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The Challenge In Perfect Sound - An Idea Is Born!
The technology...acoustic waveguide, which means that the wave guide confines the movement of a sound along a desired path. Applying this concept to a music system was complicated because a single waveguide can only produce a single frequency. (Musicians can change the length of the flute's waveguide to create a variety of notes by positioning their fingers over the holes.) The challenge to the engineers was to gain the efficiencies of the waveguide while retaining the ability to produce a range of frequencies. In other words, every note must be right. Quite a challenge. It was Bose engineers realized they could emulate the effect of air vibrating within a flute by mounting a speaker within a tube. This moved air more efficiently within the waveguide, resulting in more sound. By matching the electro-mechanical properties of the loudspeaker to the waveguide, they were able to efficiently produce a wide range of notes. Additional analysis and measurements showed that the tube could be folded into intricate patterns with no ill effect on sound quality. This meant a waveguide measuring several feet in length could be woven into a small tabletop enclosure, delivering sound with more clarity, depth and lifelike quality than a conventional component stereo system. Thirty years ago, filling a room with sound meant filling it with equipment. It was an almost universal belief that you needed a large component system to create full, rich sound. That usually included enormous speakers, the rack of components required to power them and a complexity level every bit as sizable as the system itself. There had to be a better way. A solution that would provide full sound quality in a compact system without the need for components. Traditional approaches determined it couldn't be done, but tradition didn't account for revolutionary acoustic waveguide speaker technology. Big speakers were required to produce the wide range of frequencies found in a song, from the intricate notes of a violin to the deep low frequencies of a bass guitar. A rack of components was needed to keep up with the massive speakers. Suddenly, the simple goal of enjoying quality sound was complicated and space consuming. Music also presented an inspiration with a device called an "acoustic waveguide." This simple device confines the movement of a sound wave so it travels over a desired path. An example is a pipe organ, which uses a small amount of air to fill a cathedral with full, rich sound. Another example is a flute. By blowing a stream of air across the mouthpiece, a musician can produce enough sound to fill a large room. However, both of these instruments have a serious limitation where loudspeakers are concerned-production of different notes requires waveguides of different lengths. This is created either through fingering, as in the flute, or by selecting another length of pipe, as in the organ. The challenge was how can you utilize a single acoustic waveguide if it can only reproduce a single note? How can you keep a system compact if, like an organ, you need dozens of pipes to produce a wide range of sound? It would take the engineers of Bose 14 years of research to find the answer - 'acoustic waveguide speaker technology'. They realized that by mounting a loudspeaker in a tube, the motion of the loudspeaker would act as a waveguide, effectively transforming a small amount of input (air) into a large amount of output (sound). They discovered that a waveguide could match the mechanical properties of a loudspeaker for efficient operation over a wide range of notes. That meant a small driver could produce clear sound without audible distortion, even at high volume levels in the low frequencies. This addressed the challenges of delivering full, rich sound, but the size of the waveguide was still an issue. Additional analysis and measurements revealed that the tube could be folded into intricate patterns with no ill effect on sound quality. This discovery eliminated any concerns about the length of the waveguide and proved to be an extraordinary breakthrough. A waveguide several feet long could now be woven into a briefcase-sized enclosure, delivering sound with more clarity, depth and lifelike quality than a conventional component stereo system. The ability to change the shape and size of the acoustic waveguide chamber while maintaining high quality output opened the door to exciting audio opportunities. In 1993, Bose took the challenge of creating a complete system one step further with the introduction of the Wave® radio. This compact system is only 14 inches wide, yet delivers full, rich sound thanks to the 34-inch-long acoustic waveguide wrapped throughout the interior. Much like water conforms to the shape of its container, acoustic waveguide speaker technology allows us to modify the waveguide to fit a variety of applications. Sound is full and rich, whether confined to the compact structure of the Wave® radio or expanded to the professional 12-foot-long applications designed for movie theaters and stadiums. Acoustic waveguide speaker technology was even used to deliver rich sound in the Mazda RX-7. The engineers were able to intricately wrap the waveguide within the size constraints of this sports car without taking space from the passenger compartment. Proof once again, that consistency and persistence pays off. To think that most people quit after a week, a month, a year, and wonder why they don't succeed.
This article courtesy of http://www.flute-4u.com.
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