Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
|
|
New NTi Audio M2340 Class 1 Measurement Microphone for the XL2 Analyzer |
NTi Audio announced a valuable new 1/2" measurement microphone option for its portable XL2 Audio and Acoustic Analyzer. The new M2340 model is a development of the existing M2230, and is also a Class 1 measurement microphone, optimized for a flat, free-field response. In addition, the M2340 features self-verification circuitry and consumes significantly less power than the M2230. The M2340 contains the preamplifier and is an ideal omnidirectional solution for noise monitoring. Read More
|
|
|
|
|
Focal Naim America Adds A.bsolument Modernized Radios for North America Sales Distribution |
Focal Naim America announced it will be the North American distributor of A.bsolument, a new brand of one-of-a-kind radios. Created in France in 2015, A.bsolument was the very first brand in the world to provide a modernization of vintage radios and is now the leader in this business. The company's founder, Arthur Verne, renovated radios from the 1930s to the 1980s, integrating Bluetooth as well as updated amplifiers and Focal drivers, giving modern technology a retro look. Read More
|
|
KEF Delivers First Car Audio System With Uni-Q Drive Unit Array for New Lotus Emira |
Lotus and KEF have announced a partnership to bring high-end audio into the next generation of Lotus sports cars and premium electric lifestyle vehicles, commencing with the new Lotus Emira. To amplify the Emira driving experience, KEF is using its Uni-Q technology in a 10-channel sound system, with the engineering teams creating a novel flare that acoustically blends the speaker drive units into the car interior to ensure a truly spatial sound. This is KEF’s first automotive partnership and the first time the Uni-Q technology has been used in a production car! Read More
|
|
|
|
|
Sony Introduces Work-From-Home SRS-NB10 Wireless Neckband Speaker |
Sony Electronics announced the SRS-NB10, an updated wireless neckband speaker design that allows users to seamlessly take conference calls, listen to music, and walk around in total comfort. Designed to rest on the shoulders, the Sony NB10 features a full-range speaker response for a high-quality personal sound field in a lightweight design for all-day wearing. The Sony NB10 neckband is optimized for personal sound so users can hear their virtual meetings and phone calls clearly. Read More
|
|
Edifier Unveils NeoBuds Pro Hi-Res Certified, Noise Canceling True Wireless Earbuds |
If the market research is accurate and consumers' main priority is audio quality, then it makes sense to offer the best possible options as a way to differentiate new true wireless earbud designs. That has now been attempted by Edifier, a company with access to the best available technologies and manufacturing resources. The NeoBuds Pro ANC earbuds are a new Hi-Res Audio certified TWS design, using a dual driver design, combining a dynamic driver and Knowles’ balanced armature, now available to pre-order on IndieGoGo. Read More
|
|
|
|
|
Genelec Creates G Innovation Lab to Encourage Creativity and Entrepreneurship |
Genelec is establishing the first branch of its new G Innovation Lab in Kuopio, Finland, with the goal of nurturing creativity and entrepreneurship in the Savilahti region of the country, and attracting imaginative professionals to the area. Starting with a Discovery Event Pitch Challenge in August 2021, Genelec aims to recruit a team of “start-up minded” individuals to further develop the innovative thinking that has helped inspire the company’s technical breakthroughs over the last four decades . Read More
|
|
Polish Audio Electronics Manufacturer HEM Introduces Ferrum Brand of High-End Audio Products |
HEM is a Polish audio electronics designer and manufacturer and home of Ferrum, a new high-end audio brand that just unveiled its first two products. The company benefits from an extensive history in audio electronics and an experienced engineering team that was responsible for some popular designs. Now with its own brand, Ferrum launches with HYPSOS, a hybrid power system, and OOR, a headphone amplifier for those looking for the ultimate musical bliss . Read More
|
|
|
|
|
Automotive Suppliers Continental and Elektrobit Unveil In-Vehicle Integration of Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant |
Continental and Elektrobit, a supplier of embedded and connected software products and services for the automotive industry, announced the first in-vehicle integration of Alexa Custom Assistant, a comprehensive solution that lets automakers access Alexa’s advanced AI to create their own branded, intelligent assistants. The integration uses Continental’s Cockpit High Performance Computer with software and integration services provided by Elektrobit . Read More
|
|
Guest Editorial
Mike Klasco
(Menlo Scientific)
|
Roboden Elastic Cable
A Great Idea Finally at a Reasonable Price
|
|
|
Roboden, a unique stretchable cable with great potential for microphones, earphones, and headphones, expands up to 40% longer than its "at rest" length. Originally developed a decade ago for use in robotics and industrial machinery where cables need to glide around joints that pivot or extend, Roboden stretches and shrinks to fit as needed. The consumer electronics applications range from wall wart power supplies that won’t knock over your laptop, or send your smartphone flying when the cord is tripped over, to wearables without the cable flopping when you are moving around.
A few years back I wrote for the first time about this great development with major implications for audio applications and consumer electronics in general. Developed originally by Asahi Kasei of Japan, this braided wire cable stretches and shrinks to fit as needed. For several years now, I've been carrying samples and fully-functional "stretchable" cables to every trade show I attended, and every time the reactions are exactly what manufacturers wish they would have with every single product release: I want one!
|
|
Roboden is a unique stretchable cable with numerous applications that was originally developed by Asahi Kasei of Japan, and is now manufactured by Hightek in Taiwan. |
|
Another appealing attribute of the Roboden cable construction is low microphonics, crucial in applications such as lapel (lavalier) microphones, in-ear-monitors and all types of earphones, minimizing bio-body noise reaching your ears. This will be especially appealing to cable designers because while braided sheaths look classier than extruded PVC and TPE outer insulations, woven jacketing tends to create and carry body vibration noise to the earphones.
