both the house and the car. Listen to the new form speaker "SOUND MUG"
"SOUND MUG" (RDP-NWV500) released by Sony on April 24th is a new type of active speaker that is intended for use not only indoors but also in cars. The price is an open price, and as of April 28, the market is selling for less than 20,000 yen, in the high 10,000 yen range.
| Installed on home station with Walkman |
When getting in the car, remove the speaker and Walkman from the home station and bring them into the car. Place the speaker in your car's cup holder. The basic concept is to replace the car stereo by reproducing the sound of the Walkman omnidirectionally in the car.
In addition to introducing the background to the birth of this unique product, I also had the opportunity to actually use the "SOUND MUG" in my car, so I would like to report on its usability and sound quality.
Why was such a product created in the first place? It is said that it started with a plan to create a product.
Compared to the enthusiastic in-vehicle audio, development was based on ideas and perspectives from personal audio, which has "easy to understand for everyone", "abundant color variations", and "compact and lightweight technology". start. In order to make it safe to use in the car, the in-vehicle audio team's "know-how on heat and vibration countermeasures" and "know-how on sound pressure, sound quality, and sound field in the car" were incorporated into the development.
| The speaker is shaped like a tumbler. |
If you do not have such a function, you will often enjoy the sound of portable audio from a car audio tuner using an FM transmitter. As you know, there are many FM transmitters for iPod/Walkman on the market.
However, car audio with a portable audio linkage function is limited to relatively new models. It is also a story in new car models that genuine car audio is equipped with such a function. And FM transmitters are sometimes dissatisfied with interference and sound quality.
However, installing new car audio is expensive, and buying a new car is even more expensive. There is also a need to enjoy music stored in a portable player while driving a favorite old car. SOUND MUG is positioned as a product that can reproduce high-quality sound more stably than an FM transmitter at a lower price than a new car stereo by bringing the active speaker itself into the car.
In development, Mr. Junya Endo, Senior PE Product Coordinator, Personal Entertainment Business Division, Personal Imaging & Sound Business Division, Consumer Professional & Device Group, told us, There are many people who have a balance that pushes it out to the outside, but there may be people who have a different sound preference and want to enjoy music in the car more easily.” It is said that there was
| Research various locations in the car |
However, there were many twists and turns before he arrived at the idea of putting the speaker in a cup holder. For example, we came up with various ideas, such as installing the tweeter on the dashboard and placing the woofer in a different place,” recalls Akira Sakamoto, General Manager of Section 2, Automotive Systems Department, Device Solutions Business Headquarters.
However, if you roll it on the floor, there is a risk that it will interfere with driving such as braking, and if you divide it into multiple parts, there are problems such as hindering ease of understanding and introduction as a product.
In the midst of this, Mr. Sakamoto, who used mugs in his car, said, "If you make a speaker like a mug or a tumbler and put it in a cup holder, you can easily install it in various cars. ”, and it is said that it was organized into the current form. However, during development, we researched 397 cars to find out what the position and size of the cup holder is in the actual car, and from a safety standpoint, we tried to make the size and weight about the same as a plastic bottle. It is said that there were various difficulties such as ingenuity.
Now let's actually listen to the sound.
First of all, when you set it up on a table in the room together with the home station and play it, a rich mid-low range flows out that you wouldn't expect from a slim and compact housing. It's a solid sound without the chassis resonating and lowering the clarity of the bass.
The mid-high range is also relaxed and spreads naturally in the room. The speaker is 2-way and is mounted on the top of the housing. A 20mm tweeter and a 56mm woofer are placed facing each other, with a disk-shaped diffuser in between. It is an omnidirectional system that spreads sound 360 degrees. A long bass reflex port is included in the elongated housing. The built-in amplifier is a digital amplifier with a total output of 16W.
| Speaker part. The red panel is the diffuser. Below that, set up a woofer upwards. The tweeter is placed above it, facing downward | The back of the home station. | home station with stereo mini-input. Place the SOUND MUG on the left and the Walkman on the right |
The sound emitted in 360 degrees is not only the direct sound but also the wall of the room. Since the sound reflected on the ceiling, table, etc. also reaches the ear, there is not much change in "how you hear" even if you move the position of your head. It can be said that the quality is sufficient to enjoy the sound of the Walkman as background music indoors. In addition, since the back of the home station also has a stereo mini input, players other than Walkman can be connected.
