It's Music To Your Ears

By Alan Pearce, President, Polyfusion

Appeared in Millenium America's Vision—The Official Guide Vol 1, Fall 1997

In the spiral of burgeoning market development for the technologies spawned during the 20th century and to become the mainstay of economics in the new millennium, a whole glossary has been created around the "bigger, faster, more-is-better" jargon employed to woo the wary buyers. The now-familiar terms of "kilobaud," "megahertz" and "gigabyte" typify the newest buzzwords blazoned across so many glossy pages of hardware promotion.

We are all caught up in this electric evolution in the marketplace—most of us becoming aware of one incredible level of performance just as it is being supplanted by its successor—a more rapid succession than even in haute couture. But, as we become giddy over the latest rage, are we missing some of the keys to our own humanity?

Among the most compelling, most potentially gratifying quests of the human spirit is the creation of and the experience of the arts. Arguably the most significant role of our new technologies of telecommunication and digital signal processing, storage and retrieval is the broad-based dissemination of artistic creation—music, theater, dance and painting now available to everyman/everywoman.

The marketing mavens of these new technologies have charted a course for home entertainment using the "bigger, faster, more-is-better" mindset to mesmerize consumers with the latest and greatest, and to steer home theater into a "gigabuck" business. In a veritable rush of techno-speak, the new media have swamped the message. Perhaps we should stand back from the surge briefly and consider something at the core—human entertainment.

As of this writing, the presentation of home theater has been configured with multi-channel audio and a single, television-like video display. The typical demonstration of this home entertainment concept features ear-splitting audio tracks with greatly over-emphasized bass response and dazzling special audio effects. The video portion is, well, rather less than impressive on its own.

Consider this. When listening to a fine stereo playback system (imagine, only two audio channels!), you can close your eyes and actually visualize the performers before you; the music artfully seducing your senses and emotions. When viewing even the most advanced video display available today, one cannot, even for an instant, believe that what is being seen is real. In short, video technology lags far behind that of audio and, realizing this fact, the promoters of home theater have heavily emphasized the audio to captivate their audience of consumers.

Not surprisingly, the new jargon is all about the performance of "machines" and bears no direct relationship to the machine's value to humans. Our ears and eyes, as transducers of sound and light, possess such phenomenal sensitivities that no electronic test equipment exists that can properly measure what we can hear and see. Of course, the data gathered by our senses is processed by the most remarkable of organs, the brain. An entire science exists to study our perceptions (sensory psychology), and it is within this context—human perception—that the most meaningful measures of an entertainment system can be described and quantified.

But wait. These sorts of descriptions are unfamiliar and, therefore, cannot be used as effective marketing tools. It all becomes rather subjective and difficult to sell. At Polyfusion Audio, we dedicate all of our efforts to the faithful presentation of music—to enable the listener to be moved by the art of the composers and performers. Simply, "It's about music." This may not be an easy performance criteria to measure or to sell, but we are convinced that it is the only one that provides lasting value and enjoyment for the consumer.

In this era of unequaled development of technology, we have a wonderful opportunity to utilize the vast resources of new components, circuit topologies and manufacturing techniques to bring ever more accurate, more emotionally stimulating musical presentation to the listener.

At Polyfusion, we are continually evaluating and developing new designs that use the newest technologies—but we use these technologies always as servants to the music. Each time a new product design, new integrated circuit or new manufacturing process is evaluated, the ultimate test of the viability of the new technology is how it sounds or, more properly, how it helps to present the music. The musical experience is always the master and the human ear-plus-brain is the only meaningful test instrument.

The truest and most compelling playback of music is accomplished by the finest two-channel audio systems. The full width and depth of the soundstage as well as the rich acoustical detail of the hall in which the recording was made can be precisely re-created with two audio channels (stereo) corresponding to the two ears "available" to the listener. Using more channels adds considerably to the equipment cost to the consumer but will most likely detract from the optimum musical experiences.

As a further design criteria to provide the consumer with the best possible value, Polyfusion Audio products are designed to have enclosures characterized by a timeless, understated elegance rather than the expensive and faddish "living room jewelry" look adopted by much of the high-end audio industry. Music first, lasting value to the owner second: these are our guiding principles.

As we move relentlessly into the next millennium, we must marvel at the many new developments and the huge increases in the performance of machines. But we must remember that the evolution of humankind is a much, much slower process and that the most successful applications of new technologies are those which address genuine human needs in the most human way.

Copyright © 1997-98 Polyfusion Electronics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.