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Next up, Klasco updated our Loudspeaker Cone Industry Suppliers directory for 2019, with an expanded scope to include relevant materials suppliers and component vendors such as specialized surrounds, spiders (dampers), and cone additives. A valuable directory with first-hand commentary of all entries from North America, Europe, China, and other Asian countries.
In a related follow-up, Nora Wong prepared an updated directory of Headphone/Earphone Parts vendors - the first of its kind - because this is a topic that we know is of great interest for Voice Coil readers. As Wong explains, headphones and earphones are firmly entrenched as a key audio product category and for speaker engineers now designing headphones, information on specific components and materials - from selection options to vendor sourcing - is scarce. Since we do not have the pages to list every injection molder and cable vendor, the directory selected key suppliers that either have a strong share of the business (usually for good reasons!), or up and coming alternatives that deserve their share of attention. The directory features headbands, ear cushions, ear tips, drivers, diaphragms, acoustic resistance woven and non-woven vendors.
Companies interested in being featured in the next update of this directory should get in touch by email - here.
For this month’s Acoustic Patents column, James Croft (Croft Acoustical) discusses a very recent patent of a “Head-Related Transfer Function Equalization and Transducer Aiming of Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) Loudspeakers,” awarded to Scott Orth and Stuart W. Lumsden on behalf of Polk Audio, LLC (Vista, CA). The intriguing patent describes a very specific loudspeaker design that claims to be able to achieve better stereo sound reproduction with “a realistic ambient field and a larger, and more stable acoustic image.” As Croft explains in his detailed review, this obviously aims at achieving better crosstalk cancellation designs, something that Polk Audio actually patented nearly 40 years ago, with its original Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) loudspeaker, and for which the new updated patent now provides a new improved version addressing the “Head Related Transfer Function” issue, not by implementing complex filtering, but primarily by reforming the front of the loudspeaker enclosure shape to more closely mimic the impact of acoustic waves “crosstalking” around a human face.
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All this and much more, not to be missed in Voice Coil February 2019. This edition is available for download and already in the mail for print subscribers. Subscribers can go to - www.gotomyvcoil.com - to download this issue.
Remember, Voice Coil is available in print and download for all registered subscribers, free for industry professionals. To qualify for a free subscription to Voice Coil, or renew your subscription, go to: audioxpress.com/page/Voice-Coil-Subscriber-Services.html.