Continental and Sennheiser have developed a speakerless audio system
The technology is on display at CES, and it's just as crazy as you might think.
Giant automotive supply company Continental has been working with the audio experts at Sennheiser to develop a groundbreaking new sound system that it's showing off at CES 2020, one that makes speakers a thing of the past.
Continental has paired its Ac2ated Sound system with Sennheiser's Ambeo Mobility software, the latter of which enables calibration and fine-tuning of sound quality.
But what sorcery is this? How can you have a sound system without speakers? Well, this is not the result of magic or some other dark art, just clever engineering.
Continental's Ac2ated Sound system eliminates speakers by essentially vibrating various interior components.
Instead of conventional speakers, Continental has figured out how to excite certain surfaces inside a vehicle to create sound. The idea was inspired by musical instruments, ones with resonant wooden bodies, like violins.
The Ac2ated Sound system has special actuators that basically vibrate interior components. Parts of the dashboard, A-pillar trim, door panel components, rear parcel shelves and even a vehicle's headliner can all be used to produce sound.
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Supposedly, this system makes it seem as though you're sitting in a concert hall, filling the cabin with immersive sound. And since so many different components can act as speakers, this seems a like more-than-reasonable claim.
The Ac2ated Sound system provides numerous benefits over conventional systems. Most importantly, it can enable significant weight reductions. By eliminating speakers and their associated hardware, tens of pounds can be taken out of a vehicle's interior. This can really add up if a car or truck has a particularly elaborate sound system, one with, say, 28 speakers, like the Revel 3D arrangement available in the Lincoln Aviator crossover.
The dashboard, A-pillars, door panels and more can all be turned into speakers by this technology.
Not only can Ac2ated Sound eliminate unwanted mass, it can also make designers' lives easier. When creating vehicle interiors, they always have to leave space for mounting speakers, ensure there's room in the door panels, on the dashboard, in the backseat areas to mount these sound-emitting devices. If various interior components can instead be used as speakers, this gives them much more freedom to use space in creative ways.
It will be interesting to see if or when Continental's Ac2ated Sound system hits the market. We reached out for more information about this, and to see if automakers are interested in the technology, but the company did not immediately respond.
