NXT Extends Bass In Flat Panels

LAS VEGAS — NXT said it has developed a way to extend the bass response of its flat-panel speaker technology to make a single small cabinet-enclosed driver deliver high-performance full-range response.

“Full-range drivers are feasible, potentially eliminating any requirement for low frequency-specific loudspeakers,” a spokesman said during International CES.

The design, called Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) technology, retains many of the advantages of enclosure-less NXT flat-panel designs, including wide dispersion for no hot spots and uniform directivity across the full frequency bandwidth.

Mounted in a chassis much like a conventional drive unit, a BMR driver can be circular or rectangular. The similarity with conventional basket drivers aids the manufacturing process, allowing BMR drive units to be built using conventional loudspeaker techniques, the company said.

BMR's low-frequency performance is equivalent to conventional drive units of the same size, the company said, but its frequency range is extended with wide directivity. “Increasing the bandwidth in this way means that the number of drivers required to cover a given frequency range can be reduced,” the company continued. “As the technology is scalable, full-range drivers are feasible, potentially eliminating any requirement for low frequency-specific loudspeakers.”

During CES, the company showed two prototypes: a conventional-looking cube-shaped satellite/subwoofer speaker system and an ultra-thin pair of speakers shaped like a book for bookshelf placement.

In another announcement, the U.K.-based company said Toyota will offer the first vehicle equipped with a roof-liner speaker system using its flat-panel technology.

Toyota's new FJ Cruiser SUV will become the first mass-production vehicle to use NXT's SurfaceSound technology in its roof liner, which complements other conventional speakers in the car. The NXT speaker's omni-directional speaker technology helps fill the car's interior with sound. Graham Ryan, NXT's chief commercial officer, told TWICE. The car will be available in the United States in March.

The vehicle is available with standard AM/FM/CD system with six speakers, including NXT-based roof liner. Optional systems are an eight-speaker system with six-disc CD changer and a nine speaker system with subwoofer.