😎 World's First Fourier Transform Speaker: Audio Revolutionized?

Is this the most innovative audiophile speaker in the world?

In many respects, the answer is a simple yes. I'm sorry I missed the show and ability to hear them first hand, but will have more on this speaker in the future.

In this video, Bob shares music clips and details on the speaker from Pacific Audio Fest 2024 in Seattle this past weekend.

For those unfamiliar with Fourier theorem...

The Fourier theorem states that any periodic function can be represented as a sum of sine and cosine functions.

According to the Fourier theorem, a steady-state wave is composed of a series of sinusoidal components whose frequencies are those of the fundamental and its harmonics, each component having the proper amplitude and phase. The sequence of components that form this complex wave is called its spectrum

In simpler terms, it means that any complex wave can be broken down into a combination of simpler, fundamental waves. This is a powerful concept with applications in various fields, including signal processing, physics, and mathematics.  

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All copyright belongs to their respective owners.
Original Trailer Song - Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
Arranged and Orchestrated - Yuri Krutikov

[TheBlindAudiophile]

Manufacturer Response: The name of our speaker and the use of the term "Fourier Series" in our video has led to some reasonable criticism in light of the information available. While we use the Fourier Transform in our Fir filters many crossovers, beyond that we use a different algorithm to extract the signals fundamental and harmonic series, which I stated in the video gets summed as the drivers produce their assigned sinusoids.

As an analogy both terms fit. We extract the fundamental and its harmonics from a signal as does the Fourier Transform, but our algorithm is far more practical for reproducing music recordings with loudspeakers. We sum the sinusoids analogous to the Inverse Fourier Transform as the sine waves leave drivers.

The effectiveness of our new approach in sound reproduction was noted by numerous individuals at the show who stated clearly we sounded not only unique but were the best sound at the show in spite of its chaotic and work in progress look.
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We will reconsider our explanations in the future to both avoid this confusion and protect our intellectual property.

We will be in LA in June for the show with a commercial product. We will have a room for listening and another to demonstrate its unique ability to stay in phase with the input and whose output maps over the input perfectly.

All criticism is welcome but we especially look forward to all responses from individuals who have heard them. We know this new paradigm in sound reproduction is so radical many are convinced that it can’t work and nothing but nonsense could claim it does.

Fred Slaven
Fourier Transform Speakers.
Sent from my iPhone

[johncircosta]

A speaker cable sellers dream system !

[Technical_Audio]

Having a master’s degree in electrical engineering with a specialty in signal processing, I can say that the technical explanation provided here was mostly mixed-up gibberish. I don’t know if these speakers sounded good or not, but however they sounded wasn’t due to these mistaken beliefs, at least as explained.

[johnlehew]

It is well known that Fourier is used to split signals into different frequency bands. It is mathematical processing and unlike physical capacitors, inductors, and resistors it will maintain phase in the signals whereas physical electronics distort phase. It converts a time based signal into a frequency signal that can be easily filtered by removing everything outside of 200 hz and 300 hz then converted back to the time domain to play that part of the signal. Based on the explanations in this video, I don’t believe anything special is here. I think this system is simply an active crossover driving 15 speakers. It is missing a good engineering explanation as to why it works, there is an explanation but it doesn’t make sense plus the designer mentions he recently learned about Fourier. It is a very complex subject and was first applied to phone signals when they first came out to reduce noise and boost signals. I took a semester on nothing but Fourier in college and this is a hard subject to learn on your own. I encourage the designer to prove me wrong and explain how this is not an active crossover and provide better explanations of how it works. I’m big on innovation and wish him the best however this isn’t passing the smell test for me.

[jazzboy]

It sounded good, and the tech is simply brilliant. One of my favorite rooms at PAF 2024.

[rrd]

I don't think that the bright minds at Magico, Magnepan, Wilson, Sound Lab, YG Acoustics and other high-end speaker brands will lose any sleep.

[exponentmantissa]

Drivers do not have to stop instantly and change phase which he claimed. That would be a step function which never occurs in audio and is impossible for an amplifier to reproduce as it would require infinite slew rate. He also claimed his drivers are all in phase. They are not because there is a distance between them. In addition he is going to get a ton of diffraction and reflection off the speaker array. He has made a classic audio mistake. He claims a problem exists that doesnt and then does a ton of design work and cost to fix something that it is a non issue.

[johnstone]

The drivers are all mounted in free air and facing upward. But because of the close stacking there's a tremendous amount of diffraction created both off the driver basket above and the one below. Regardless of the DSP involved, these drivers are operating in a very sub-optimal environment where in phase and out of phase energy (front and back of cone) are simultaneously being radiated into the listening space. Lots of signal cancellation results, especially on the listening axis. I assume the goal is to make it omni directional, but this design puts tremendous demands on the drivers to produce any substantial amount of energy at the listening position.

[johnlehew]

That’s the coolest rats nest of wires I’ve ever seen

[mrmessyjesse]

I saw it Friday and was bummed it was not still open when I went with the wife on Sunday. Cool engineering… not sure about the WAF as it is but love seeing the sausage made!

[mysockC]

“Nature adds them up free of charge.” Yes. It’s called a SPEAKER. We can even do really nifty things like using coaxial drivers and waveguides to ensure that the SPEAKER delivers a nice uniform sound and symmetrical “time aligned” dispersion pattern across the audio spectrum. There are even a few obscure companies like KEF, Genelec, Mofi, etc. that make such mythical devices 😐

[Canadian_Eh_I]

Very interesting. Love audio design, where science meets art !

[ishonk]

Interesting whack-a-doodle speaker. Bass and lower mids omnidirectional, mids in dipol dispersion and highs in classic "starts wide - narrows down" dispersion pattern. Must be some spacious sound. I put it down as ShockFi. Thumbs up for the inventor!

[danielgeiger]

This looks to me rather like around 17-way speaker that is 17-way amped. I see nothing that corresponds to a proper Fourier Transformation, where true sine waves interact with constructive and destructive interference to produce a derivative. That was quite clear when he talked about one speaker emitting sound from three piano keys, which is a range. A true sine wave has no range by definition. A test would be to only amp one of those 17 speakers and see whether it truly produces a single tone, or whether one speaker shows some variation in pitch. my 2c as a wet scientist.

[AudiophileJunkie]

For those unfamiliar with the word "fourier", I'll put more details in the description, but in essence, the Fourier theorem provides a powerful tool for understanding and analyzing complex waveforms by breaking them down into their simpler components.

[lebeltoottoot]

I seem to be in the minority here because being blind I only get a gist of what it may look like but when it came to the sound on the second track this speaker sounded amazing. Something little strange going on with the base to sub base to me, but overall it was wonderfully dynamic, energetic and engaging.

[datka]

I’m sure cable manufactures are happy watching this video😂

[dl]

Wow. Brilliant. The box has been thought outside of.

[timinator]

Maybe it's a function (see what I did there) of the youtube compression, but the transient attacks seem a bit rounded. Considering how compromised listening via youtube is, the imaging and soundstage seem incredible. Obviously, I'd need to hear familiar source material in person to form a better opinion. But as a proof of concept, to me, they hit it out of the park.

[supercompooper]

a good first proof of concept for sure