How to get room-filling sound without filling your room with stereo equipment

Great Sound Made Simple
Bose first set out to make a small, high-quality music system in the early 1970s, but found it impossible with the technology of the time. Big speakers and stacks of components could not easily be combined into a manageable solution. But our engineers had an idea, and music was the inspiration. A flute, which is able to transform a small breath of air into room-filling sound, is a simple device known as an acoustic waveguide. That means it confines the movement of a sound wave over a desired path. Applying this concept to a music system was complicated because a single waveguide can only produce a single frequency. (Musicians can change the length of the flute's waveguide to create a variety of notes by positioning their fingers over the holes.) The challenge was to gain the efficiencies of the waveguide while retaining the ability to produce a range of frequencies.

Every note must be right
Bose engineers realized they could emulate the effect of air vibrating within a flute by mounting a speaker within a tube. This moved air more efficiently within the waveguide, resulting in more sound. By matching the electro-mechanical properties of the loudspeaker to the waveguide, they were able to efficiently produce a wide range of notes.

Additional analysis and measurements showed that the tube could be folded into intricate patterns with no ill effect on sound quality. This meant a waveguide measuring several feet in length could be woven into a small tabletop enclosure, delivering sound with more clarity, depth and lifelike quality than a conventional component stereo system.

Explore for yourself further details of this technology.