paxiduvmigo434's Space http://paxiduvmigo434.posterous.com Most recent posts at paxiduvmigo434's Space posterous.com Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:19:00 -0700 Probably some of the best speakers on the market, but we would say that http://paxiduvmigo434.posterous.com/probably-some-of-the-best-speakers-on-the-mar http://paxiduvmigo434.posterous.com/probably-some-of-the-best-speakers-on-the-mar Andrew Jones has a degree in physics, but his real passion is speaker design. They could have just changed the cabinets, but Jones saw the redesign as an opportunity to further perfect the tweeters and woofers. Then again, he could have messed up a good thing, but as soon as I heard the new speakers, those concerns evaporated. I spoke with Jones to learn more about the redesign process.

The new speakers don't look much different from the Is the Best dock ever 2012, but all the sound reproducing elements have been completely redesigned. He didn't use off the shelf existing drivers, Jones designed all of the drivers himself, and the crossover networks that direct the treble frequencies to the tweeter, and bass to the woofer. One new goal for the revised speakers was to make them more "sensitive," so they could play louder than the original models with the same amount of watts driving them. Jones said that was a priority because there's a good chance speakers in this price class will be partnered with low-cost/low-power receivers. Every watt counts, so he wanted to make the new speakers even easier to drive with inexpensive receivers. The new SW-8Mk2 subwoofer is the least changed model in the line.

Jones is a modest man; he thinks the real reason so few budget speakers sound good is the designers and companies aren't really trying to make great-sounding speakers. They're designed to have a certain look and fill in a price point on the lower end of the speaker line. Jones worked on the Pioneer redesign project for six months and used most of the time on research, explaining with a chuckle, "If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be research." He designed woofers and tweeters on a computer, had prototypes made, measured them, and revised the drivers again and again to get ever closer to his performance goals. He wasn't interested in making a speaker line with a lot of models, because he knew that only a few would really sell, so there's one tower, one bookshelf, one center speaker, and one subwoofer in the line.

The curve-sided speaker cabinets look nice, and while Jones concedes that the curves have minimal sonic benefit, the rounded sides improve the integrity and strength of the medium-density fiberboard cabinets. Jones wisely decided to make fairly large speakers; in general, all things being equal, big speakers sound better than small ones. But things weren't equal; Jones is one of the best designers working today.

I've heard the complete system and the new models really do sound better, they sound clearer, make more bass, and can play louder than the original speaker line. Yes, they're relatively large speakers, Jones' SP-FS52 tower speakers have three 5.25-inch woofers and one 1-inch soft dome tweeter, and the speakers are 35 inches high. These beauties retail for just $260 a pair, and sound as good as many speakers that sell for three times as much! The SP-C22 center speaker is 18.2 inches wide, 7.2 high, and 8.4 inches deep! It delivers the sort of natural-sounding dialog you can't get from more modestly sized center speakers.

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Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:15:00 -0700 The New iphone will have a connector that won't fit in your current dock, but this is a good thing? http://paxiduvmigo434.posterous.com/the-new-iphone-will-have-a-connector-that-won http://paxiduvmigo434.posterous.com/the-new-iphone-will-have-a-connector-that-won Ditching floppy drives in favor of CDs, that was driven by Apple; more recently, switching to digital distribution and dumping optical drives in the process on machines like the MacBook Air and new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. And then there’s the Dock Connector.

The 30-pin port has lasted longer than many ideas, cropping up early in the iPod life-cycle and then hanging on through all generations of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. As a result, it’s also ridiculously outdated: huge in comparison to the tiny microUSB ports on just about all other smartphones, media players and tablets.

Would Apple have kept the current Dock Connector for so long if it didn’t have a thriving third-party click right here now ecosystem? That seems unlikely, and the company knew it was onto a gravy train of sorts with the plethora of aftermarket kit that soon flourished for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Contrast the sheer number of cases, speaker-docks, cables, screen protectors, ridiculous and pointless keychain-charms and other ephemera for the iOS line-up with what third-party firms bothered creating for Zune, Creative’s PMPs or any of the other earnest but soon ejected alternatives to Apple’s media player.

A new port isn’t turnover for the sake of it, mind. Apple seldom dumps something until there’s a replacement lined up, and the Dock Connector will be no different. This time around, wireless has caught up to where wires once led, and so we have AirPlay and AirPlay for Video, along with Bluetooth for those less willing to pay licensing fees for the AirPlay radio tech. The new port might debut on the iPhone 5, but it’ll make a bigger difference to Apple’s iPod nano and iPod touch, which will be able to slim down even further thanks to the smaller connector assembly.

"The adapter will be a carbuncle in your Jony Ive designed life"
It’ll also be a spur to upgrade. Oh sure, there’ll be an adapter to go from shiny new port to old-fashioned connection, but it’ll be a carbuncle in your otherwise sleek, Jony Ive designed life. Accessories that require the iOS device to dock more completely will be out of luck too, as the adapter will presumably add some bulk overall. It’s a sop to existing owners, then, but the expectation is that they’ll upgrade sooner rather than later.

And, while it’s galling to be led by the credit card, that upgrade makes more sense. The smaller port means Apple’s famed aesthetic imagination can run wild again, no longer limited in accommodating the 21mm-long connector. iOS device owners are arguably already used to replacing things like cases when they change iPod or iPhone, too; such is the price of staying on-trend and current. The more frustrating kit will be expensive docking stations, which are coincidentally the items that will work most smoothly with the dock adapter.

There are even whispers of microUSB compatibility for recharging at least, something which in itself could make hundreds of thousands of peoples’ lives more straightforward. Yes, you might need the “proper” cable to sync or hook up with more complex accessories than a charger, but cloud- and wireless-based alternatives to that cord have already proliferated.

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