sound

Quieting the dinner din with a high-tech sound system

Besides bad service, too much noise is the biggest complaint people have about eating out, according to reviews site Zagat. And I agree. While a hip, happening place is fun for a single cocktail, it can be maddening, not to mention headache-inducing, when it comes to sustaining a dinner conversation.

Restaurateur John Paluska concurs: "Not being able to carry on a conversation in a restaurant that I was enjoying was really frustrating," he said, adding that it would be a conflicting experience. Even though he liked the place, he wasn't sure he'd want to go back "because I felt exhausted and had a really hard time carrying on a conversation when I was there," he said.

When Paluska decided to open his own restaurant in downtown Berkeley, Calif., designing a chitchat-friendly acoustic environment was one of the top priorities. "More and more restaurants are getting built in spaces that have a lot of hard, reflective surfaces, and there's not a lot of thought put into the sonic environment of the space," he says. … Read more

Sound stuttering after Mountain Lion installation

A few users who have upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion are noticing what appears to be a bug involving sound processing on their systems. When the problem occurs, the Mac's audio output will begin to stutter and the mouse cursor will pause and jump. At times the system may become unresponsive when the stuttering happens, but usually continues working again after a moment or two.

The cause of the problem is not clear at the moment, as it seems to come and go unpredictably, and also happens in a number of different software and hardware setups. While some … Read more

Five-deal Friday: A 46-inch HDTV for $299.99, and more!

TGIF, am I right? Actually, I had a couple days off this week, so I'm taking my restored vitality and pouring it into today's post. One deal? Phbbllttt! How about five, baby!

Actually, I just had a hard time narrowing down all the killer deals I found today, so I figured why not share them all? Without further ado...

1. While supplies last, TigerDirect has the refurbished Elements ELDFW464 46-inch HDTV for $299.99. That's after applying coupon code NTP66913 at checkout, and not including shipping (which is $49.99). I tend to be a little leery … Read more

The best-sounding club in NYC?

I recently dropped by Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center to talk with the sound engineer, and by chance met Sam Berkow, the club's sound designer. Berkow had one key advantage going into the project that most designers don't: the club was planned before construction started on the Time Warner Center in New York. Berkow was quick to point out he had one major hurdle to jump over, in that there would be a huge glass window behind the stage to give patrons a spectacular view of Central Park. The window would be a massive … Read more

The Boundary B404, a high-end outdoor speaker

Outdoor speakers are a little out of my area of expertise, and most of the ones I've seen at shows look like plastic rocks. Leon Speakers' Boundary B404 is definitely a big step up from those sorts of things.

The B404 sports a gorgeous solid mahogany cabinet inspired by Chris Craft's classic Thunderbird boats. Right now there's just one model in the Boundary line, the B404.… Read more

Get a Vaas portable USB sound bar for $14.98

Not happy with the audio coming from your laptop? No surprise there -- it's fairly miraculous that manufacturers manage to squeeze in speakers at all.

And yet many folks use their laptops as media centers in dens and bedrooms. So how can you get more aural enjoyment from your games, movies, and music?

Simple: add a sound bar. Even an inexpensive one should offer a huge improvement over the tiny, tinny speakers built into your system. If nothing else, it projects the sound forward instead of down, out, or up (depending on where the internal speakers are mounted).

Today … Read more

DARPA drops the bass to extinguish fire

Citing a lack of innovation in fire-extinguishing methods over the last 50 years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last week revealed an ear-buzzing new method for putting out fires: blast it with fine-tuned frequencies.

Officially referred to as "acoustic suppression of flame," this simple yet potentially revolutionary method simply relies on two speakers playing a specific low frequency toward the fire.

The resulting acoustics increase air velocity, making it easier to alter the origin of the fire's combustion, also known as the flame boundary layer. … Read more

Smart Tools are powerful, yet simple

Even with its belt full of powerful tools onboard, Smart Tools is, for the most part, simple. The app opens up to a wall of choices, and if you've used any of Smart Tools' apps before, then all of them should look familiar. Smart Tools combines the powers of all of the developer's individual Pro tool sets.

The first set lets you measure length and angle, using a level, ruler, and two protractors (one which uses the screen, and the other your device's camera).

The second offers a Distance tool, which is a bit more complicated, as … Read more

Prizefight: Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker vs. Jawbone Big Jambox

It's a Prizefight Punchout! Bose has always had a solid reputation but do they have what it takes to take down the upstart Jawbone and their Big Jambox?

These wireless speakers each cost $300 so let's find out who packs the biggest punch in Design, Sound Quality, Features and Value.

Who do YOU think deserves to be the Prizefight champion? Is it the Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker or the Jawbone Big Jambox?

Cast your vote!

Poll: Do you use your TV's speakers?

The other day, our audio reviewer Steve Guttenberg told me that when he was choosing his new television he spent a good deal of time at his local electronics retailer testing TVs against each other. But instead of evaluating the picture he was more interested in evaluating the sound quality, which I'm sure did not impress the salespeople who were used to just flicking on a copy of "Up" and waving at the TVs theatrically.

Sound quality is underappreciated in a product that is primarily designed to give you a picture, and unless you buy an expensive … Read more