Acquisition could create unique usb powered loudspeaker platforms
1 min read
Sound and touch technology specialist, NXT has acquired the intellectual property of Audium Semiconductor and associated assets. The purchase will allow NXT to use the Bristol based company's ICs in its audio platforms and incorporate its Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) technology together with power amplifiers. As a result, NXT plans to create compact, usb powered loudspeakers capable of delivering 25W peak per channel.
BMR combines NXT's flat panel technology with the attributes of conventional speaker technology, in a single drive unit. The result is said to be a wide bandwidth, wide directivity speaker where no crossover components or frequency specific drivers are required.
According to NXT, the Audium amplifier chip can be 20 times more efficient than competing devices, because of patented techniques designed to minimise fixed power losses and output-dependant variable power losses. The chips use power rail switching so that the amplifier operates efficiently from a low voltage supply most of the time but an on chip dc/dc boost converter drives its output transistors on audio peaks. The amplifier chips include integral filtering, enabling them to be optimised for each application.
In the first instance NXT is developing a reference platform design incorporating BMR drivers and the amplifier chips.
