Unlike many companies who are designing smart and portable speakers that leverage the latest solid state amplifiers, high energy batteries, digital signal processors, and voice control, Brane Audio has decided to focus also on the driver design. Its Brane X speaker introduces the company's invention of the Repel-Attract Driver (R.A.D.), an 8-inch woofer that is able to be powered and achieve maximum excursion inside a portable speaker that weighs in at 7.7 pounds (3.5kg).
Brane Audio says that this is possible because the R.A.D. achieves a tenfold increase in bass response - down to 20Hz - without increasing power consumption, requiring only 1/10th of the power compared to conventional speakers in the same subwoofer range. This new driver utilizes a combination of moving and stationary magnets to create a force that is equal and opposite to the force caused by large air pressure changes within a speaker enclosure.
As the company details, "It outperforms traditional cone drivers through a novel breakthrough in electromechanics. The R.A.D. uses permanent magnet forces to cancel internal air pressure forces, allowing a significant increase in bass. Hoffman’s Iron Law has governed speaker engineering for a century. The longstanding audio law states that in order to produce deep bass, a speaker must either be large or draw a tremendous amount of electrical power. This completely new driver technology breaks Hoffman’s Iron Law, which has dictated speaker sound for decades.
"R.A.D. deploys a novel “magnetic negative spring” (MNS). Unlike a conventional spring with a force that is oppositely directed to its direction of motion, a MNS must produce a force in the same direction of motion. This force must rise linearly with increasing distance. The R.A.D. needs a four-axis passive magnetic bearing to keep the magnets centered radially, along with an active Lorentz force and active axial magnetic bearing to keep the magnets axially centered when music is not playing," they add.
"The Brane X offers an entirely new experience of sound. We’re offering side-by-side demonstrations at CES because we want CES attendees to hear what they’ve been missing," says Joe Pinkerton, CEO of Brane Audio. "With a wide soundstage and thunderous subwoofer notes, the Brane X can transform a room."
“It has taken a long time and hundreds of prototypes to get to where we are, but we are incredibly proud to deliver the biggest breakthrough in audio driver technology in the last century," adds Pinkerton. "The Brane X represents a significant evolution for speaker technology, and one that can scale up to venue and festival-size systems or even down to earbuds."
On top of having the most powerful deep bass of any speaker in its category, the Brane X design has all the features expected from today’s smart speakers. The Brane X is water-resistant, voice-enabled, and offers a smart app that allows users to control multiple speakers, create custom groups, and adjust the EQ settings.
The Brane X is available for pre-order now and retails for $599. Brane Audio will provide private demos of the Brane X in it CES exhibitor suite 34-309 at the Venetian, and will formally launch the Brane X to consumers in March 2023 at South By Southwest (SXSW).
www.braneaudio.com
