Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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audioXpress.com - The Most Popular Stories of 2020
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We looked at the most-read articles of 2020 from audioXpress.com (which also includes selected articles from Voice Coil magazine), and we created this Top 10 list of news stories and online articles. 2020 was another record-breaking year for audioXpress.com, with visitors from all over the world returning often to read the more than 6,600 stories available. Which of the topics and stories published online in 2020 were the most popular? Here are the results! Read More
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Audio Product Education Institute Promotes New Supply Chain Webinar with Hansong and Tristar
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The Audio Product Education Institute (APEI), the Audio Engineering Society (AES) initiative promoting methodologies, practices, and technologies involved in developing and bringing audio products to market, will host its fourth online event addressing Supply Chain & Sourcing. The webinar on Wednesday, January 6 (12:00PM EST), will welcome industry experts from two major audio industry suppliers – Hansong Technology and Tristar Electronics. Read More
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Sennheiser and Continental Car Audio Project Selected as CES Innovation Awards 2021 Honoree
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Expanding on its successful partnership announcement at CES 2020, Sennheiser and Continental’s speakerless immersive audio system for vehicles was selected as a CES Innovation Awards 2021 Honoree. The new audio system explores new ways to enhance in-car entertainment experiences by integrating Sennheiser’s patented AMBEO 3D audio technology with Continental’s speakerless Ac2ated Sound system. The CES Innovation Award 2021 Honoree badge was confirmed in the In-Vehicle Entertainment and Safety category . Read More
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PureAudioProject Introduces New Trio15 Coax10 Open Baffle Speakers
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PureAudioProject just confirmed that its latest Trio15 configuration is now available for pre-order. As Ze'ev (Wolf) Schlik, the founder of the modular speaker company explains, the Trio15 Coax10 project is a step closer to the realization of its original vision. "For a long time we were aiming for a three-way Open Baffle Speaker made right; and with 2020 coming to end we are excited to announce the addition of Trio15 Coax10 to our Trio15 line." Read More
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Scan-Speak Unveils New Ellipticor D2404/552000 1" Dome Tweeter
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Scan-Speak has saved some last minute surprises to end the year of the company's 50th anniversary in full force. The Danish engineering team just unveiled a new Ellipticor driver, expanding the rapidly growing family with the new Ellipticor D2404/552000 dome tweeter. This latest addition offers an impressive set of specifications according to the released datasheet, and should strongly motivate many speaker designers targeting high-end designs . Read More
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SEAS Releases New W18NX003 Excel Nextel Woofer
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SEAS had a busy 2020, signaling the company's 70th anniversary and fulfilling its anticipated plan of updating the existing product line with new improved models, as well as refreshing old industry favorites carefully crafted by its Norwegian engineering team. The new W18NX003 (E0096-08) continues SEAS' high-end paper cone heritage with the two-layer Nextel coating technology, combined with an improved magnet system design and titanium voice coil formers . Read More
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Dan Clark Audio Introduces Special Edition AEON 2 Noir Planar Magnetic Headphones
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Dan Clark Audio introduced a special edition of its AEON 2 planar magnetic headphones, the AEON 2 Noir. As the San Diego, CA-based company explains, since the launch of AEON 2 headphones back in 2019, when the company also changed its name from MrSpeakers to Dan Clark Audio, the market has been frequently requesting an all-black version, complemented with perforated pads. The company responded and the AEON 2 Noir, available in closed and open-back versions, are now available . Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
Editor-in-Chief
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Technology Changes for 2021
Wishes Turned into Predictions
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We have arrived at that time of the year when we all look back and try to find significance, and make sense of our year's experiences. But understandably, we don't feel so much urgency of looking back at the past year. Not yet, at least for me. I feel no need to be reminded of what we've been missing, and it's too soon to say what will change, apart from the calendar.
All we have for now are wishes. Best wishes.
While I was looking at some of (mostly tedious) lists of 2020 facts and trends and "how technology has changed" (actually, we changed it, with the use we made of it. The technology itself remained mostly the same in 2020...) I remembered my personal notes from audioXpress’ Market Update feature articles. In those notes, I remind myself of products, trends, and ideas to follow in future articles, and I think they make for a solid foundation of projections and conjectures, and eventually predictions for 2021.
From the major changes we all experienced in 2020, there's no doubt that many trends in consumer electronics will persist and are worthy of note. Professional, corporate, and commercial markets will continue to depend upon the pandemic's evolution. In contrast, consumers will demand much more from personal and home technologies in 2021. And that, will accelerate changes. In 2020, everything was new, temporary, unexpected, so we all did the best we could with whatever was available - and we were all appreciative of how much better technologies allowed us to cope with the stress of a global pandemic and our changing lifestyles. In 2021, we will be much less tolerant. We expect to see actual solutions targeted at our actual circumstances and needs.
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Audio enthusiast circles continue to judge the Apple AirPods Max for music listening only. Very few even notice its Spatial Audio abilities that allow immersive movies and enhanced reality experiences, while enjoying content at home. And I could actually inspect the AirPods Max headphones in AR on my desk, the day they were unveiled. That was actually the third press conference that week where I could have a new product virtually available for inspection that way. How cool is that?
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I read with much interest a note from Graeme Harrison, Vice President and General Manager of Bluesound Professional, about what 2021 will represent for integrators in Retail and Hospitality. It is clear that those markets will struggle to control the actual circumstances, and how much business will be allowed to take place, but Harrison highlighted a few interesting trends he expects to see in 2021, starting with building great (not just better) experiences than what we previously had, and betting on sustainable business models. He is right on those points.
