Robotic Speakers: SpeakerCraft Time One and Three

The SpeakerCraft Time One and Three series are simply taking in-wall/in-ceiling loudspeakers beyond the boundaries of common tech, to a field where only Sci-Fi motion pictures were situated years ago.

Now, don't think that this is quite some Star Trek piece of technology but the idea is quite nice and the functionality has a great potential. Basically, SpeakerCraft decided that loudspeakers simply mounted inceilings weren't enough anymore and so they've come up with one improvement. Rather than fixed-mounting, some speakers inside the ceiling would be substantially cooler if these speakers exited their holes and aimed towards the listener.

The SpeakerCraft Time One and Three series are big boxes inside ceilings housing motors and the speakers themselves. At a push of a button, these speakers will descend from their boxes and automatically aim for a pre-defined target.

Nice thing is that you can re-customize their positioning infinitely: just aim them in a new direction and they will remember it - next time you'll be using them they'll recall the last position they were in. They can create quite some acoustic imaging because they're highly mobile: the tilt can be 15, 30 or 45 degrees and the rotation is a full 360-degree movement.

The One and Three speaker series sport 8" kevlar-cone woofers with 1" aluminium/manganese dome tweeters and can blast up to 100W undistorted. There are minor differences between the two speakers and they relate to the sensitivity (91dB for One and 89dB for Three), frequency range (33Hz-20kHz for One, 37Hz-20kHz for Three). They both can work in 8/6/4 Ohms impedance (setting up is made via a switch) and they cost $2,000 per set of 5 loudspeakers.

Now, not that 2 grands would be a killer sum but we have to think about some further aspects. First of all, no subwoofer is provided, for serious extensive and room-filling bass. Secondly, the customer has to buy the separate amplifier. Third and most important even: since you won't sit in the same exact place every time, the automation could be slightly futile. Maybe adding some movement sensors (and raising the price) could do: having in-ceiling loudspeakers that move with you across the room would be really ass-kicking!

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