NXT technology operates on a principle of complex vibrations across an entire panel rather than the piston-like motion of a diaphragm. (NXT Surface Sound Technology)

     A London-based company called NXT took the findings and conducted more research. In late 1997, NXT began licensing technology for flat-panel speakers. While flat speakers have been around for nearly 50 years, NXT’s technology is the first to use multiple, chaotic vibrations instead of a pulsating diaphragm to create sound.
     The result is an inexpensive, lightweight and flexible speaker that can reproduce high- to mid-range frequencies better than regular speakers. NXT-technology speakers, marketed under the Benwin brand, hit the marketplace in January.

Good Vibrations
Conventional speakers use a pair of magnetic fields to make a membrane, or diaphragm, vibrate as a whole, creating sound vibrations. NXT’s speakers, by contrast, use electronic impulses to produce multiple vibrations across a single surface.
     When you tap a drum, the sound vibrates across the drumhead, starting at the point at which you tapped. If you tap it softly, the volume is lower. Tap along the edge, and you get a different tone than if you tap the center. That’s the basic idea behind NXT’s technology, but it goes one step further.
     An electronic “exciter” on the back of each speaker sends electronic “taps” along the surface of the panel. By changing and regulating each electronic tap, the exciter creates different volumes and frequencies that vibrate through the panel. The resulting vibrations are heard as sound.
     The exciter sends multiple taps along multiple paths — the resulting overlapping sound waves across the panel make it look like a pond in a rainstorm. The vibrating membrane on current NXT speakers is made of a woven paper composite.
     “It doesn’t even matter what panel material you use,” says Jon Vizor. “You could even use cardboard. Of course, the better the material, the better the sound.”

Lightweight and Loud
Hong Kong-based Kwong Quest LLC is one of the first companies to produce computer multimedia speakers using the NXT technology. The company’s first speaker system, called the Benwin BW 2000, costs $99. It comes with two 5-by-5+-inch speakers, which are just a half-inch thick, and a small, conventional subwoofer. The whole set weighs barely a pound.
     Kwong Quest/Benwin plans to introduce more expensive “audiophile” speakers for computer gamers later this year. Audio companies, including JBL, Infinity, Philips and Blaupunkt, are planning high-end stereo and computer speakers using NXT panels.