I think the same applies for consumer product strategies and how we relate to a brand. For 2021, we will all be more focused on what we can actually do, use, and enjoy, and what will improve our lives. Not based on just regular technology innovation and interests, but essential trends. An actual example: How many of us will prioritize lighter, thinner, and smaller vs. safer, easier, or secure?
As I noticed from pre-CES 2021 announcements, manufacturers are focusing on "everything for remote work," “innovations in health care,” and "enhanced reality” as a new trend for home entertainment - because online Augmented Reality is so cool at home!
Manufacturers are finding that consumers are willing to invest in things they would normally enjoy while out of the home, and experiences they are now limited to enjoy at home. From better coffee makers, and appliances in general, all the way to investing in better lighting, or even improved speakers and headphones. For those who can afford it, obviously. For a lot of people, unfortunately, 2021 means buying the essential technology needed to just keep working, learning, and staying warm.
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Working from home. Microphones are now an essential item. In 2021, brands will be able to build marketing strategies for microphones that were designed to be used at home and simply work.
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In the recent report about Microphones that I wrote for audioXpress February 2021 (out next week), I selected a few notable examples of professional microphones that are better simply because they can be remotely controlled wirelessly (entering a voice booth to adjust the microphone pad is not a good idea these days), or simply because they allow better results during Zoom sessions - even by users who have no idea how a microphone works, but dream of sounding like James Earl Jones. And suddenly, washable, far-field microphone arrays packaged inside classic microphone shapes are an idea with much potential!
Obviously, as high-quality cameras and microphones have become essential technology items at home, we will all be looking for faster network access and better collaboration software for use at home. On this later topic, neither Teams nor Slack will ever appeal to regular consumers... but many gaming chat software companies actually get it right, because they don't think of collaboration as work. And I definitely think that Wetransfer is onto something with Paste.
In terms of recent breakthrough audio technology concepts, like noise-canceling headphones or voice interfaces, 2021 will be the year for companies to worry more about fine tuning the features that are actually working for consumers. Since we don't worry so much about the noise during flights, we all would like to see more of those enhanced audio features, like being absorbed in music and being able to hear someone calling our name, or being able to call other headphones as an intercom. And we definitely would like to hear more from our voice assistants. Like looking up a word or expression, and having the result read to us, instead of appear as a pop-up menu or jumping to a webpage. Forget about asking questions to Alexa or Siri, we all would like to hear more voice whisperings in our ears when we need reassurance and motivation - even if just to remind us to stand up and stretch our legs.
Less pressure from product cycles and trade shows will also mean there's more time for the industry to focus on the core technologies. Like accomplishing the promises of voice interfaces - particularly in the languages that are missing out compared to English and Chinese. While people stay at home, the industry gains time to make it work better. Hope they use the time next year. We don't need to talk to the TV, but we all can use more accurate (and affordable) voice-to-text transcription tools right now.
And of course, in health and safety, we are all eager to have UV sanitizers for our headphones and wearables that actually warn us when the cleaning cycle is over, and maybe a color-changing sensor that would tell us when a surface has just been sanitized and is safe to touch. Washable, virus-proof smartphone covers are now a must, and finally all those countless i-accessories and screen protection companies have a reason to exist…
Wishing Everyone a Healthy, Happy New Year!
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Practical Test & Measurement
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Mastering Wireless Multi-Tone Testing
By Andrew Taylor (Klippel GmbH)
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This article explains the issues resulting from measuring a wireless audio connection and how wireless multi-tone testing can help us to overcome those obstacles. The article is written from a Practical Test & Measurement perspective, particularly focused on the needs of manufacturers and designers of modern wireless audio devices and offers valuable insights on multi-tone testing, a technique that has been around for many years, and which Klippel perfected in its own multi-tone measurement module (MTON). This allows to quickly and accurately assess the fundamental and distortion responses of an audio device, even if using a wireless connection with long and varying delay and sampling jitter. This article was originally published in audioXpress, December 2020. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Scan-Speak 21WE/4542T00 Ellipticor Midwoofer
By Vance Dickason
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This Test Bench article focuses on the Scan-Speak Ellipticor 21WE/4542T00 midrange woofer, an impressive looking driver. As with most all of Scan-Speak’s midwoofer/midrange frames, the 21WE features a really nicely configured six-spoke (three double spokes) cast-aluminum frame with narrow 19-10mm wide spokes to minimize reflections back into the black coated paper cone with an elliptical convex paper dust cap. Compliance is provided by a nitrile rubber (NBR) surround, nicely designed with a fairly shallow discontinuity where it attaches to the cone edge, plus a surface coating for enhanced damping in that critical region. Remaining compliance comes from a 4.4" diameter flat cloth spider.
The motor design for the Ellipticor 21WE/4542T00 is again an AirCirc multi-magnet and patented SD design, using an elliptical two-layer voice coil wound with round copper wire on a titanium former. Motor parts include polished front and back plates for the neodymium magnets that incorporates a 12mm diameter rear vent for additional cooling. As with all the transducers in the Ellipticor lineup, the 21WE has a magnetically attached aluminum trim ring that can obviously be custom anodized a variety of colors besides black. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2020 . Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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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.
© 2020 KCK Media Corp. All Rights Reserved.
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