Privileged Perspective™
Acoustical magic
The high fidelity industry had its formative years in the 1940s and 50s and reached critical mass in 1958 when stereophonic sound was introduced. Throughout the 1960s the race was on for more power, lower distortion, more bass, better imaging and acoustical transparency – in the pre-digital age, requiring the necessary evil of bigger and more complex components. Downsizing, compacting or systemizing audio components evolved as an important segment of engineering.
Let’s fast forward through the solid state age (70s), the digital age (80s), multi-channel age (90s) and into the home theater age (today) and see how engineering is coping with the pursuit of less is more.
I have represented the Yamaha Electronics Corporation for many years and have witnessed a host of engineering feats that have dramatically improved audio reproduction. For example, in 1986 Yamaha introduced Digital Sound Field Processing (DSP). Its digital technology allowed audio engineers to acoustically map world famous theaters, concert halls and jazz clubs, store the data, and during playback (using four additional effect loudspeakers) to superimpose the acoustical venue data on top of the sound created by stereo speakers.
Although the sound resolution was crude by today’s processing speeds, Yamaha’s DSP technology instantly won worldwide recognition. It truly recreated that “being there” feeling.
I give you this background to make a point, and that is, if you were to connect all the dots on the line of high fidelity development, the resulting vector pointing to the future could be very intriguing. Yamaha’s new Digital Sound Projector just might be that next significant dot on the digitally engineered high fidelity highway.
Imagine a bar-shaped, 4-foot-long enclosure that cosmetically aligns itself with most flat-panel TVs and houses a serious audio-video receiver along with 44 loudspeakers, 44 amplifiers and 44 DSP chips and a processor to manage time (phase) relationships. The latter creates seven discreet beams (channels) of sound that are precisely aimed in your room to correctly bounce off the walls and converge on your favorite viewing seat, wrapping it in sound. Between the video and the DSP, you're right in the middle of a concert hall or other venue with all the emotion of a live event.
Yamaha's new Sound Projectors come with accessories that allow you to connect the unit to a subwoofer and your iPod/iPhone wirelessly.
If you are downsizing your home or would just like to have a simpler way to enjoy surround sound in a bedroom, family room or a den, Yamaha’s YSP-5100 Sound Projector ($1,995.95) could be the ideal solution.
More info: www.yamaha.com/yec/soundprojectors.
About the writer: Steven Zaboji is a 46-year veteran of the audio-video industry, having started as a sales rep for major retailers. He founded Balaton Marketing in 1972 and currently represents some 14 product lines relating to home entertainment systems. Zaboji is also the founder and CEO of an e-publishing company called Virtual Representative. He is writing a book about his experiences in the industry and on his love of flying to be called “Business on a Wing.”
Contact Zaboji at www.balatonmarketing.com or at his e-publishing company, www.virtual-representative.com.
