Philips Research - Technologies
Philips' unique BaryBass technology produces deep bass tones from an extremely small enclosure |
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The BaryBass from Philips is the world's first miniature, low-frequency sub-woofer. This ground-breaking development in audio technology allows deep bass reproduction from a small loudspeaker enclosure; something that has long been considered a kind of a 'holy grail' in the audio world. The BaryBass opens up a whole new range of possibilities in adding a true bass sound to integrated flat TV loudspeakers, miniature portable digital audio players and even in-car entertainment systems.
No room for true bass sounds One of the consequences of the shift from bulky CRT televisions to flat LCD and plasma models is the disappearance of integrated sub-woofer loudspeakers for bass reproduction. Similarly, low-frequency output has been sacrificed in portable audio devices in return for an ever-smaller form factor. This was an unavoidable development; true bass sounds always required a fairly sizeable loudspeaker enclosure, which either had to be located somewhere else (as is the case with home entertainment systems) or left out altogether (portable audio). With BaryBass (the name comes from the Greek barus, meaning 'low') Philips has developed a revolutionary solution that allows deep low-frequency reproduction from a much smaller loudspeaker construction (the loudspeaker magnet & cone unit as well as enclosure) than was ever previously possible. Using conventional audio techniques, such a small unit would be too inefficient to be of any commercial interest. The difference with the BaryBass loudspeaker is that it operates at its resonant frequency, which means its efficiency can be up to a factor of 10 higher than for a normal loudspeaker. True deep bass sound The loudspeaker is constructed in such a way that resonance occurs at a very low-frequency, i.e. a bass tone. The key to the success of the BaryBass is that the rest of the low-frequency tones, in this case approximately 20 to 120 Hz, are all mapped onto this single frequency, where efficiency is at a maximum. The frequency range above this is undisturbed. Due to the mapping, the bass tones are not exactly the same as with a conventional sub-woofer. However, the original pitch of the mapped tones is evoked by their harmonics, which remain unchanged. Tests have confirmed that BaryBass gives a true deep bass sound. BaryBass loudspeaker enclosure can be shaped in virtually any way Another extremely beneficial consequence of BaryBass technology is that the loudspeaker enclosure can be shaped in an arbitrary way. Therefore, rather than product design having to take loudspeaker shape into consideration, it is the other way round; the loudspeaker enclosure form can be adapted to suit the constraints of the product. As an example, an 'inverted u' shaped tubular enclosure can be fitted around the top and sides of a flat TV. The enclosure could also be formed to fit into, for instance, the door panel of a car. Lightweight and power efficient Because the BaryBass is significantly smaller than any other low-frequency sub-woofer, it is especially appealing to the vast market for portable devices. And there are two other properties of the BaryBass that make it even more of a viable proposition. Firstly, the loudspeaker construction is very lightweight, an important precondition for portable devices. Secondly, it is extremely power efficient, and would therefore not drain valuable battery power. Add to this the fact that it is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and it is not difficult to see that the small BaryBass loudspeaker units may have a very big future indeed.
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