Slashdot Mirror
Single Speaker Unit Delivers Surround Sound
Makarand writes "A one-speaker home theater system that is able to deliver surround sound
has been unveiled by Nirotek America (Torrance, CA).
The single speaker unit actually contains five individual speakers packed
horizontally into a single case. The surround sound effect is achieved
by playing some sophisticated psychoacoustic trickery on the human brain.
Realistic surround sound from movies and stereo CDs can be obtained as long as listeners
are
at least six feet away from the speaker unit and the unit stands near the front edge of
whatever surface it is placed on. The unit is priced at around $799 and USA Today has a
review."
/me adjusts his AFDB
An $800 ventriloquist?
This is pretty cool. I can see this technology being put to good use on a handheld gaming device or even handheld pc where space is a premium and good sound only enhances the gaming experience.
Actually, having 4 speakers really sucks.
Wires trailing all around... if this does
work and gets mass produced, it will be the
end of those clumsy 5+1 speaker combos.
Bring it on!
I'm not sure I believe that using electronic trickery (presumably phase differences and relative volume) can create a realistic surround-sound volume-of-space for people to sit in.
Even 5,6,7-speaker systems struggle to produce a large coherent area where the sound "sounds natural"...
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
Does this work for people with hearing problems in one ear? And if so, does it matter when the hearing loss started to occur? (i.e., congenital problem vs. problem that developed with age)
I'm asking this on the off chance that someone here is working on a PhD or something and can answer this...
Bose aren't that great. Compared to the normal hi-fi stuff you buy in non-specialist places, they're pretty good. But they're not the be-all and end-all of home theatre systems.
And yes, I've been to one of their demos.
These "head related transfer functions" take account of differences in the time at which a sound arrives at each side of the head, as well as subtle distortions caused by the shape of each ear.
the subjects used to test this new gadget were very very ugly...
Well, funny you should mention that because I moved house a year ago and lost the use of my 5.1 system as it belonged to a flatmate. So I was back to my Phillips TV which claimed to have virtual surround. It had never been any use but in my new place, which had bare walls behind the TV and behind where I sit it is excellent - the sound is all over the place, so under the right conditions it seems to work.
Only big ligs use sigs.
It's surely a gimmick? If you're using HRTFs, you don't need 5 speakers in there. We've only got two ears so you only need two speakers!
Proper 3D sound has been around for years, the best being from Sensaura, as licensed on the Xbox and most PC sound chips.
'all over the place' as in the intro to Saving Private Ryan...it's all over the place! The positioning isn't as discrete as a proper system, but I like the sound of it - it's a good effort on a 6 year old TV which I had no expectation would actually work (from that perspective). If I think a sound came from the back of the room and I didn't pay for a speaker there, I'm happy :)
Only big ligs use sigs.
First we see motorized unicycles... now we are seeing single-speaker units that deliver surround sound. What is next in this circus show of singularity?!
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
The Head Related Transfer Function is, well, head related -- it depends on the shape of your head. The problem with this approach is that you are limited in having to use an approximate average. While left-right imaging can be still excellent, front-back imaging usually is below par of a discrete system. The effect is more realistic with the specific HRTF of the listener, but obviously that's not practical.
As an aside, you can check out this interesting (if dated) stereo dipole demo with only two speakers right in front of you that have minimal separation between them but can produce the illusion of extreme left-right (make sure to set up according to the readme first or it won't work).
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
I just wish some of the simpler features on pro audio equipment would work it's way down to consumer level stuff. Companies have no real incentive to clean up the sound since they can sell snake oil fixes for audio quality problems *cough*monster cable*cough*. Simply using balanced audio connections on all pre-amp connections would reduce a lot of noise coming from the usual mess of cables behind most peoples home theater systems. Moving the power supplies for the components away from any audio proccessing circutry and shielding them, Further reducing noise. Many suround sound systems would also benifit GREATLY from a simple user adjustable delay on each channel to help compensate for an odd speaker placement. Home and car audio has to be the biggest snake oil industry today. I know I'm glad I've worked with pro level equipment running concerts and such. Really opens your eyes to what needs to be there for a good clear sound.
I'm surprised no one ever seems to mention the binarual method of recording and playback when it comes to surround sound.
The main techniques used by humans to locate the direction of sound are: the volume of the sound, the phase difference between the sound hitting each ear at slighlty different times and the effect that the head, ears, body have on altering the frequency makeup of the sound.
The way to recreate this is to use a dummy head with miniature microphones placed in each ear of the dummy to record whatever sounds you want and then to play that recording back over headphones.
The dummy head recreates all the subtle phase and frequency effects that a real human head would in the real environment and the headphones allow that recording to be delivered to each ear free of the distorting effects that loudspeakers are prone to have(room effects, cross channel problems, phase problems etc).
Checkout http://www.binaural.com/ for MP3 samples of this technique.
