News

1/10/2003

Intelligent Digital Amplifiers by D2Audio Power New Consumer Trends

Created by the Austin-based, D2Audio Corporation, 4" x 6", 1000 watt digital amplifiers are the drivers behind the new consumer trends of "compaction" and "intelligent audio equipment."

Spawned by the growing adoption of plasma and LCD TVs, consumers are actively embracing the lifestyle trend taking place under the TV set and in stereo stacks, called "compaction." In this trend, consumer's stack of big, bulky boxes are reduced to a small, slim, multi-function receiver, designed to compliment the sleekness of plasma and LCD TV's. The new Harman Kardon(R) D2Audio-based digital product is a perfect illustration of this trend.

In high end homes, compaction is also occurring in distributed audio systems, morphing the systems to 1/2 the size, 1/4 the weight and double the power of last year's systems. These highly compact distributed audio systems by Sonance(R) and SpeakerCraft(R) are now shipping and like Harman can be identified by the D2Audio logo on the faceplates.

Along with the sleek new appearance of streamlined media centers, consumers also gain high quality sound, equivalent to legacy analog solutions and futuristic features with D2Audio's intelligent amps. As the only intelligent amplifiers, D2Audio digital amps are capable of recognizing complex speaker systems to which they are attached and optimizing the sound accordingly. Intelligence also gives the amplifiers other futuristic features, including the ability to automatically optimize the entertainment experience, taking into consideration the room's vaulted ceilings, large expanses of glass or even the location of the audience in the room.

A DSP chip, especially designed for the module by D2Audio gives the amplifiers' intelligence. The DSP chip also performs sound optimization and correction on the audio signals the module produces, giving the digital amplifier a sound that impresses audiophiles. These intelligence functions are unique to the D2Audio chip and modules.

"With high quality sound and unique intelligent features, D2Audio is positioned to take advantage of the approximately $2 billion amplifier market," said Will Strauss, principal analyst of Forward Concepts Research. "With home theater's 7 channel analog amplifiers (49% efficient), reaching the limit of power they can pull from a wall socket, the market will be forced to move to digital amplifiers (90% efficient) as the quest for more power in home theater progresses. With D2Audio's powerful module advantage, they are poised to ride the wave of digital conversion."

D2Audio's complete digital amplifier modules eliminate the need for bulky heat sinks, giving audio manufacturers dramatic size and weight reductions in their products. Instead of a chip level solution, which presents many engineering challenges to manufacturers, D2Audio's amplifier modules are fully self-contained, eliminating the artful know-how required to make the capricious components of digital amps work. D2Audio digital amplifier modules can be directly placed into receivers, amplifiers and speakers, eliminating the cost of extensive engineering teams and greatly speeding time to market.

www.d2audio.com