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Screening Emo Labs' New Speaker Technology
Edge Motion technology puts speakers in notebooks, TVs, monitors, auto telematics and even cell phones on a diet
John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief -- Design News, January 22, 2009
For notebook computer designers, maximizing internal real estate and minimizing weight is always an issue. Replacing a component with something lighter and more svelte that performs better is a well-trodden design path.
A startup in Waltham, MA called Emo Labs aims to put speakers in notebooks, TVs, monitors, auto telematics and even cell phones on a diet. Their technology, known as Edge Motion, embeds a thin plastic membrane over the screen that is permanently clamped in the middle inside a light metal frame. Typically, the membrane is made from PET plastic similar to that found in touch-screen applications (and milk jugs), according to Emo Labs CEO Jason Carlson.
On either end, piezo actuators tug on the membrane at an extremely fast rate to create terrific (my words ... I heard it) stereo sound. The left speaker is on that side of the membrane while the other side houses the right side speaker (remember, the membrane is the speaker. There are no speaker speakers, if you will).
While fidelity is vastly improved over low-quality computer and TV speakers, the visual effects of sound coming directly from an actor's or singer's lips is just as compelling. Given that conventional computer speakers often sit to the left and right of a monitor, the sound is never perfectly in sync with the video. But Edge Technology gets closer, offering the viewer/listener more of the movie theater sound experience.
A proprietary amplifier built from off-the-shelf components control the actuators which vibrate the membrane to produce sound, says Carlson. "Traditional speakers look like a resistor to the electronics. Ours looks more like a capacitor," he says, explaining the requirements of the Emo Labs amplifier.
Asked how he came up with the idea, inventor Lewis Athanas, a speaker designer with four patents and 36 products to his credit according to the Emo Labs' website, says "I did the math and it works. Most people in the field don't get comparing movements with theory," he says. Now Emo Labs' CTO, Athanas began work on Edge Motion in 2001 in his garage and has steadily improved several iterations since. Emo Labs was formed in 2006.
This type of technology falls into the category of planar speakers, which use membranes like Edge Technology. Conventional speakers are typically horn-shaped and use magnetic fields to drive sound, although there are many types.
The company that comes closest to Emo Labs is NXT, which claims to have shipped 4.5 million units incorporating its Distributed Mode Loudspeaker (DML) and Audio Full Range loudspeaker (AFR) technologies as of mid-2008. The Cambridge, England-based company has signed a variety of monitor and automakers. Another planar speaker company is Martin Logan, which has a membrane driven by a conventional speaker, which is absent in the Emo Labs and NXT technologies.
Carlson says Emolabs is close to signing up two OEMs to start, but won't say who they might be. The technology will add $20-$40 to the cost of manufacturing a TV, for example. That will translate to $75-$90 at retail. He says to look for the technology in places like Best Buy by the end of the year or early next.
As for testing, Carlson says they've run a unit 24x7 for 30 days at elevated voltage and heat levels, but were unable to break it. Will they replace conventional speakers? Carlson backs away from that ambitious and perhaps unrealistic idea, but mentions another.
"That's not what we are going for. We want to be number one on the embedded speaker market."Gallery »
Screening Emolabs New Speaker Technology
