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 April 2nd 2009 9:47PM
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