Ace of Bass – Updated –
The Phoenix Electrostatic Speaker, designed and developed by my team and I, has been featured on Wired Magazine. Sniff…
Hmm not the best shot I think. I’ll see if I can get more shots that have been approved for released.
Get a Wired [1-year subscription]
Here’s the write up, which I’m saving for eternity:
Electrostatic speakers, which make music by vibrating diaphragms between oppositely charged plates, have been around since the ’50s. But unlike poodle skirts, they never caught on, because the distortion-free sound was projected in a fairly narrow sonic field. Nakamichi has widened the optimal listening area by shaping the plates in its Phoenix speakers like teardrops. And to bump up the bass, notoriously lacking in electrostatics, each speaker has an integrated dual-cone subwoofer. The two drivers move opposite to each other, canceling out errant vibrations that would color the sound.
Phoenix: $8,600 per pair, www.nakamichi.com
This article is located in the latest Wired Magazine 15.03, grab it while you can! I know I will.
Edit: Added gratuitous shot from the magazine. Ahhh so tasty.
Edit 2: This product has also been awarded a 2007 Good Design Award.
BillyWarhol
July 1, 2008 at 4:09 pmBeautiful Speakers*
I’ll have to go into Bay-Bloor Sound to hear them!!
;)) Peace*
Jasper
March 22, 2007 at 12:01 pmTrue, they are quite pricey, speakers are usually the most expensive part of good home sound system.
For music lovers with big pockets I guess.
Design Translator
March 22, 2007 at 10:58 amNo kidding Jasper, I wish to have at least a pair. But no such luck. I can only hug the prototypes at work! Quite true as well, it looks wonderful in the magazine, but I can assure you it looks far better in front of you for real!
The sound is amazing, crystal clear and bass so rich we actually had to tuned it DOWN! We have high hopes, not bet the house hopes, but high hopes for this product.
Jasper
March 22, 2007 at 10:32 amAfter reading your blog entry, i realized that my brother brought the magazine from one of his trips, it was there all the time … It looks much better in the mag, very slick!
I would really like to hear the bass, since i’m a German electro kid… must be really good sound..
How many of these do you have at your home?
Design Translator
March 21, 2007 at 7:15 amWe do that and everything else to do with design!
Its not commonly known but Industrial Design for the entire Nakamichi brand is done out of Singapore.
NTT
March 20, 2007 at 11:45 pm:$ I did not realise that you work for Nakamichi. I thought you were new start-up or something like that.
So how much of the R&D for Nakamichi is done in Singapore? Or is most of it done elsewhere?
Design Translator
March 20, 2007 at 9:17 amHi NTT,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, together with my team, we conceptualised and designed the entire speaker and speaker system.
The electrostatic technology was however developed as a joint venture between our R&D and our technology partners. The Industrial Design focused on managing the raw technology and communicating its intent to our consumers.
NTT
March 20, 2007 at 8:47 amWow! Did you guys do just the industrial design, or the whole speaker? If you are designing and developing the whole speaker, I would be interested in knowing what you guys do.