Panasonic Unveils Flat-Panel Speakers

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103445,tk,dn073002X,00.asp">http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103445,tk,dn073002X,00.asp</a><br /><br />Audio is a dear love of mine, so I greet this news with enthusiasm! I'm not convinced the audio quality will be all that great, but I've been surprised by flat-panel speakers before so I'll hold off on any preliminary judgments until I hear these in person. If they don't add much to the cost of a Pocket PC, and would make multimedia better, I'm all for it!<br /><br />"Matsu****a Electronic Industrial and its subsidiary Matsu****a Electronic Components will start shipping samples of transparent flat-panel speakers for mobile phones and PDAs next month, they announced Monday. The products, the Acoustic Panel and the Acoustic Touch-Panel, use Sound Window technology jointly developed by Matsu****a, better known for its Panasonic brand name, and its subsidiary.<br /><br />Sound Window consists of a transparent panel mounted in front of a device's display and a separate driver to vibrate the air between the panel and the display to create sound. The panels are thin and flexible, so they do not affect the sound quality when they are touched. Because the panel is placed over the LCD, the mobile device does not require speaker holes. The driver can be placed anywhere on the device so long as it vibrates the air between the panel and the display, allowing more flexible design of mobile devices, the statement says."

[Jeff Rutledge]

Sounds interesting. Any chance of seeing some pics (I assume not yet, but can't hurt to ask) :?

[Jason Dunn]

Any chance of seeing some pics (I assume not yet, but can't hurt to ask)

You'd have to go as PC World - it's not my news story. :wink:

[klinux]

Flat panel speakers rock! Their ability to reproduce acoustic detail is superior to any box speakers in their price range. Granted, this only applies to mid-fi and hi-fi speakers and not related to Jason's article. :wink:

Mine is from Magnepan (http://www.magnepan.com/).

[topps]

Flat panel speakers rock! Their ability to reproduce acoustic detail is superior to any box speakers in their price range. Granted, this only applies to mid-fi and hi-fi speakers and not related to Jason's article. :wink:

Mine is from Magnepan (http://www.magnepan.com/).

I agree. Their fidelity in mid and upper frequencies is wonderful. They tend to be lacking in bass response, especially with smaller panels.

I'm glad to see them coming - this will raise the bar in mobile audio by an order of magnitude. Only those high density Sony headphones will give you better quality - and that's because acoustic physics determines potential bass response in such scenarios.

[jerrytroll]

Wow. I happen to think this is pretty cool. Your PDA screen as a speaker? Perhaps better sound than those ones we currently have? My only question is, how would the vibration effect the touch screen, or, conversely, how would having a touch screen effect the speaker (i.e. pressure on it, scratches, etc)

[Terry]

Beware of dust under the screen with one of these speakers :scrambleup: