Patent Review: Vertically and Horizontally Balanced Subwoofer

The patent reviewed here was granted to inventors Robert G. Johnston (Amprior Ontario, CA), and Sanford M.Gross (Owings Mills, MD), respectively the head of engineering of GoldenEar Technology, and one of its co-founders. The patent describes a subwoofer with two drivers on each side plus one passive radiator facing up and one passive radiator facing down. The passive radiator facing down effectively couples acoustic energy at very low frequencies into the floor.

Having reviewed previously one of the early Mayht Holding B.V. patents covering their general bipolar, interleaved multiple motor structure architecture, James Croft reviews the most recent US publication (2022). This one addresses the most dramatic claim for the Mayht transducer technology of the ability to provide a greater-than 10x reduction in enclosure volume, while maintaining the same efficiency and bandwidth as compared to the current state of the art. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, August 2022

James Croft explores patents granted to Mattias and Timothy Scheek, on behalf of Mayht Holding B.V. Our readers will recognize the name from the April 2022 announcement of the acquisition by Sonos of Mayht Holding BV, for "$100 million in existing cash on hand.” Having followed their work through a number of patent publications, Mayht's technology triggered Croft's curiosity, for its unconventional structural designs, appearing to represent fresh thinking. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2022.

James Croft reviews another patent of a concept ignoring abundant prior art, which apparently wasn’t scrutinized by industry experts - as it should. The patent "Dynamic Acoustic Waveguide," was awarded to William Eugene Wheeler (High Ridge, MO) as inventor and assignee, and describes a “loudspeaker and a method of operation that allow for the production and emphasis of extremely low bass tones.

Sometimes James Croft reviews patents that are hard to understand how could they possibly have materialized. This patent describes a “System and Method for Improved Audio Perception” and was granted to Yair Raz (inventor) on behalf of Innovo IP, LLC (Aventura, FL). The “invention” describes “methods of Audio Signal Personalized Enhancement for optimal listening to music using a combination of hearing test, audio signal compensation, and signal processing algorithms. A description that could easily be applied to dozens of currently available products. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2016.

In this article, James Croft reviews a generic “Loudspeaker” concept patent, granted to Teppei Yamada, of Tokyo, Japan, on behalf of Zorzo Co., Ltd. and which describes a somewhat surprising concept of a loudspeaker that includes a hermetically sealed enclosure, with a driver outside of an enclosure and a second driver inside, with a pipe communicating between the two drivers. The second driver is configured to output a signal of opposite phase to that of the first driver. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2016.

This review looks at an independently patent submitted in 2013 and awarded in 2016 to Jack Nilsson (Canton, OH), describing a system and method for an audio system including a first speaker that reproduces sounds in a first frequency range and a second speaker that reproduces sounds in second frequency range. As James Croft comments, the patent is interesting in its purposeful application of breaking currently established rules and may be useful in certain applications or environments. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, August 2016.

This article reviews a patent application submitted in 2010 by to two inventors, on behalf of Jazz Hipster Corp. (Taiwan), regarding an improved structure of a speaker using the surround to reduce the resistance of the diaphragm excursion, which helps to generate a more linear diaphragm movement, with less resistance, and reduced distortion. As James Croft noted, the approach had been used in the past, but its use decreased due to the high-performance achieved with well-designed roll-surrounds, at a lower cost. No surprisingly this patent was subsequently abandoned.

This review discusses an intriguing speaker design patented by Walter Ka Wai Chu, from Taiwan. The design allows the speaker device to potentially improve the bass performance in the entire low-frequency band instead of being limited to only a few low-frequency points, the inventor claims. While James Croft confesses to being somewhat skeptical of whether, in its current disclosed form, the device will provide a useful advantage, he found the design sufficiently interesting to be analyzed in more detail.

This patent analysis looks at an interesting wearable acoustic device, patented by five inventors on behalf of Bose Corp, and which the company would later apply in its Bose SoundWear Companion - the brand's own iteration of an around-the-neck or neckband concept, launched at the end of 2017. With a significant number of claims, the awarded patent describes “a neck loop that is constructed and arranged to be worn around the neck," with drivers located, one each, below the left and right ears of the user, and two acoustically coupled waveguides.