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neilw · 08:34 PM

[ see below ]

Lateralus · Sep 24, 2006, 08:25 PM

I'll give you a few minutes to come up with a meatier post to warrant my not locking this thread.

neilw · Sep 24, 2006, 08:34 PM

Sorry, fumbled the "submit button" and then got interrupted before I could fix the post.

Anyway, it seems to me that a bluetooth-connected subwoofer would be an ideal accessory for things like iMacs, laptops, etc. You don't need to much bandwidth for a subwoofer channel, so sound quality should be OK. All you'd need is a driver to implement a crossover.

Given the built-in speakers of all Apple machines are now bass-deficient, wouldn't that be a nice way to add some bass? Sort of like a wireless iSub.

I know of nothing like that that exists right now. Anyone know a good reason why this wouldn't work, or if something already exists? I would love one for my iMac....

slpdLoad · Sep 24, 2006, 09:43 PM

First of all, kudos for a novel idea. Haha. Secondly..

While I believe it's technically possible to do that, I'd argue the following:

I don't think the built-in speakers in any mac are good enough that they would be fixed with just a subwoofer. You'd just have tinny, small, not very loud speakers to go with your nice subwoofer.

I'm guessing it would be cheaper to buy a full 2.1 system, and you'd end up with a better overall sound. Cooler looking than a wireless subwoofer? No, but much better sounding, and more flexible.

TFunkadelic · Sep 24, 2006, 10:41 PM

What'd be cool is bluetooth, or USB for that matter, speakers with user customizable active digital crossovers that could be changed on the computer to perfectly match your listening room.

tooki · Sep 25, 2006, 12:21 PM

The problem would be latency. If the front audio is coming from the internal audio circuitry, matching up the delay (zero on the wired speakers, non-zero on the wireless) accurately enough would be a big problem.

I notice latency problems when using my AirPort Express in "multiple speakers" mode. The sound from the two sets of speakers drifts in and out of phase, making for weird effects of growing and waning sound dimensionality.

tooki

TFunkadelic · Sep 25, 2006, 01:15 PM

it's possible to have low enough latency to do it. Most digital recording studios interface the DAW wit hthe computer using firewire or USB 2.0 .

Perhaps the solution would be to have an external box (or an internal card would work I suppose) which has stereo outputs going to each speaker. The box would interface with the computer using USB/Firewire, and would provide a software interface for precision tuning things like frequency response and delay. That'd be sweet.

tooki · Sep 25, 2006, 02:14 PM

I was responding to the original post, not yours (sorry for not making that clear).

The problem isn't the amount of latency in Bluetooth. It's that its latency is different from the latency of the built-in audio that is feeding the front speakers. Getting them synched and keeping them there is extremely difficult. When all the outputs are on the same interface (or an identical one), latency's not a problem, because all the outputs will remain in phase. But when you've got multiple interfaces with slightly different latency, phase gets all mucked up.

tooki

neilw · Oct 11, 2006, 12:42 PM

Here's my extremely belated reply to this discussion.

As for latency, I confess I don't know how bothersome it would be for a sub channel. I suspect it would be less of a problem for the sub channel than for everything else, but don't know for sure. I had thought that it might be possible to install a driver that would add a bit of delay to the internal audio system of the computer to match the bluetooth delay (which could be measured). How much of a bother *that* would be on the host system I also don't know. How long is the latency on bluetooth audio, anyway?

I do actually find the iMac built-in speakers adequate for non-critical use (they sound better than I expected them to, frankly), but the lack of bass is noticeable and glaring and I don't know any way to enhance them without adding a full set of external speakers. Are there even any standalone USB subs any more?

Other ideas proposed are good too, but I was specifically thinking of an invisible, cordless add-on to existing machines. Subs are most easily placed on the floor, and I'd love to just plop one invisibly under my desk, without adding to the cable clutter behind my iMac.