The realism of binaural is simply staggering when used with the right headphones. No multi-channel surround sound that I have ever heard comes anywhere near close. It is so realistic that it can have you looking around to locate the source of the sound to make sure it wasn't really something in your immediate environment. The problem is that most people don't want to wear headphones when watching movies I suppose.
It can't. I've heard this kind of technology, and sometimes it works, more often it doesn't...and even when it does, the sound just "feels" "weird" but has no direction. Any directional effect is usually quite weak.
If I understand it correctly, it's based off the way sounds are affected by the shape of your ear- but if you've ever noticed, people have differently shaped ears and I imagine their brains become 'calibrated' to their ears...
Further, it's stupid in this price point. Nice idea, but considering for HALF the price you can get a really nice sounding, REAL system from someone decently respectable like Cambridge Soundworks...I fail to see the point. Usually this kind of technology is provided by laptop manufacturers or cheap A/V equipment makers. Not $800 speakers.
Please help metamoderate.
I sampled scenes from several DVDs: Toy Story, Men In Black II, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring.
... were emerging from the six speakers, including subwoofer
Ahh yes, GGR... a cacaphony of surround sound! (?)
If I didn't know better, I'd think the physical and verbal explosions
Umm, voices of main characters shown on the screen are supposed to come from the center channel in almost all cases. They shouldn't sound like they are "emerging from the six speakers."
It really sounds like this guy is not qualified to review a surround sound package?
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
...the size of the 'sweet spot'. In a regular 2 channel stereo recording, the only place where the recording sounds 'right' is in the middle. If you move to one side, the perceived middle of the stereo image moves as well. These speakers attempt to solve this by reconstructing the wave front of the original sound wave, so that it corresponds as much as possible with the original. In plain language, kinda like the difference between a regular stereo image and a hologram which can be viewed from different angles. Of course, using a regular stereo recording will *still* not give 'holographic' sound, so for now the manufacterers settled for attempts to increase the size of the sweet spot. And yes, the bose speakers that bounce sound off the walls are based on the same principle.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
I've read the review but I'm wondering. Sometimes I watch a movie together with friends. They are usually spread around the room hanging on different chairs and the couch. Will the surround sound experience be equally good for all of them, or is the person sitting directly in front of the set (far) better off than the rest?
-- Cheers!
First, to everyone who says "why would I want 5 speaker cabinets all over the place instead of one?". Simple, sound is largely effected by the shape of the room, not to mention what is contained in the room. With 5 drivers in one box the surround is simulated, bouncing the sound off the walls with different timings to simulate surround sound. Slight problem though, every room is not shaped the same so this box will only be optimally effective in a room with the dimensions it was designed for. In a real surround system you can make adjustments for the shape of the room. Try doing that with this box. Second, this is actually a 1 speaker system, 2 if you count the sub. The one speaker contains 5 drivers. Before you flame the poster, check the terminology. A speaker consists of all the drivers and the physical box. Third, If you really want to do yourself justice before you talk about how great a box like this is/would be. Take a visit to a local high-end audio shop. Compare a true surround system from say, B&W, driven by some nice amps through a good processor to this all-in-one box. The all-in-one wont sound so great anymore. In fact neither will that circuit-city bose crap. In short, as with most things you get what you pay for.
RTFA. I quote:
No sweet spot. It likely is doing signal manipulation to mimic the accoustic modification your ear makes as sound comes in from various locations, rather than just phase differences.
If you want to see a true "single point source" surround sound system. Check out Pioneer's Digital Sound Projector. I think this may also have been featured in a /. story a few months ago.
On the one hand: cool idea, glad to see someone still thinks.
On the other hand: would somebody please kick the marketing genius who decided to say "one-speaker" when what he really meant is "one-cabinet (with a whole lotta speakers inside)".
Did everyone fail to notice that Niro Nakamichi is behind this? Even if you haven't studied precedence and psychoacoustics, you should at least give the benefit of the doubt to a company founded by audiophiles, and that has always catered to audiophiles.
/., so it would behoove you to listen to it before you dismiss it out of hand. Don't just read the articles, read about the technology and the company behind the product.
/.
These aren't garage mechanics that had a paper-napkin idea. This is similar to what Polk delivered with the SRS series, but is done electronically. And while it's true that everyone's head and ears are shaped differently (and therefore respond differently to psychoacoustic phenomena), most serious research has shown that only people whose heads are dimensionally way outside of the norm hear "bizzare effects." 90% (or more) of the general population will be astounded, and will have a dramatically simpler system to set up.
Mr. Nakamichi's knowledge of psychoacoustics rivals that of EVERYONE reading
But wait... this is
Tim
I have the Altec Lansing ADA-105, and it works great as a stereo speaker, and sometimes I do hear surround-sound effects - but it's not the same as a full set of speakers.