MIT Researchers develop a paper-thin loudspeaker

[AdamG]

Interesting read and Video demonstration. Applications are endless.

Quote: “The flexible, thin-film device has the potential to make any surface into a low-power, high-quality audio source.”

Article:

Video:

Discuss!

 

[Blumlein 88]

So we can have big panel speakers that put out more sound power than a K-horn. Hope they make them soon.

 

[AdamG]

I’m thinking designer Wallpaper can become your music room with high WAF. Maybe you will still need subs, but the concept and application are intriguing. Sound emanating from around the room. Assuming some method to room correct/eq. Boggles the imagination.

 

[Doodski]

I’m think designer Wallpaper can become your music room with high WAF. Maybe you will still need subs, but the concept and application are intriguing. Sound emanating from around the room. Assuming some method to room correct/eq. Boggles the imagination.

Like 20 channel surround sound or more channels even if the processor can keep up. That would be ace.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Does anyone remember NXT speakers? I remember they are flat, but not exactly how they worked. I think they came up in the mid 90ies.

 

[DVDdoug]

It should be useful in a phone where size/volume is the most important thing.

Otherwise "we'll see" how it works in the real world and the real market. There are lots of "unusual and exotic" designs, and flat-panel designs, and still a voice coil and cone (or diaphragm) seems to work-out best in most situations.

It also says "low power".

I usually only get excited when something is better AND cheaper!

 

[Eggs Ackley]

 

[Blumlein 88]

Does anyone remember NXT speakers? I remember they are flat, but not exactly how they worked. I think they came up in the mid 90ies.

Yeah. Nothing much came of that.

 

[Astoneroad]

Bedsheets!!! Slip between them for a total immersive sound! I'm in.

 

[jkasch]

Maybe there’s some future potential, but that demo sounds worse than an Ediphone cylinder.

 

[somebodyelse]

Does anyone remember NXT speakers? I remember they are flat, but not exactly how they worked. I think they came up in the mid 90ies.

I've even got some cheap ones. They used exciters and sometimes masses on a panel to set up bending resonances - the secret sauce was in optimising the panel and the exciter positioning to get a reasonably flat response using computational methods rather than the rule of thumb or trial and error approach you'll find people on youtube channels taking today. The current BMR speakers from Tectonic and the like are a derivative combining pistonic motion at low frequency and bending modes at high frequency with varying degrees of success.

 

[SIY]

PVDF film speakers have been around for a long time. The innovation here is the texturing. I'm skeptical that this will end up being a commercial big deal, but to be fair, I thought that when it started, Twitter was a dumb idea. OK, maybe it was, but it was a big money dumb idea.

 

[xaviescacs]

Breathtaking sound quality... Sounds like and IEM from a 2 m distance inside a pool.

 

[xaviescacs]

I'm skeptical that this will end up being a commercial big deal

35k views and counting... not bad for what it is

 

[Godataloss]

This made me guffaw

 

[TheBatsEar]

I have a Samsung S7+ tablet, despite the fact that they added 4 speakers, the sound is a bit low volume and of course very thin, no bass to speak off.

At least the volume could be higher if the tablet cover was made of this material.

 

[rgpit]

I can see this technology used as a direct digital loudspeaker by addressing each tiny xducer individually like is done with an LCD display. With a covered wall you might even be able to get some bass.