Audio File
May 1, 2008
Electronics exhibitions used to be dreary affairs, filled with row upon row of drab black boxes. No longer. Now, each turn of a corner holds the potential for revelation, with attractive home entertainment products being the norm.
Part of this renaissance is due to computer-aided design, part to advanced manufacturing techniques, and part to smaller, more powerful electronic components. But much is the result of a long-overdue realization in the electronics industry that people prefer beauty to mere functionality.
The following are our top five new home entertainment products, each an exercise in both meticulous engineering and thoughtful design.
SALAGAR SONICS SPEAKERS
Technical skill usually exists in inverse proportion to one’s
aptitude for visual aesthetics. This situation poses problems especially for
small audio companies. Most exist as an expression of their founder’s technical
vision, and few possess the industrial design resources of an Apple or a Sony.
How fortunate for Salagar Sonics that the technical concepts of cofounders
Salahuddin Khan and Gary DiChiara practically demanded the speakers have a
singular, sensuous shape.
According to Khan, the shape emerged from the two engineers’ desire to build an extraordinarily stiff, vibration-resistant speaker cabinet. In a cylindrical shape, such as a submarine or Salagar’s speakers, the pressure inside is distributed evenly. Whereas with a box-shaped cabinet, the middle of each side flexes the most from the pressure, so it is prone to vibration that muddies sound.
Because the speaker cabinet had to contain two drivers—a woofer and a tweeter—Khan and DiChiara settled on what Khan calls a "double bubble" arrangement of cojoined cylinders, a design that echoes the look of a guitar. Instead of bending pieces of wood to form the cylinders, the designers constructed the speaker cabinets from many layers of medium-density fiberboard, each layer computer-machined in the dual-cylinder shape, then bonded and mechanically fastened to the next layer. Tap a knuckle against the side of the speaker and it feels more like a concrete casting than a wood product.
Salagar Sonics clads its speakers in the customer’s choice of six wood veneers, eight high-gloss, automotive-style paint finishes, and custom finishes. The line includes four speakers, the most aesthetically appealing of which is the Symphony S210. The S210 incorporates a 10-inch woofer and a one-inch tweeter, and lists for $8,800 per pair in wood veneer or $9,300 per pair in a painted finish. It also offers metal stands specifically designed to support its curvaceous creations.
Because each speaker cabinet contains two 200-watt digital amplifiers—one for the tweeter, one for the woofer—a Salagar Sonics system can be one of the simplest ways to achieve state-of-the-art sound. A tiny interface box allows direct connection of an iPod or other digital music player. Conventional preamplifiers, CD players and the like may also be used.
All Salagar Sonics speakers are individually tested, and bear a test report personally signed by both Khan and DiChiara. The company’s unique design and meticulous quality control have produced one of the most outstanding speaker lines of recent years. A demonstration reveals remarkably lifelike, spacious and dynamic sound—proof that striking design and technical excellence can in fact coexist in an audio product.
Salagar Sonics, 847.688.0227, www.salagar.com
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