Dealers Gear Up To Hear a Tymphany

Cupertino, Calif. — Start-up Tymphany has developed speaker technology said to pack bass into one-third the space of existing transducers, making it possible to deliver deep bass from flat wall-hanging plasma-friendly speakers, car audio speakers and PC speakers without using an outboard powered subwoofer.

Linear Array Transducer (LAT) technology can also be incorporated into thin speaker-stands to deliver bass and in in-wall and in-ceiling speakers to deliver the sound of a 12-inch subwoofer in a 3-inch wall without shaking the wall, the company contends.

LAT technology takes shape as a long, cylindrical enclosure that incorporates multiple stacked 3.5-inch diaphragms that face up and are alternately connected to a motor either at the top or bottom of the array by three lightweight piston rods. Ten such discs achieve a slightly greater radiating area than an 11-inch cone, a white paper said. More of fewer discs can be incorporated into different consumer products.

Besides pushing as much air as a 10-inch cone, the configuration lowers harmonic distortion, reduces mechanical vibration and reduces cone breakup.

LAT technology generates high-decibel sound levels across a wide range of frequencies from 20Hz to more than 4kHz, said Ken Kantor, chief technical officer and former co-founder of NHT. Sound radiates through multiple flow ports along the side of the speaker housing.

An LAT speaker operates as a push/pull device, with the top motor and bottom motor moving in opposite directions, each responsible for alternating sets of diaphragms. “Each small diaphragm is always moving toward or away from the diaphragm next to it, pumping air into or out of the vent between them,” a whitepaper said. “Push/pull operation results in the cancellation of certain types of even-order distortion, which can arise from electrodynamic motor nonlinearities,” the whitepaper continued. In addition, the opposing end motors cancel out structural vibration, so the driver housing shows very little mechanical vibration, the whitepaper continued.

LAT technology scales down to 2 inches and up to 12 inches in diameter at any length. It can be stacked into large clusters for even more power. It fits into rectangular spaces more efficiently than traditional cones, and it works with vented box, transmission line, infinite baffle and sealed enclosures.

The Cupertino, Calif., Company's principals include board member John Carter, former chief engineer at Bose, and Ken Kantor. The company plans to demonstrate at a Las Vegas Hilton suite.