Appropriating The Audiophile Term

Before I get too deep into the subject of the day, I want to let you know that I’m finally done with the Kickstarter Campaign video and all supporting materials. It’s taken way too long, but I must say the whole thing is much tighter and clearer than it was. Take a look at the preview page on Kickstarter and let me know if you agree. It’s too late to change any of the raw material in the video but I might be able to tweak something here or there. My friend Robert Margouleff suggested I zoom in on a couple of shots in the studio, which I thought was an effective change. I reordered the sequence of the video to place the information about the book and disc closer to the front. I edited out another 30 seconds and added a couple more graphics. You can view the whole Kickstarter preview at Music and Audio Guide KS page.

Here’s the latest version of the video, which now comes in at 2:17:

Video No. 1 – The Music and Audio Guide Kickstarter Video…latest revision.

The last thing I’ll share with you is the mock up image of the finished book. I just thought it came out pretty well…people seem to like the graphic design. I do too. I’ll be on Scott Wilkinson’s Home Theater Geek Show on the 24th of September and on Leo Laporte’s Triangulation Show later this month. I’m going to be talking about the latest developments in high-resolution audio/music and discussing the new book.

Figure 1 – The Music and Audio: A User Guide To Better Audio book design

One of the reasons I got into the whole crowd-sourcing thing is because I’m working with a friend on his campaign. He and his son have developed something called “Sonic Blocks”, which are basically modular WiFi speakers that can be completely customized. I’ll be sharing more information his efforts, as they get closer to their launch in October. Trust me…it’s pretty cool.

As part of his advisory group, I’ve been involved in meetings at the Hollywood headquarter of Agency 2.0. They’re one of the top crowd-souring campaign management teams. These people seem to know what they’re doing. At a recent meeting, they placed a Bluetooth portable speaker being promoted by a Wisconsin company called Princeton Audio. Their product is the Site:1, a handmade, customizable, Bluetooth speaker. It held one of the early prototypes in my hand. It seems to be just another portable speaker…but made out of “tonewoods”.

Part of the copy on the page says. “What Stradivarius did for string instruments, Princeton Audio does for speaker system and sound amplification”. It’s the use of wood rather than plastic that makes their design similar to a Stradivarius violin or cello. I’m afraid I’m not convinced that using a chunk of maple or black walnut is enough to make this little unit sing like a fine Stradivarius instrument. Don’t you think the electronics and the single 3″ driver will have more impact? I do.

So here’s what they have to say in the tech specs section of the page:

• Audiophile – 24 / 96 ksps Digital to Analog Converter
• 3″ Full Range Transducer

There’s more but the fact that they never mention the response characteristics of the driver or the fact that Bluetooth won’t reach 96 kHz/24-bit PCM audio specs. There are too many portable speakers in the market if you ask me. But if you’re going to try and raise a bunch of money by bragging about using “tonewoods” and mentioning the word “audiophile” instead of laying out some great audio specs, I remain skeptical.

I won’t let that happen with Sonic Blocks, I’ve already spec’d out the drivers and this little system will kick the Site:1 out of the water.