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I have been intrigued to find several iPod sound systems that only have one speaker.
This Bang and Olufsen appears to do that. I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like in all the installation photos.
Although the speaker appears to maybe have 2 speakers in it- 2 mids and trebles, I suppose they are in the one unit, making it such a narrow stereo field that it must be effectively mono.
I can see that from a lifestyle point of view one of the appeals of mono is that it has a smaller footprint and is less intrusive
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I used this in my previous home office. It worked great and sounds very good in mono. We now have it in a spare bedroom so when my wife's nieces and nephews visit, they can direct attach or stream to it over bluetooth from their smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
Marshall Stanmore. 80-Watts RMS. Inputs: RCA, 3.5mm, Toslink, Bluetooth wireless
What next 78s and cactus needles?
I believe that ZVOX uses a multiplicity of small drivers horizontally arrayed in three zones.
My guess is that, leaving out whatever DSP is used to make it work better, the three zones are from left to right "Left minus Right," "Left plus Right," and "Right minus Left."
At the moment I can't conceptualize whether that would result in the mono voice of the announcer disappearing, but I can say from vicarious experience that many people use TV tuned to a cable or satellite music source as their primary source of ambient music.
FWIW & YMMV.
jm
ZVOX systems do use three speakers or sets of drivers. Left is a combination of left channel plus "left minus right." Right is a combination of right channel plus "right minus left." Center is "left plus right," otherwise known as monaural. The setup does not result in announcers' voices disappearing. The mono center speaker(s) work quite well in reproducing announcer voices clearly.
ZVOX Audio
Oddly, probably anything BUT Mono.
I have a tiny Bose speaker (it was a gift, I'm INNOCENT) that is likely similar and actually I listen to it quite a bit. It has sort of a table radio sound that I rather like (reminiscent of my youth?) and yet throws a fairly pleasing sound stage. Absolutely not Hi-Fi in an objective sense but quite life-like in others.
The odd thing is it doesn't do mono. When the announcer comes on there is just nothing except an occasional hint of sibilance. That's a good much of the time, bad occasionally and odd always. But I've gotten used to it.
Now if I may jump of the cliff of speculation: I think the concept has a lot of potential for high quality home audio. Having two widely separated stereo speakers is just a poor way to try and reproduce music at home in my opinion. It's unnatural and wasn't even the way stereo was originally designed, it's supposed to have a center channel. In many ways mono sounds realer. (is that a word?) But lacking in "air". Well these new toys show that you can now more or less have your cake and eat it. The more realistic sound (IMHO) of mono with air and depth of stereo.
Compared however with my main speakers, it's a toy. But an amazingly realistic toy in some ways. If something along that line was implemented with speakers more like my Infinities, well that might just be something. Maybe we are coming up on a new era: Single source Stereo (with wireless wing speakers for big rooms) and binaural headphoning...
We really have no onus upon us to stick with techniques from the '50's!
Rick
I heard that speaker at CES a couple years ago. In fact, it sounded pretty good, and it does sound bigger than it is. Not an "audiophile speaker" but certainly enjoyable for casual listening. I do believe it is stereo with DSP enhancement to compensate for the close L/R driver placement. It looks like a bow and arrow target to me.
Looks like a satellite dish to me. For those who prefer that particular modern decor in their kitchen.
But then again it is also available in the Nordic Sky shades of dawn, dusk and twilight. Perhaps they'll add the bullseye variation soon. :)
... The B&O product seems to be more about aesthetics, form & convenience than it is about sound. Though I suspect it sounds reasonable, for what it is.My wife's best sounding boombox is an Altec Lansing number, with a front pair of 3" drivers and a pair of small tweeters. The speakers are spaced less than 12" apart. On each 'end' of the box there are 5" woofers. It sounds very good for the pocket change it cost.
Being portable she takes it to the pool or the water or wherever outside she wants. Then at night she often listen to it in the kitchen. My point is, in the kitchen we have some Paradigm Studio 20 bookshelf speakers hooked up via Sonos. They sound way better than the boombox but half the time my wife listen to the boombox because it is quicker and easier to use and sound quality is not the forefront priority.
This B&O product I think falls into the category where value-for-money sound quality is not the main priority. A stereo presentation is of little benefit where the listener is constantly moving around. From what I can tell the B&O product seems to be marketed for use in an environment where the listener will not necessarily be sedentary.
Lastly, there is nothing wrong with mono!
Edit; syntax.
Smile
Sox
Edits: 07/12/14
Here here! Well put. Stereo is wasted on most people who don't have systems set up properly anyway.
By the way, I have often used mono for extended periods when one speaker is out of action, eg esl57, and I don't have any complaints
...It's ostensibly a stereo speaker. Contains: 2xtweet, 2xmid, 1xwoof, 3 class D amps and other stuff like room adaptation circuitry.While at first glance it might seem to be primarily mono at any reasonable listening distance, the use of tricky DSP and out-of-phase cross feed of channels can achieve a fairly wide sound stage at distance.
While I haven't heard the speaker and B&O is kinda cagey about what exactly goes on inside processing wise, I expect a pleasingly broad if fake soundstage can achieved. The Bose Wave Radio does this on a less elaborate scale and a stereo image is definitely perceived 10-15ft away.
I wish I had the will (and interior decorating) to purchase one of these. Not cheap @ ~ $2,600 USD but stylish if you like that kind of thing.
Edits: 07/11/14
so someone would have paid (on original price) more that the cost of a pair of esl57's?
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