If you head to Hipcricket, the mobile marketing company that Ivan Braiker co-founded and runs in Seattle, you’ll see the Audyssey Audio Dock perched on his desk. The first day he brought the audio dock to work, his employees flocked into his office to check out the sound. It’s a mobile marketing company, so any new technologies impacting iPhones and Androids, they want to be first to know.

Like many CEOs of mobile companies, Ivan juggles between several phones, Skype meetings, and endless conference calls. But unlike many other CEOs, he knows the difference between good sound and great sound. That comes from more than 25 years of experience owning and managing some of the most iconic radio stations in the United States. When we heard that he was using an Audyssey Audio Dock we had to know what he thought.
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This year marks a century for Japanese electronics pioneers Denon.  Established in 1910 as the Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai (Japan Recorders Corporation) by American trader Frederick Whitney Horn, Denon has set milestones in professional and consumer electronics – including some of the earliest CD players (1981) and the first home theater receiver (1995).  You can find Audyssey technologies in every Denon receiver, including cutting-edge DSX in the AVR 4310-CI.  Denon President Hirofumi Ichikawa has been at the company for nearly three decades.  We spoke with him about Denon’s place in the early history of home theater.

When did you arrive at Denon? What projects did you work on when you got there?

In 1981 I joined what was then called the Nippon Columbia Company, which was a record company that had a hardware division.  I was an audio engineer and audio had been a major passion for me growing up and in college.  At Nippon, I worked on the very first component amplifier and pre-amplifier, both of which went under the Denon label.  Back in the 1980s (and especially in Japan) companies like Denon followed a strict master-disciple relationship.  My superiors were, therefore, very stern and they directed most of my engineering work and research for my first few years at the company.

Denon designed some of the earliest A/V equipment.  What was your role in those projects?

In 1984 we began to design what are now called AVRs.  I developed “Denon surround system,” which was one of the first surround formats for home theaters.  This was even before Dolby surround, DTS or any of the others that are now common in home and commercial theaters.

I had been interested in the possibility of home theater sound.  As a student I was an avid music and film buff, and so was very passionate about having good equipment to enjoy both sounds and pictures.  In the early days surround sound only made sense with music, but I started thinking about it as a medium for home entertainment more widely – for films, too. (more…)

Ever wondered who makes Audyssey technologies sound so amazing? It’s our engineers! So we’ve decided to invite you behind the scenes and meet the folks who put their brains to work creating the best sound technologies in the world. This month we sit down with quality assurance engineer Pauline Laciste and learn what makes her tick.

What do you do at Audyssey? I test products that implement Audyssey’s innovative technology. I help ensure everything is bug free!

Where did you study? What did you study? I majored in Music Composition at UC Santa Barbara. I also have a Master’s Degree in Music Technology from New York University.

What kind of engineer are you? I am a Quality Assurance Engineer.

When did you know you wanted to become an engineer? As an undergrad, I took an amazing computer music class taught by Curtis Roads. We had assignments to compose multichannel eletronic pieces for surround sound. That was when I used a mixing console for the first time, which triggered my fascination with audio engineering. (more…)

Wisdom Audio returns from visits to Australia and China, where they introduced their award-winning, high-performance architectural audio speakers to new markets. Founded in 1996, Wisdom Audio is the industry leader in planar magnetic architectural speaker systems for those who appreciate and understand high quality audio. Audyssey talks to Wisdom Audio President, Mark Glazier about the trip.

What makes Wisdom Audio special?

Our team has decades of experience in transducer design and can approach application and performance requirements with technological innovation. Most speaker companies buy their transducers from a handful of suppliers in the world. The Sage Series has become a statement among architectural speakers — offering exceptional quality that compares and, in some cases, surpasses that of freestanding speakers. Most architectural speakers manufactured today just are not designed for high performance.

What makes Wisdom speakers designed for high performance?

Well, for starters, Wisdom Audio speakers are active speakers, not passive; our systems are bi-amplified and use an electronic crossover. We design our own planar magnetic transducers. And, we offer Audyssey MultEQ Pro calibration within our SC-1 System Controller every Sage Series installation. (more…)

Ever wondered who makes Audyssey technologies sound so amazing? It’s our engineers! So we’ve decided to invite you behind the scenes and meet the folks who put their brains to work creating the best sound technologies in the world. This month we sit down with research engineer Nathan Dahlin and learn what makes him tick.

What do you do at Audyssey? I research and develop the algorithms and methods underlying many of our technologies. As a member of the research team, I take ideas from long-standing audio theory, more recent academic and professional publications and examine how they can be applied to projects at Audyssey. Some days are more scientific than others.

Where did you study? What did you study? I studied Electrical Engineering and Music Recording at the University of Southern California.

What kind of engineer are you? I’m a Research & Development Engineer.

When did you know you wanted to become an engineer? Probably around the time I got my electric guitar and realized somebody had to wire the thing before anybody could play it.

What’s the best thing about being an engineer? If it works, it’s correct. (more…)

On June 17, Billy Joel inducted Phil Ramone into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in New York, telling the audience, “Ramone is a writer’s producer. He had an impact on many of my songs; I listen to him because he knows what he is talking about.” Audyssey recently spoke with the multi-Grammy winner who laid out five points he thinks will resurrect the music industry.

