Comments on: These Speakers Sound Great. And They’re…Invisible!

By: La Pantalla de tu Computadora como Bocina.. » Blog de Taller de Computo & Servicom

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:28:40 +0000

[...] se pierde el sentido de “movilidad absoluta” al tener que cargar con más aparatos. Harry McCracken piensa que Emo Labs podrían estar en el camino correcto con el desarrollo de sus “Bocinas [...]

By: Emo Labs’ “Invisible Speakers” | Technologizer

Emo Labs’ “Invisible Speakers” | Technologizer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:03:24 +0000

[...] all: News Back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, I got a preview of Emo Labs’ technology for building nice-sounding speakers into the bezels of HDTVs (and, eventually, notebooks, phones, picture frames, and other devices), providing a high-quality [...]

By: LOL

LOL — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:16:34 +0000

EMO TECHNOLOGY ROFL

By: Smith

Smith — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:00:13 +0000

Those speakers sound amazing. Wouldn’t mind some external to plug into my computer, or a way to wifi them to multiple devices.

By: Dave birchall

Dave birchall — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:32:19 +0000

This device i assume need a specialised driver?, however its a great possbility to use the method as a part of a secondary glazing unit or a transparancy decor panel of some kind.
great idea

By: Richard Pearce

Richard Pearce — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:31:13 +0000

I found this article very interesting since back in 1994, Innovative Transducers Inc., a manufacturer of geophysical sensors since sold to the French, created several transducers that used a similar curved shaping of a constrained Piezo Polymer sheet to generate sound for use in sub-bottom marine geophysical imaging. This micro motor concept is similar in nature however the piezo polymer film changed length as opposed to pulling on the edges of a passive polymer film. ITI was approached by Draper Labs and asked to solve a rather unigue problem of creating spatial arrays of very low mass primarily as receivers. Several transducers of a gaussian shape utilizing a second order differential curvature approach were built for use in spacial arrays as detection devices. There were quite a few iterations of this concept to include devices that acted as both transmitters and recievers. Had there been a market at that time, it would have been very simple to create panels that also were optically transparent using a gold sputter technique to apply “invisible” electrodes to the polymer film. The manufacturer of the Piezo Polymer film at the time also built “talking” mylar baloons but unfortunately, they were rather expensive novelties and never really took off.

By: Manish jain

Manish jain — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:52:52 +0000

for driving these motors they will have to change the whole audio
amplification system or the approch can be to use the same signal as
available and process it to get the needed drive signal for motors also
the power specs (in terms of comsumed electrical power) can be a good
factor to consider/promote the things further

By: cnpower

cnpower — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:21:08 +0000

plane speaker? are they same one?
many years ago has. and another wonderful spotlight speaker with narrow radiation angle.

By: The Taxciter

The Taxciter — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:48:39 +0000

I agree with Robert Taylor. It would take unimaginable materials tech and transducer (or “motor” in this case) control to get a sheet of anything to make hi-fi sound when moved about the edges. So this would seem at best a mid- to low-fi device. We’ll see. The good news is that most of the market doesn’t care much about realistic sound reproduction. Witness the iPod, the mp3 format, and the car as a listening room.

By: Robert Taylor

Robert Taylor — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:08:08 +0000

“End result: Audio quality you associate with bulky speakers without the bulk.”
I think not, designers of proper loudspeakers go to great lengths to engineer stiff cones which do not generate spurious signals; cone excursions are closely damped by low impedance amplifier ouputs so that the cone stops when the signal stops; cone flexure is minimised and the cone suspension also damps any vibrations in the cone itself. This present speaker design works by flexing the membrane so I would not anticipate tight control of a wobbling sheet of plastic! I do not know how the ‘motors’ work but they can’t be as direct as a speech coil in a normal loudspeaker. I assume that back movements of the membrane are vented at the sides – this lack of a cabinet or baffle will severely limit bass response as the back radiation cancels the front at low frequencies.
Finally, how will this membrane stand up to cleaning when Joe public starts wiping a greasy hand across it trying to remove coughed out coffee and bits of doughnut?