Brane Audio RAD Speaker Technology Named in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024

As TIME revealed its annual list of the Best Inventions, which features 200 product, technologies and innovations changing our lives, there was a surprising mention of Brane Audio's Brane X portable speaker as a winner in the Entertainment & Gaming category. As audioXpress and Voice Coil readers learned earlier - and coincidently James Croft writes about in Voice Coil November 2024 - the company's Repel-Attract-Driver (RAD) that is part of the Brane X design, is indeed the first effective embodiment of a negative-spring woofer that bends Hofmann’s Iron Law.

In Voice Coil November 2024, Anthony Caiazzo details Countervail's patented fiber-reinforced composite technology, Mike Klasco revisits solutions to achieve increased bass response, while James Croft reviews two patents from Clean Energy Labs and Brane Audio that seem to have finally broken Hofmann's Iron Law. In Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the new MT19CP-8 7.5" coaxial driver from SB Acoustics' prestigious Satori line.

All the speaker design techniques to achieve more bass, challenging Hofmann's Iron Law. The same bass in a smaller enclosure? Deeper or louder bass for the same enclosure back volume? Higher efficiency for a given alignment? A cleaner lower distortion bass? Learn about the companies, products, and technologies that make all this possible. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2023.

From midbass to bass, Voice Coil November 2023 provides the lowdown on some of the loudspeaker industry's most interesting developments. James Croft explores a recently granted "Venturi expander" patent. Mike Klasco explores speaker design and signal processing techniques to achieve more bass, and Vance Dickason characterizes the Wavecor WF152BD09-04 6" midbass driver, and the UF295FAS Ultra Flat Series 10" thin-profile dipole woofer from Neotera.

This article reviews two patents titled simply "Speaker Device" from four Japanese inventors, on behalf of Pioneer Corp. of Japan. The original and expanded patent describes a flat speaker device capable of emitting loud reproduced sound, using a mechanical structure that converts a linear voice coil motion in one axis to an orthogonal mechanical diaphragm displacement. The system functions much like a scissor-jack you would use to raise your automobile to change a tire. The linear motion of the threaded rod coverts the axial force to a 90° lift movement.

In this issue of Voice Coil, Mike Klasco shares his experience dealing with sustainability and other noble goals, an article that was greatly inspired by the effort to compile another updated Speaker Enclosure Vendor Directory for 2023. In Acoustic Patents, James Croft explains how Yamaha recently invented a clever way to use a Class-D amplifier to bend the infamous "Hofmann’s Iron Law." And Vance Dickason takes the new 10HX230 10" coaxial professional driver from Faital Pro to his Test Bench.