Micro-Acoustics from Apple

Before talking about Apple's current plans, we have to talk about its previous speaker system, the iPod Hi-Fi. On February 28, 2006, Apple released the iPod Hi-Fi for use with any iPod digital music player, but it didn't have the expected impact. If you don't know the details of this device yet, let's explore them for a while...

The unit has a white encasing and a black speaker grill, featuring a three drive speaker system - two 80-mm wide range speakers and one 130-mm woofer. The iPod Hi-Fi uses an internal power supply that can use AC or DC (six D batteries are required, in this case). An Apple Remote and a dock with adapters for every iPod model are also included, and the frequency response is 3Hz to 16Khz, with a maximum peak sound pressure level of 108dB at 1m when using AC current and 102dB, when using DC current. The iPod Hi-Fi retails at the Apple Store for USD $349.

Early criticisms were targeting the high price, the lack of an AM/FM radio and the vulnerable location used to place the iPod, since no other method of securing the player to the dock besides the 30-pin dock connector is available. Technical critics targeted the frequency response and stereo quality, which are lower than expected, and all these led to a product that didn't sell quite as expected.

Despite all this, Apple is not backing up, seeking "an acoustic engineer who will be responsible for the design and development of many aspects of consumer loudspeaker systems such as Apple's Hi Fi." Early this year, certain rumors stated that Apple's smaller Hi-Fi speaker system that was under development failed to go beyond the test build phase, but nothing is certain, apart from the fact that we will hear more on this topic from Apple next year...