Turning Your Window Or Tabletop Into A Speaker

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.insomedia.com/soundbug/">http://www.insomedia.com/soundbug/</a><br /><br />Here's a review of a little device Jason saw at CeBIT and that Phillip Torrone seems to really like. It's a type of speaker amplifier for use with mobile devices like Pocket PCs. You plug it into the headphone jack of your device, then attach it to any large, flat surface like a large window or table top. The sound is then vibrated through the surface, turning it into a huge speaker.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/soundbug2.jpg" /><br /><br />Phillip writes:<br /><br />"The sound quality of the Soundbug is pretty impressive, the best results have been with a large pane of thick glass at a restaurant and also my wooden dining room table, in fact it was so loud that I was asked to turn it down. Smaller than a computer mouse, Soundbug plugs into the standard 3.5mm headphone socket of any device, so that means pretty much anything that has headphones...<br /><br />The Soundbug transmits the sound to the flat surface by way of a small piece of Terfenol, which is a mixture of rare earth metals and iron. This substance is placed within an aluminum case, around which is wrapped a coil. Passing electricity through the coil causes the piece of Terfonal to slightly expand, resulting in a force of 400 pounds. Once attached to a flat surface, Soundbug will transmit electronic signals into mechanical energy, causing the flat surface to vibrate and broadcast the sound."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/computing/5a15.shtml">Thinkgeek.com</a> publishes these additional specs:<br /><br />• Turns any hard, glossy surface into a sound source <br />• Generates sound levels of up to 75 dBm peak <br />• Two Soundbugs can be linked in parallel to generate full stereo sound <br />• Uses (3) AAA batteries (included) <br />• Dimensions: 3.8" x 2.1" x 1.5" <br /><br />I wouldn't mind giving this a try, as long as my teenage son couldn't end up creating an "Is It Live Or Is It Memorex" effect with it.

[iPAUL]

8O WOW 8O

Any word on when this gadget will be available and what the pricetag might be?

iPAUL

[pt]

8O WOW 8O

Any word on when this gadget will be available and what the pricetag might be?

iPAUL


www.thinkgeek.com

cheers,
pt

[sundown]

My guess is that the airlines wouldn't appreciate you sticking one of these on the window and that's a place where I could really use amplified sound :wink: (yeah I know, not everyone wants to hear what I want to hear). Sounds neat though.

[KpjCoffey]

I have been using on of these for about a month and it is very nice I got mine from
http://www.shoplifestyle.com/store/product.asp?dept%5Fid=0&pf%5Fid=3858&mscssid=CH8LE9KFSFVV8LMCDACPF5NLHEHWCEK9

Big sound from a little space. Can us hooked up to anything with a standard 2.5mm jack, (MP3 player, GameBoy, cassette player, ....)

Uses 3 AAA batteries.

Fr Kevin

[Dave Conger]

Have you seen the video of this product on the companies web site? I wouldn't think that trying to stick this little baby TO YOUR FRIENDS HEAD would be such a good idea?!?! Maybe it is just me.... :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

Have you seen the video of this product on the companies web site?


That video was sooooooooo cheesy - it made me laugh! :lol: :lol:

[nishka]

I went against my better judgement and ordered one of these babies today :). I'll post some thoughts after it comes in.

[R K]

This may be a silly question, but can anyone tell me how the bass response on this bug is?
I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be too good but as long as its decent, it might have a chance of being worthwhile.

[OlManRivah]

They want $50.00 + shipping! 8)

[helios]

I bought a Soundbug from thinkgeek last week and have been playing with it for a few days now.

Sound output is better only if you have a large enough surface area to attach the soundbug to, otherwise its not much louder than a cheap pair of $15 computer speakers. With a large surface area to work with, as Philip mentions, it can get pretty loud. Glass surfaces seem to work best (most of their advertising shows it being attached to glass), while large solid wood tables & desks are the next best surface to work with.

There are two volume settings on the device, low and high, and I've noticed on the high setting there is occasional sound distortion like the sound is being overdriven. It uses 3 AAA batteries, and it automatically engages a power-saving mode in which it activates a sleep mode when no sound is being played.

Sound quality is okay, but then I wasn't expecting high fidelity sound from this thing anyway. Not much bass response. Its a neat little gadget, very portable and convenient to carry around with you. It definitely gets people's attention when you attach one to a surface and they hear the sound coming from it.

[eosd30]

Have you seen the video of this product on the companies web site?


That video was sooooooooo cheesy - it made me laugh! :lol: :lol:


I must agree ... that is the absolute CHEESIEST video I have seen in a long while. :mrgreen:

[charlie]

Sound quality is okay, but then I wasn't expecting high fidelity sound from this thing anyway. Not much bass response. Its a neat little gadget, very portable and convenient to carry around with you.


would you consider using it as your only speakers on your desktop if you were next to a large window? do you think the sound quality compares to a standard set of $75 speakers?

charlie

[eric linsley]

i have to se this comertical can you give us the websight?

[nishka]

I decided to cough up $50 to thinkgeek to try one of these things out. There's a momentary, 'woh that's cool' when your plate glass window starts producing sound, but that only lasts 10 seconds :). It could have some uses as a presentation microphone amplifier, but beyond that it's not ready for prime time.

Once you turn the volume up, the sound becomes tinny.. Turn it up slightly louder and the audio absolutely terrible. If you're looking for big sound, look elsewhere. The quality declines rapidly when you 'turn it up.'

It's a great 'gee whiz' device, but not much more than that. Bottom line, save your bucks.

[Tom_Gilheany]

So how long before we start seeing the boom-boom cars with one of these on each window? ;-)

-->Tom

[nishka]

I won't happen :). The sound gets so distorted as you turn the volume up that no self respecting disrespector will use it to share their music with their fellow motorists :).

[st63z]

Now you tell me, I just ordered 2 :(

[eric linsley]

please psot the web sight for the video

and i would think hta tthis would be great to hook up on window in ahouse

[Jason Dunn]

Search engines are created for a reason people. :lol:

http://www.soundbug.biz/how.asp?lang=en