.
Now, you'll never know whether or not the voices are coming from inside your head or "out in the world"...
***small voice*** "Buy more"... "Spend more"... "Those in power are only looking out for your best interests"..."blah,blah,blah-puppy!"
Wow!! this is amazing stuff
Must be cool to put a porn movie sound loop on a sheat of paper, do your homework on it and start it when its in the teacher desk!
pfffff... what im talking about, I finished school 13 years ago.
They will begin to build tin foil hats quietly saying subliminal messages to the wearer.
It sounds like a description of either an electrostatic speaker (mylar film with a conductive coating)
or more likely a Magnepan (mylar with thin wire embedded). Both have a magnet in front of (and/or behind) the mylar. Really nice speakers. Really fast and resolving (you haven't heard detail in any cone speaker, if you think you have, you're kidding yourself. Yeah, they are that good. You don't need double blind or long periods to tell either, its orders of *magnitude* better than anything at Best Buy or a Bose speaker, etc.). I would imagine that these aren't quite so faithful, but from the article they sound like (no pun intended) they are infringing on patents held by Quad, Martin Logan , Magenepan et al.
Via Physorg eh? Way to learn how to hyperlink....
No, this is just annoying.
But if you do the reverse and input sound and take the output signal. We would have super stealth microphones... not sure I would want that.
Haha, that's my old project supervisor in the photo. He's Dr. Duncan Billson at the University of Warwick School of Engineering, link to his profile is here:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/people/profile/?tag=drb