|
GADGET: Sloshed Speakers, Carved Phones, Molded Buds
This month's most interesting tech toys include some exotic materials for reproducing sound: wood-coned, booze-soaked speakers; carved cherry wood headphones; custom-fitted ear buds. Prepare to spend serious money.
|
|
The May 2004 issue of Popular Science magazine featured a new stereo speaker from JVC featuring innovative wooden speaker cones.
Wood had been considered too brittle for the cones themselves - paper and synthetics are standard - but engineers have long imagined that wood would otherwise be an excellent material. It conducts sound well but doesn't over-resonate, as metal would. |
Engineer Toshikatsu Kuwuhata figured out a way to shape wood into the exact cone shape - without splintering - after seeing how a local restaurant tenderized squid by soaking it in sake, the traditional Japanese rice wine.
Figuring the amino acids in the wine might do the same for wood, Kuwuhata started experimenting, and the $550 EX-A1 DVD component system now contains the results of his efforts.
Learn more about JVC's wood-coned speaker system
Visit Popular Science magazine's site
|
The wood-coned speakers are surprisingly affordable compared to Audio Technica's new ATH-L3000 headphones. With the sound drivers set into cups carved from blocks of Asada wood, the phones deliver what Popular Science calls "ridiculously rich sound." This Hokkeido cherry wood is dense and known for "warm tones and quick frequency response" in other acoustic applications.
The company's web site also notes that the cups are covered with British leather. And that each set costs $2,350.
Only 500 units are expected to be made. |
|
Learn more from Audio Technica or visit distributor from AudioCubes.com
|
|
Finally, WIRED magazine features an option for people who have made their iPod or other portable music device their main audio buddy, but who find the standard-issue ear buds inadequate.
Ultimate Ears offers to custom-mold a pair of buds for a listener's own ears, using a silicon mold kit that the user sends back to the company for manufacturing. |
The UE-10 Pros fit perfectly inside the ears, blocking out 26 decibels of background noise, while delivering 20Hz to 16kHz of sound from three drivers (the first buds to use three). List price is $900.
Read the WIRED article or visit manufacturer Ultimate Ears
|
