The AV industry has been promoting 4k displays heavily, even calling screens that aren’t 4k by that moniker to capitalize on the craze.  In the wake of 4k displays, there have been a huge blast of press releases touting the first 4k multitouch screen, 4k video extenders, 4k cameras, and even cables certified to push 4k.  It is no surprise that in this fast moving market, product development specialist and AV industry veteran AVPhenom has released a new line of premium speakers with the 4k moniker.  We caught up with Phenom at a local Park and Swap in East LA where he was buying parts and asked him a few questions.

rAVe- Tell us a little bit about how you came to be in the 4k speaker business.

Phenom- Well, I saw how much momentum the 4k movement had and the ecosystem that started to spring up around it.  I knew the time to strike was now, but I had to find a niche where I could hit the market FIRST and not be caught in that “me too” phase.  Amazingly enough, no one was marketing a 4k speaker yet, so I decided that was my goal.

rAVe- How do your speakers compliment 4k resolution screens better than the products already on the market today?

Phenom- The speakers themselves have no direct correlation to screen resolutions.  But this really doesn’t matter.  We’ve seen that the market really doesn’t care if there is a valid reason for the product or not.  Take Monster Cable.  They were marketing high end HDMI cables as 240Hz compatible to get an attachment rate to LCD screens with 240Hz refresh rates, but a BluRay or cable box never actually sends more than a 60Hz signal down those cables.  It was the TV that refreshed 4 x more, the cable had nothing to do with it.

rAVe- So how do you justify your claim to the world’s FIRST 4k speaker?

Phenom- I have in fact invented the world’s FIRST 4k speaker.  As I said, the 4k actually does not have anything to do with the screen resolution.  I call the speaker 4k as it plays only one very specific frequency, 4096 Hz.  This is equal to 4.096 kHz or 4k.

rAVe- Isn’t that problematic?  I mean the audio signal from a TV program ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz.  Wouldn’t this speaker play intermittently and not play a majority of the audio content?

AVPhenom- Well of course when you introduce a new product, the major problem is that the content will lag behind somewhat.  That is no reason not to get the product to market and capitalize on the buzz.  As more 4k speakers are sold, I am confident that audio engineers will start to produce more 4k content for them.

rAVe- So with no real content, how will adopters of your 4k speakers hear anything when other audio signals are being presented?

AVPhenom- We’ve thought about that, believe me!  We have developed a Quadrophonic Scaler that scales the existing non 4k audio content to 4k so that you get consistent audio throughout the programming.  (To hear a demo of this scaling technology applied to The Eagles Hotel California, click here.)

rAVe- So all audio is scaled to 4kHz? 

AVPhenom- Yes.

rAve- That doesn’t sound like a great idea.

AVPhenom- Yes.  

rAVe- You’ve been a critic of others using the term 4k to describe displays of various resolutions, are you marketing this product to those displays as well?

AVPhenom- We actually have already started production on two additional products being the world’s FIRST UHD speaker that plays a 3.840kHz frequency and the world’s FIRST UHD widescreen speaker that plays a 5.120kHz signal.  Again, the built in audio scaler will convert all incoming signals to these frequencies.  I think that shows we have this market cornered.

rAVe- One last question, how will the viewer understand anything in the programming if all you are producing is a single frequency tone? 

AVPhenom- Bose has sold very narrow range speakers for years with great success all based on some amazing marketing.  We have hired a distant cousin of Mr. Bose from Ireland, Michael Bose-O’DeClowen to head up our efforts, and I have to say, I think we have something special here.

The world’s FIRST 4k speakers will go on sale later this month.

*****Note: The world’s FIRST 4k speakers come with a special AcoustiMix module that has a range of 20Hz-4.095kHZ and 4.097 kHz to 20kHZ.*****