Maximum PC audio RSS Feed

Carbon Nanotubes may be the Secret to New Generation of Flat Speakers

Andy Salisbury — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:01:43 -0600

According to Chinese researchers, sheets made of carbon nanotubes will act like a loudspeaker when charged with a varying electric current. This discovery could lead to a new era of cheap, flat speakers.

Shoushan Fan of the Tsinghua University in Beijing and his team have been working alongside a team of researchers at Beijing Normal University (a name that truly inspires confidence), to create the first speaker sheet by aligning numerous 10-nanometer-diameter carbon nanotubes. When an audio frequency current was sent through the sheet they found that it acted as a loudspeaker. While the reaction causes the sheet to heat up to temperatures of 80°C, it’s expected that consumer use will only cause the sheet to rise slightly above room temperature.

According to Kaili Jiang, a member of Fan’s team, the speakers have a great deal of potential in them for uses that you wouldn’t see from a conventional speaker. The team has found that the flexible sheets can be stretched until they become transparent. They could then be attached to the front of an LCD screen to replace standard speakers. They even mentioned the possibility of singing and speaking jackets.

Daily News Brief: Asus Adds HDMI to Xonar Soundcard

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:22:27 -0500

Asus revitalizes add-in soundcard wars, get up and close with AMD's Puma platform, Apple tries to entice students with free iPod offer, Nehalem benchmarks, and much more!

Daily News Brief: Who's Courting Circuit City?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:07:04 -0500

Electronics chain has a new suitor, watch out for fake DFI boards, Sennheiser wants your old headphones, and more!

Testing the Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender

Michael Brown — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:00:43 -0600

We installed the Linksys DMA2200 in the media room at Maximum PC Lab North.

So Much for that Front Panel

David Murphy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:48 -0600

Where are my front-panel connectors? Where is my audio? What the heck is going on, Creative?

Taking it Outside

Michael Brown — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:05:38 -0500

New wireless speakers from Soundcast enable you to stream music indoors and out.

How to Build a Media Room

Michael Brown — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:48:20 -0500

Tips and tricks for building an acoustically sound media room.

Early Hands-on Look at the Sansa Connect

Michael Brown — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:36:04 -0500

This Wi-Fi-enabled MP3 player is (almost) everything the Zune should have been.