By the way, the home station and the SOUND MUG are connected via the dock terminal on the bottom, but when this terminal is connected, there is a relatively "balanced balance of lowering the bass and raising the treble". It becomes a playback sound. This is because it assumes that the user is not right next to the SOUND MUG when it is used indoors, and reproduces high-pitched sounds in a relaxed manner.
| The bottom of the SOUND MUG. Equipped with a Dock terminal | Equipped with a power supply terminal, a Walkman connection terminal, and a stereo mini external input on the back. Use this in the car |
On the other hand, if you remove it from the home station (without dock connection) and bring it in the car, the balance will be It is automatically changed to "balance that raises the low range relatively and lowers the high range". This means that the SOUND MUG is installed right next to the user in the car, and it seems that it is a device to prevent the playback sound from being loud when the high-pitched sound reaches the ear.
| Difference between home station installation and in-car sound production | Internal unit layout. The green part is the diffuser |
Bring it inside the car (Mazda Demio), near the front of the center console, between the shift lever and the side brake Installed in the cup holder in the When you sit in the passenger seat and make a sound, you will be surprised to hear the sound coming from in front of you. Since the SOUND MUG is next to my right knee, I had a preconceived notion that the sound spreads around my waist, but the direction from which I hear the sound is directly in front of my face.
| The demo car is Mazda Demio | Installed in the front cup of the center console |
This is the sound emitted from the SOUND MUG , is reflected in various places in the car and reaches the ear. Among them, the area of the windshield is large, and the glass easily reflects mid-to-high sounds, so the sound from the front will stand out. In addition, there are fewer incidental sounds than I expected, and the character of the sound is neutral.
On the other hand, the bass, which I had an impression of being rich in when played indoors, doesn't seem to have a strong impact, probably because it is absorbed by the seats and floor mats. However, since the distance to the SOUND MUG is close, I can hear a lot of direct sounds in the mid-low range, and I don't feel that the balance is so bad. It's impossible to make a heavy bass that shakes the body, but if anything, some people may find this kind of elegant sound creation more calming.
If you move to the rear seat with the same arrangement, the mid-low range will decrease, but the bass at a level that resonates with the lower body with "tonton" and "tintin" is transmitted. It is interesting that the high frequencies, which are easy to reflect, can be heard clearly without much change.
If you sit in the rear seat and bring the SOUND MUG closer to the rear seat of the center console, that is, near the center of the car, the sound will be closer to the impression you get when sitting in the front passenger seat. It's also interesting that you can change the sound field depending on the situation, such as when there are only the driver and passenger seats, the holder near the front, and when there are many people on the seat, the holder near the center. .
| Installed near the rear seat of the center console. When listening in the rear seat, the sound was better in this position | As an example of connecting to something other than a Walkman, we connected it to the audio output of a portable navigation system. In addition to being able to play music on the navigation side, navigation voice is also output from SOUND MUG. I was able to listen to music and navigation with better sound than the small speaker of the portable navigation |
| The controls on the top panel are intentionally simple, with only input switching, power, and volume. Music selection is done on the Walkman. For example, the power supply is supplied from the cigarette lighter socket, but by turning off the car engine without turning off the main power supply of the SOUND MUG, it is possible to turn ON/OFF in conjunction with the engine. When the SOUND MUG is turned on, a Walkman connected with a dedicated cable will automatically pause playback, so after starting the engine, you can easily enjoy music by simply pressing the play button on the Walkman. Also, the volume is devised. In addition to being able to adjust the volume on the SOUND MUG side, gain control is possible by operating the volume on the Walkman side. However, in that case, when the Walkman is removed from the SOUND MUG, there is a risk that the volume on the Walkman side is excessively increased. In order to prevent that, when you remove it from the SOUND MUG, it automatically returns to the volume before connecting to the SOUND MUG. Regarding the installation location, Sony assumes the cup holder in the center console. If the holder is larger than the SOUND MUG, it comes with a fitting cushion that fills the gap, and a binding cable to prevent it from popping out during sudden braking, etc., and there is a protrusion on the back to pass it through. For safety reasons, it is not recommended to mount the cup holder in front of the air conditioner.
As a car audio Although it is a novel product, it has a new appeal that it can be used in the car as an active speaker for home use. At first glance, the shape looks like nothing but a tumbler, and the deep orange (D) model has an impact on the design, so it can be said that it is a Sony-like product. In addition to upgrading the sound environment of your own car, you can use it in a rental car, enjoy music with a home station in a hotel room, etc. It seems possible.
When using it in the car, I had to connect the SOUND MUG with a cigar socket cord and a Walkman connection cord. Things that don't happen. It is said that the installation of a battery was postponed due to the high temperature inside the car, the increase in cost, and the trade-off with the bass due to the problem of internal space. The direct connection between the Walkman and the SOUND MUG also increases the size of the product, and there are safety issues when it comes off. It is the result of thinking that it would be better to place it in a place where users feel it is easy to use, similar to the place where mobile phones are installed in the city." I would like to expect future developments such as Bluetooth compatibility, including this area. Where in the car will the sound change? What kind of sound will it make when it is used in which car? , It can be said that it is the birth of a new speaker genre with future potential, such that ideas for the next model will expand on their own. |