HARDWARE
$1,349
7 speakers hit you from all sides
In the face of a pervasive less-is-more worldview, RBH Sound obviously believes more is more. The company has released the first all-in-one 7.1 surround-sound package - that's seven speakers and a subwoofer.
Beyond bulk, there's a practical purpose for those two extra speakers:They go behind your head to create 360 degrees of immersive audio. In my dinky, overpriced Los Angeles apartment, I set up the squat speakers and the subwoofer. I throw in Episode I and brace myself. The movie is the first of a slew of releases mixed with a Surround EX soundtrack. Surround EX takes the information from a 5.1 recording, processes it, and sends it to the two rear channels. So, the side-to-side pans during the Pod race sound insane as the rear speakers fill the void at the back of my head. Naboo starfighters fly over me from behind, making their way onscreen with disquieting realism. With two additional speakers to help spread out the sound, effects such as these, or a ghost circling the room in The Haunting, become much more convincing and cohesive. With a traditional five-unit system the sound field would be like a broken circle.
Meanwhile, somewhere in San Antonio amid the tortillas and tumbleweeds, there's a room that contains enough speakers to damage the frail of bone. There, Tomlinson Holman, the TH in THX, boasts the next new thing: surround sound through 12 speakers and 2 subwoofers. When will the madness end? Never, I hope.
RBH Sound: (800) 543 2205, www.rbhsound.com.
STREET CRED
RND#
Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us, by Rodney A. Brooks
Caveo Anti-Theft PC Card
Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places, by Derek M. Powazek
Command & Conquer Renegade
Samsung SCH-N150
Entourage X
ReadMe
Music
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory
Wondrous Contrivances: Technology at the Threshold, by Merritt Ierley
Compact Theater
TinyApps.org
US Design: 1975-2000
Contributors