The inside of this cable has an elastic core and wire is wound around in a spiral. A second stretchy sheath covers the entire thing. The unique Spandex/nylon fiber weave topology with a stretchy silicon “spine” effectively absorbs microphonics. The spiraled wire means there is enough inside the cable to allow it to act like a " Slinky". Sport fitness, electronic news gathering (ENG), or even a guitarist hopping around on stage could all benefit from Roboden elastic cables.
Unfortunately, the path to market has been a long haul. Japanese giant Asahi Kasei (you may know the name because of the famous AKM converters) spent years developing Roboden and while the product functionality was fabulous, so was the pricing - well beyond the reach of even premium consumer products! Now Asahi Kasei’s cable subcontractor, Hightek, has licensed the technology. Hightek is a Taiwan public company that is an OEM cable vendor to Sony, Acer, HP, Dell, Asus, and others, with about 20% of the global in-box cable business. With the company's streamlined supply chain, there is now a stretching signal cable that is in the BOM range of quality consumer electronics products.
|
|
How can a cable stretch and contract? Roboden’s structure consists of conductor wires wound in a spiral configuration over an elastic body, and covered in a braided outer covering. |
|
Roboden cables maintain a certain gap between the conductors, with stable characteristic impedance, offering excellent signal transmission integrity regardless of whether the cable is fully extended or at rest. Applications for Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology are particularly relevant since the use cases are increasing exponentially. USB specifications limit the length of the cables, which require certification, particularly for the most recent USB Power Delivery specification. Hightek already offers USB-C cable options, which will meet the specifications at 1 meter length, while being able to stretch the distance when required. Versions for greater lengths and greater bandwidth are on the way.
Charging stretch cables, typically configured captive to the wall wart are expected to be in great demand. Anyone who has tripped over a cable by accident and sent something expensive crashing to the floor will attest that current USB cables don't stretch at all. No matter how well the cables are coiled on devices, a day inside a backpack always manages to unravel the wire and leave a mess of spaghetti. With Roboden, the cable will remain coiled up if a little stretch is put in when winding it tidily — just like a bungee cord.
|
|
A premium Roboden elastic cable with MMCX connectors used for converting standard in-ears into a wireless solution. The non-microphonic cable will remain coiled up if only a little stretch is put in, and won’t pull the earphones out the user’s ears. |
|
Applications in incredibly expensive in-ear monitors, or even as an option to connect Bluetooth sports fitness earphones are appealing products. Roboden bypasses the serious design, performance, and value challenges, with no microphonics. The soft silicon core provides just enough tension that the cable won't flap around or pull the earphone out of your ear — while providing up to eight conductors between the two earpieces.
Hightek is now looking for supply chain partners for Roboden, including OEM/ODM customers and brands to integrate Roboden into their products, as well as the aftermarket through local stocking distributors for in-box cables, and the aftermarket for upgrade of conventional cables.
|
|
Updates to the USB specifications, particularly the need for certification in new USB Power Delivery applications, poses challenges. These stretchable USB-C cables can extend the length limitations within the spec. |
|
Automotive Audio Solutions |
The Changing Automotive Environment in 2021
By Roger Shively (JJR Acoustics)
|
|
For the audioXpress 2021 Automotive Audio Solutions update, Roger Shively (JJR Acoustics and Co-Chair of the AES Automotive Audio Technical Committee) wrote an expanded overview of the many ways in which the audio industry is increasingly interacting with car manufacturers, particularly in the transition to fully electric powered vehicles. This update on the automotive audio industry discusses what is new in the user interface to the audio system, how cockpits are changing, and the approach to optimizing them for the end user’s audio needs. It also looks at how audio systems are expanding to integrate Active Noise Control (ANC), Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), and Acoustic Vehicle Alert Systems (AVAS) for quiet car sound design and autonomous driver alerts. Finally, it examines new challenges for OEM audio system designs and how they are being met. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
|
|
Bose Transmission Line Loudspeaker
By James Croft
|
|
In this Voice Coil Acoustic Patents article, James Croft discusses an interesting Transmission Line Loudspeaker patent assigned to three engineers from Bose regarding an electro-acoustic driver and acoustic waveguide that includes “an enclosure, an acoustic transmission line formed within the enclosure, and a plurality of acoustic transducers contained within the enclosure and disposed along a length of the acoustic transmission line.” As Croft notes, this seems to be an improvement over the Tapped Horn loudspeaker architecture patented by Tom Danley, assigned 10 years ago. Read on. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, June 2015. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
|
|
Audio Product Design | DIY Audio Projects | Audio Electronics | Audio Show Reports | Interviews | And More
Don't Have a Subscription?
|
|
Industry News & Developments | Products & Services | Test Bench | Acoustic Patents | Industry Watch | And More
|
|
Advancing the Evolution
of Audio Technology
audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.
Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.
The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.
© 2021 KCK Media Corp. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
