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SALT LAKE CITY -- Ever been in a big room where the echo is so bad you can't really hear the speaker at the podium? A Utah company hopes to change that with a new kind of sound-delivery system that makes even the Utah State Capitol rotunda sound good.
No matter where speakers or performers stand in the rotunda, the echoing reverberates against their voices. But with the QuantumPhonic Sound-Delivery System, echoing is dramatically subdued.
The key is in the top configuration; it's actually little squares of specially-designed speakers dispersing sound through louvers.
"This is not a sound-reinforcement system. It is an absolute beam of sound they are sitting in. It's an audio cocoon. That's the easiest way to describe it," said Nick Ashton, with RezCom Inc.
In this case, a beam of sound from the speakers moves like a column, encompassing listeners at head level. "You've got a beam. The beam is not hitting the marble. It's not hitting the floor or ceiling," Ashton said.
At a wedding reception, guests hear the piano, even when sitting 12 tables away.
"What we're able to do is give you the definition that you hear in a piano or in a violin, so much definition, and it's the natural sound," Ashton explained.
A Utah engineer who conversed with Dr. Ray Dolby came up with this concept more than 30 years ago, but now it's become part of an actual audio-delivery system.
The new system has been tested at concerts and conventions. It's also currently in use in two Utah extended care centers so hard of hearing, residents there can't distinguish performers when they speak or sing.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
