News

airSOUND Launches In-Wall and In-Ceiling Single Point Stereo Speaker System for Custom Install (18/1/2008)

Stand P1566, Integrated Systems Europe 2008

airSOUND(r) Walls of Sound(tm) Single In-Wall and In-Ceiling Cabinets Produce Uniform Spatial Stereo Sound Throughout the Room

* Airsound LLP launches Walls of Sound(tm) - the world's first in-wall/ ceiling speaker design to provide full spatial stereo sound from a single flush enclosure.

* No exterior flange to disrupt architectural surfaces.

* Single in-wall/ ceiling cabinet eliminates the major problems of conventional stereo, providing superior sound to separate left and right channel enclosures in CI installations.

* Fully scalable from small residential to large commercial installations.

* Design available for license to CI and commercial AV speaker manufacturers.

Real stereo sound from either separate left and right channel or ostensibly termed 'stereo' single in-wall / ceiling enclosures is a practical impossibility. Issues of stereo spread, fixed limited listening position, and phase related frequency cancellation inhibit the performance of such systems. Normal architectural speaker units are rarely, ideally placed to give correct or even acceptable stereo imaging for proper listening.

Airsound LLP has employed its unique airSOUND single-point-stereo reproduction technology in a new design schematic that provides full spatial stereo sound from a single, fully flush, in-wall or in-ceiling enclosure. The resultant Walls of Sound(tm) patented design affords all of the advantages of wall mounted speakers without the any of the signal quality problems associated with placement and positioning.

The airSOUND stereo signal is not produced by DSP processing or any kind of artificial effect, but is true stereo sound resulting from the encoding of 'direct' and 'spatial' signals, rather than separate left and right channel signals. In the Walls of Sound design, a centrally positioned 'spatial generator' radiates the spatial signal across the main signal drivers.

Walls of Sound presents custom installers with an opportunity to provide stereo soundfield coverage and signal quality never before possible, while creating the very minimum aesthetic interference with the interior design of a room. Additionally, Walls of Sound provides for significant savings on component costs and energy, with a corresponding reduction in power consumption with the improvement in audio clarity and signal coverage; a 40 to 50% increase in area of coverage is possible with airSOUND speaker systems over conventional stereo systems of similar power.

Airsound LLP is seeking to license its Walls of Sound patented design to manufacturers in the CI and commercial AV sectors.

airSOUND single-point-stereo

airSOUND is a new means of stereo reproduction that provides a uniformly balanced high quality stereo signal from a single speaker cabinet. The technology returns to the earliest work on stereo sound in reproducing 'direct' and 'spatial' sound, instead of discrete left and right channel signals. Successful development of these principles to reproduce high quality audio is the result of airSOUND patented technology. All of the technology, including airSOUND encoding amplifiers, is contained within a single enclosure, enabling the simple connection of a conventional left right stereo input signal.

Single point stereo reproduction has been the pursuit of audio engineers for years. The potential inherent advantages overcome many of the shortcomings of conventional left and right channel stereo; the greatest of these is the reproduction of an evenly balanced stereo soundfield, of uniform frequency and phase response, throughout a room, rather than at a fixed limited point between two speaker cabinets.

The limited 'sweet spot' listening position of conventional stereo (the only point at which a correct stereo phase and frequency balance is heard) simply do not apply with airSOUND stereo.

As a scalable technology, airSOUND enables the reproduction of true stereo sound from enclosures - and devices - of almost any size and environments of almost any kind, where successful positioning of left and right speaker cabinets is not possible.

Airsound LLP, is the company founded to exploit airSOUND technology. A partnership between sound technologists, and a City of London Investment consortium, the company has registered several patents in respect of the development. The company is currently seeking licensing agreements for its technologies with manufacturers in the CE, CI, commercial AV and professional audio markets.

www.airsound.net