The
SandTrap 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 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 Sheetrock walls and ceilings
distort. Sheetrock, made of paper, glue, and chalk, is not a
good material for reproducing sound from any speaker. Mounting
a speaker in Sheetrock 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, Sheetrock
compromises the sound of custom-installed speaker systems.
Sheetrock 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 Sheerock and
speaker. A surface that minimizes sheetrock 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 would
make it impracticable for installers to build baffles themselves, at
a retail price that will make consumers and dealers smile, and they
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.
