Products of Interest

Sennheiser AudioBeam

Sennheiser’s AudioBeam (see Figure 1) is a directional loudspeaker designed for use in museums, exhibitions, theme parks, and other locations in which it would be useful to focus the sound toward a precise listening area. The loudspeaker contains 150 piezoelectric pressure transducers and these output the audio signal modulated onto an ultrasonic carrier frequency. The audio output is heard at a distance from the loudspeaker, and only within the sound beam itself or if the sound is reflected off a smooth surface.

AudioBeam uses wideband Amplitude Modulation and a carrier frequency of about 40 kHz. The input sensitivity is switchable from 6 dBm to –14 dBm. It features an SPL level of 75 dB (±5 dB) at 700–1200 Hz and a 4-m range.Audio input is on a balanced XLR-3F socket, with contacts metallically separated. The output is on a short circuit-proof BNC connection. The power supply automatically switches to the appropriate mains voltage in the range 110–240 V and to mains frequencies between 50 and 60 Hz. The amplifier provides approximately 90 W of power. AudioBeam measures 264 × 82 × 3, 200 m and weighs 3.1 kg.

Figure 1.

The Sennheiser AudioBeam directional loudspeaker.

AudioBeam is listed for US$ 2,499. Contact: Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, 1 Enterprise Drive, Old Lyme, Connecticut 06371, USA; telephone (↓1) 860-434-9190; fax (↓1) 860-434-1759; Web www.sennheiserusa.com/ .

Glyph GT 050Q and PortaGig FireWire 800 External Hard Drives

The GT 050Q from Glyph is a durable tabletop external hard drive with four different interface options and up to 1 TB storage (see Figure 2). The chassis is constructed of scratchresistant aluminum and the face plate is -in. thick brushed stainless steel. The unit features an internal power supply and quiet fan. The GT 050Q is available with 160 GB to 1 TB Seagate SATA 7,200 RPM drives with a 32 MB cache. The average read time is 8 msec and the maximum transfer rate is 150 MB/sec. FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB, and eSATA connections are included. The unit ships in a hard-shell plastic case and is rack-mountable using an optional kit. It measures 1.7 ×8.6 ×9.5 in. and weighs 4.3 lbs. A 3-year warranty with overnight replacement in the first year comes as standard. At the time of writing, the manufacturer stated that this was the only external quad hard drive tested and approved for use with Pro Tools LE, HD, and M-Powered by Digidesign.

Glyph has also updated the FireWire 400 PortaGig portable hard drive to a FireWire 800 version. The new PortaGig (see Figure 3) features a fast internal SATA II drive and an Oxford 934 chip. The most notable feature of this hard drive is its size. Measuring just 0.86 ×3.3 ×5.2 in. and weighing 0.6 lbs, this very portable drive is available in 5,400 and 7,200 RPM versions. Both offer disk capacities up to 320 GB with a buffer/cache of 8 MB. The average read time from the disks is 8msec and the drive has a maximum transfer rate of 800 Mb/sec. The drive is enclosed in an aluminum case, and a universal power supply and carry sleeve are included. A hi-speed USB 2.0 port is provided alongside the FireWire 800 connection. The hard drive can be powered using a Y-shaped USB cable with two ends connected to a computer.

Figure 2.

The Glyph GT 050Q external hard drive.

Figure 3.

The Glyph PortaGig FireWire 800 portable hard drives.

The GT 050Q is listed for US$ 649 and the FireWire 800 PortDrive 320 GB for US$ 379. Contact: Glyph Technologies, 227 Cherry Street, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA; telephone (+1) 800-335-0345; fax (+1) 607-275-0345; electronic mail sales@glyphtech.com; Web www.glyphtech.com/sales/index.html/ .

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