Amazing realism

Digital audio projection casts a spell on the home theatre experience.

Welcome to the world of digital audio projection, where the science of the ventriloquist is used to enrich the home theatre experience. To replace the talented ventriloquist are the speakers in front of you. The listener experiences sound energy through digital-signal processing, with an array of speakers that provide virtual sound sources around the listener.

The art of digital sound projection lies in the fact that concentrated sound beams are formed within a digital audio projector and then emitted through an amplifier/speaker array. The narrowness of the beam allows it to be bounced off walls without disruption. Programming accounts for phase delays and the directional quality of the beam steering, ensuring that the end-listener receives an auditory effect of 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound configuration.

Digital sound projector technology was developed over the past seven years in Cambridge, England, by 1 Ltd, a small hi-tech R&D IP-licensing company founded by Dr. Tony Hooley in 1995. Previously licensed to Pioneer of Japan, the Yamaha YSP-1 digital sound projector is today the first commercial product incorporating this technology, that with specs like simple hook-up, single-box and forty-two channels of digital amplification, promises an experience like never before.

The key to an amazing in-house, real-as-it-gets experience, as any audiophile will testify, lies in the size of an audio image. In the past, it was said that a point source was the ideal for a sound source. The systems that incorporate digital audio projection technology, on the other hand, will be designed with the intent of paying more attention to the connectivity or extensivity of a sound field than to the presence or localization of the sound image.

In psychology, extensivity is the quality of sensation which permits the perception of space or size, something that describes the spatial envelope this technology ensures. With the YSP-1, for instance, one gets the very new and somewhat eerie sense of the space within the room being defined by a movie's surround content. To illustrate: without the oft-times intrusive consciousness of in-wall speakers installed, a viewer gets to sense the "sound bubble" of a particular movie from the perspective of the bigness or smallness of the effect itself. In other words, you get as close to the real thing as is currently possible.

Always surround

When we talk about home theatre, we generally perceive a certain position for the speakers, and you literally know where the sounds are coming from. But digital audio projection technology enables the sound field to expand and contract depending on programme content, so that the the surround sensation always exists in a 3D space and the willing suspension of disbelief becomes easier to achieve.

Digital audio projectors utilize a combination of DSPs (digital signal processors) and one sophisticated ASIC to handle sound beam-steering and the phase delay calculations, making digital audio projectors an especially appealing market for manufacturers of those critical components.

Futuristic technology

This technology, with its virtual, floating surround benefits, is truly the future of the home theatre experience. A recent report by industry watchdog In-Stat stated that while the digital audio projector, as it is made today, is attached to a home theatre system, its long-term success is dependent upon it being integrated into video display units. LCD TVs will dominate the unit volume of displays with integrated digital audio projection due to the size of the market.

However, plasma TVs will enjoy the highest per cent penetration. Insofar as growth is concerned, digital audio projection will consume over one million DSPs per year by 2007 and 100 million array transducers per year by 2009. In-Stat expects that digital audio projectors' initial price of approximately $1,300 [the Yamaha YSP-1 ships for $1,499] will fall significantly over the next few years based upon a detailed analysis of the estimated bill of materials and integration trends.