The SandTrap Audio Story
The Scene
It's a sunny January California morning living the
comfortable retired life, drinking coffee with my daughter and three
sons at a favorite hangout.
We're engaged in the great American pastime of concocting new product
ideas. Some have a thread of credibility.
Then I offered, "Isolating baffles for custom-installed
speakers."
That comment produced baffled looks that asked, "What & why?"
What?
Consumers pay premium dollars for invisible speaker systems.
Well, they're less visible. The audio industry promotes these
speakers as custom installed architectural speaker systems.
The good versions are not cheap. They range from about $600 to
well over a $1000 per pair plus installation.
Why?
Custom speakers installed in drywall ceilings and walls
distort.
Drywall, made of paper, glue, and chalk, is not a good material for
reproducing sound from any speaker.
Mounting a speaker in drywall is much as selecting a set of guitar
strings for their potential increased volume and sustain, and
stringing them on an acoustic guitar made of cardboard.
Similarly, drywall compromises the sound of custom-installed speaker
systems. Drywall mounted speakers generate muddy mid-bass,
harsh vocals, and forfeit decibel level.
The Proposal
OK Dad, they asked, what are you proposing?
I propose to add an isolating mounting surface between the drywall
and speaker.
A surface that minimizes drywall induced distortion by re-tuning the
speaker system resonance. The result is tighter mid-bass, warmer
vocals, and increased volume.
This isolating surface is particularly well suited for the $600 to
$800 per pair speaker category. My isolating sub-baffle will squeeze
enough improved performance to compete with much more expensive
custom installed speaker systems.
Then
To my surprise, they were still listening. So, I continued.
I would offer this solution at a price that will make consumers and
dealers smile, and it will be easy to install. I then outlined
how to do it.
They looked at me and said, "Dad, it's a no brainer .... do it".
That's how I exited retirement and became the captain of SandTrap
Audio
Captain Ed