Two things happened this week, and i am going to cover them in reverse order - in order of importance, that is: I didnt get the job at Bose (sales), and i witnessed something weird at a Starbucks. Two weird things, actually.
First, about Bose (they have a very nice store on Regent Street, perhaps the nicest and poshest street in London):
Apparently, they are expanding (new shop in Westfield) on the grounds of the soon-to-be success of a revolutionary new technology; I myself, during the interview, have witnessed this technology and i have to say, it's impressive.
Surround sound without surround speakers.
No speakers. Incredible.
Of course i waited a little .. say ten minutes .. before saying " its the reverse of a shotgun mike", without adding "with reversed noise cancelling technology". Didnt want to be the smart ass.
Shotgun mike is essentially a tube, and makes sound directional (whereas normally sound propagates omnidirectionally); in addition, filters on the edges of this "thunder stick" emit (i assume, but this isnt even necessary) inverse-phase signals that cancel the sound that excapes laterally.
In susbstance, what you hear is the reverb of a sound bouncing off a wall, and that is how sound is directed, and how it appears to be surround even if there is no surround.
Frankly, they could have just asked me ten years ago.
But no, they had to spend "ten years in research".
Anyway, i dont want to sound harsh, as i have some good words about Bose coming up.
Another part of their new technology is a cavity within a television's flat screen's back, which creates strong bass without a subwoofer; This cavity contains several speakers which i assume, are projecting out sound boosted by the proximity effect. Each of these - six - speakers i also assume is tuned to play a certain number of frequencies and its multiples, therefore always having the appropriate frequency according to what bass note needs to be emitted. Its not genius, but i am sure that the electronics that analyse the needed spectrum and assign the various speakers to construct it (remember, its *something*, that once distorted by proximity effect, comes out as "that which you need") must be absolutely brilliant.
But Bose, that lion's roar sound that you begin the demonstration with, was shit. I could tell - almost - immediately what i was hearing, but even before - almost - i had the "its too boomy" thing nailed.
Hopefully, you won't see this as a disgruntled's rant.
Seriously, i'v known since *ever* that you get a boomier sound when you place speakers nearer cavities, walls and other reflective surfaces, and any other encloosure - for example, put the subwoofer near the corner of the room to have the sound bounce off the walls, up toward the celing, and down through the floor hopefully through the concrete that makes up the building's skeleton, spreading the vibrations thus.
But of course, you get a sound "too boomy", but you can devise a system that calculates what the end result needs to be, and changes the original sound to get there.
I could have worked this out for them when i was a kid.
Finally, i used to own Bose stuff, the 5+1 satellite system, it was complete crap, at least the first series. The 802 i mentioned at the interview, were very loud i must admit, but not necessarely great. They seriously cannot compete with professional studio speakers on that level, unless of course they get ready to ramp up the list price to £5k per pair .. No joy here either.
But the noise cancellation headphones Bose supplies to the military are quite something.. when i tried them almost twenty years ago, i was so impressed that to this day when anyone with a Bose shirt on suggests i try some headphones (even in-the-ear) i feel i must comply.
This is also why i imagine they have implemented some sort of phase-reversal in their Magic Boom Stick - or directional sound projector, as we should call it.
Right, thats enough about Bose, my life would have massively turned around if i was allowed to sell their products because underneath it all, i like the brand and they are better than many. And apparently, they take pride, which is important.
Earlier in the week something else happened, But i think i will post it separately :)
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