To budding artists: Think of the sound

People need to feel the validity of your art. The adventure is important. Once you have written a song, record it well; think about how the sound will deliver your production. We must reach our music fans. (more…)

Ever wondered who makes Audyssey technologies sound so amazing? It’s our engineers! So we’ve decided to invite you behind the scenes and meet the folks who put their brains to work creating the best sound technologies in the world. This month we sit down with software engineer Megha Daga and learn what makes her tick.

What do you do at Audyssey? I am a DSP Engineer and I create great sound.

Where did you study? What did you study? I studied Electrical Engineering at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in Indore India and earned my master’s at Purdue University.

What kind of engineer are you? Curious. I always want to know how things work.

When did you know you wanted to become an engineer? I think I was 3 years old. I got a remote controlled car and wanted to know how the remote made the car turn, accelerate and stop. Then, when I got my first mobile phone, I really had to know how it worked and decided to get my master’s degree.

What’s the best thing about being an engineer? Making mind-boggling products.

What’s the greatest audio invention of all time? Thomas Edison’s phonograph. How did he think of that?

Pick the five albums and five movies you’d bring to a desert island. (more…)

The TV market is in the midst of rapid changes. While TV screens get larger every year, the TV cabinets themselves get thinner and more streamlined, sometimes at the expense of sound quality. Increasing conservation measures from regulators such as Energy Star and the California Energy Commission mean TVs are also greener. But the size and energy conservation create real challenges for TV manufacturers. That’s where Audyssey comes in. Audyssey EQ, ABX and Dynamic Volume solve these tricky audio problems. We spoke with Sanyo’s Coordinating Industrial Designer Bradley Bird about how this suite of Audyssey technologies helped Sanyo’s new TVs stay slim, green and sounding great.

Tell me about the Audyssey technologies you chose for Sanyo’s new TV releases

Audyssey EQ, Dynamic Volume and ABX are going into all of the new Sanyo TVs between 26” and 52”. These all feature USB connectivity and the larger ones add multiple HDMI and Component inputs. We consider the Audyssey package a tremendous benefit for our customers.

Why did Sanyo turn to Audyssey?

We really needed technology that could compensate for the slimmer redesign and the more stringent energy conservation requirements. Our customers want increasingly minimal TVs with the speakers embedded in the frame and invisible from the front – I mean invisible, no one even wants speaker grills anymore.

Add to that the more stringent Energy Star regulation and we were faced with a serious challenge: how to meet these aesthetic and regulatory requirements without compromising sound quality? It turned out that the suite of Audyssey technologies not only helped maintain, but even improved the sound on our TVs. (more…)

Ever wondered who makes Audyssey technologies sound so amazing? It’s our engineers! So we’ve decided to invite you behind the scenes and meet the folks who put their brains to work creating the best sound technologies in the world. This month we sit down with software engineer Micah Wendell and learn what makes him tick.

What do you do at Audyssey? I write software tools that help other engineers here fine-tune new technologies, as well as applications that help customers make their audio systems sound great… all while learning from some of the great minds in the audio world.

Where did you study? What did you study? I majored in Computer Science at UCLA, and I’ve been actively interested in music, sound and recording technology since I was very little.  I get to learn more about these interests right here, every day.

What kind of engineer are you? Mostly methodical, with a side of fantasy, and a dash of chaos.

When did you know you wanted to become an engineer? My dad is an engineer, so I’ve probably known since I was little.  It occurred to me that I could actually have fun as an engineer when I took a programming class in high school. (more…)

Last December, Crestron released the PSPHD, a high definition professional surround sound processor, under its new product line Procise.  Now they’ve paired the PSPHD with the PROAMP-7X400, a 700 watt 7.3 channel amplifier.  We spoke with Crestron’s Global Product Sales Specialist David Silberstein to get more details on this amazing system.

What was the motivation behind the Procise Line?
It came from our dealers, who told us that clients wanted commercial installations. CEOs walk into conference rooms with audio equipment and, often, the sound isn’t even stereo, let alone surround sound. The CEO has surround sound in his home and in his car, and so he wants it in the office as well. This is a case of the residential market driving the commercial market, and our dealers soon found they needed different products to match.

So, we started PROCISE, a PROfesional and preCISE product line that offers commercial-size power and flexibility. The PSPHD is seamlessly matched with the PROAMP-7X250 or the PROAMP-7X400, uses three surround sound processors and, of course, the Audyssey suite of technologies. It is really different and, as a result, our commercial business is expanding exponentially.

Three surround sound processors?
That’s right. Remember, we want this product line to be as flexible as possible. It is a 7.3 amplifier and each sub has a discrete output. That allows us to configure some pretty unusual situations. For example, people like very thin speakers. I mean TVs are thin, why would you put fat speakers next to thin TVs? Thin speakers, though, don’t go very deep. So, we can cross the front channels pretty high, say 150 htz, and send all the rest to a couple of the subs. The third sub will still get the really low stuff, but this helps the overall sound quite a bit.

We are finding lots of other uses, too. Think of presentations. We can take a surround sound presentation, add the microphone and channel it through the back surrounds. This is so much nicer than setting up a separate PA system.  But the possibilities are endless. (more…)