UK hi-fi company Warwick Acoustics has delved into the automotive industry with the world’s first electrostatic car audio system. Billed as a ‘next-gen experience for next-gen vehicles,’ Warwick claims that the system makes audio sound like it’s being played in a space that’s 10 times bigger than the vehicle’s cabin.
Electrostatic speakers are unique in that they are consist of an electrically charged diaphragm sandwiched between two perforated metal plates that act as electrodes, creating an electrostatic field that moves the diaphragm to create sound. The result is a speaker that’s only 1-millimeter thick, which can easily be affixed to an array of surfaces. In the case of Warwick’s system, much of the vehicle’s interior is covered with these speakers.
“If we look at a good concert venue, a bespoke listening room or a recording studio, they are many times larger than the interior of a car which is just 7m2 – even in a larger premium car,” explains Warwick Acoustics CEO Mike Grant. “A recording studio is anywhere from 20-70m2, so getting close to recreating that feeling of size with the sound in a car requires a lot of tricks and digital processing. Ultimately, with traditional loudspeakers, no amount of digital manipulation can make up for the lack of space.”
“The joy of listening to sound produced from Warwick Acoustics’ electrostatic speakers is that it starts off appearing to be flat,” adds Ian Hubbard, the company’s CCO. “We then perceive this as a sound that has begun further away – in some cases up to 30m – from our ears, and thus representative of a venue much bigger than the physical size of the car cabin. The speed and accuracy of Warwick Acoustics’ electrostatic speakers also reduces the need to manipulate sound using digital technniques giving the potential to reduce the size, cost and energy consumptons of the digital signal processing (DSP) components.”
Warwick Acoustics says that it will “imminently start volume production” of its new vehicle audio system for a certain global luxury auto manufacturer, which will be revealed sometime next year.
See also: Gemini comes to Android Auto
