Patent Review: Vertically and Horizontally Balanced Subwoofer

The patent reviewed here was granted to inventors Robert G. Johnston (Amprior Ontario, CA), and Sanford M.Gross (Owings Mills, MD), respectively the head of engineering of GoldenEar Technology, and one of its co-founders. The patent describes a subwoofer with two drivers on each side plus one passive radiator facing up and one passive radiator facing down. The passive radiator facing down effectively couples acoustic energy at very low frequencies into the floor.

British audio company, Flare Audio, has launched what they describe as “the world’s first ‘fully’ open back headphones”. The Reference R1 uses several patent-pending technologies for driver alignment, reduce enclosure vibration and remove enclosed residual pressure interference (ERPI), to allow distortion free sound, even at full volume. The result, Flare claims, is “a completely new listening experience”.