The Zen Plus concept was to create a small and attractive clock radio with some distinctive features: Continue reading “Roberts Zen Plus – Innovation in Bedside Radio”
Roberts Zen Plus – Innovation in Bedside Radio
QR Code based User’s Guides
It’s not often that I would get very excited about the rear panel of a new product, but launching today are the rather beautiful Roberts Zen and Zen Plus DAB / FM Bluetooth Sleep sound bedside radio products – the first units to feature a QR code based Handbook / User’s guides. Continue reading “QR Code based User’s Guides”
Morphy Richards & Roberts – head of Home & Sound
Head of Home & Sound, Jan 2022
I am honoured to have been given the role of head of Innovation and Development for the Glen Dimplex ‘Home’ and ‘Sound’ categories. This means I am working across both historic brands to deliver projects in diverse categories such as Garment Care, Small Kitchen Appliances, Breakfast and Coffee, Small Cooking Appliances; as well of course Sound.
Testing the Claim: Airsound reproduces stereo better than left and right speakers from a single box
Hear an Airsound system and you immediately know that it plays stereo better than left/right speakers. If it’s so obvious in practice, why prove it? Actually, how do you prove it? It turns out to be a tricky one to capture objectively. Here is my experiment which compares the systems’ abilities at producing stereo.
Cheap vs Expensive Digital Analogue Converters (DAC)s – Are they any good?
Yes, you can buy a DAC for less than a round of drinks, but how do these super cheap audio devices perform when compared to professional equipment? In this test, I analyse the performance of a couple of devices bought from Amazon to try to answer if they are usable, and what for? Continue reading “Cheap vs Expensive Digital Analogue Converters (DAC)s – Are they any good?”
Making the UK’s #1 soundbar: The Orbitsound T12v3
A 10-year retrospective
Continue reading “Making the UK’s #1 soundbar: The Orbitsound T12v3”
My product development process for developing electronics in China, in a nutshell.
Here are some truths:
- In every product development, something unexpected happens
- No two product developments are the same
- There is no such thing as a fixed successful method of product development
Top 5 tips for developing and manufacturing electronics in China
Inspired by Blumlein
The year was 1993. I was 17 years old, and helping my father prepare for a recording we were to do on location of a choir. At the time I recall we had some of the first available low cost large condenser microphones available, and one of these had a pattern switch that allowed cardioid, figure 8 and omni directional recording. In my own work recording bands, I’d only ever used the cardioid setting, and didn’t give a thought to the ‘figure 8’ option.
Transconductance / Air Amp Technology
In November 2018, Ted Fletcher and I gave a talk at the Institute of Acoustics. The subject was achieving higher fidelity audio through the use of Transconductance (current mode) amplifiers. I wrote this paper which is a technical approach to showing how the technology can be used to massively reduce levels of acoustic distortion produced by a loudspeaker / amplifier system.