Hear about Brane Audio yet? You will! I was impressed at CES in Vegas today when I compared the company’s debut speaker, the Brane X, to popular brands. Founder Adi Ben-Ari has a background in high-precision magnetics and after leaving his previous venture applied his expertise to speakers – an area where magnets are key.
Pre-orders for the $600 Brane X are opening soon. Its innovative Repel-Attract Driver (RAD) creates a force to counter large air pressure changes within a speaker enclosure, allowing it to move more air than traditional subs while consuming only 10% of the power.
Brane Audio’s speaker outperformed the Sonos Move, trumping it completely. Image Credit: TechGround / Haje Kamps
The Brane X offers portability and power, all in a smaller package. An 8-inch subwoofer provides 12 hours of battery life and the speaker has amazing features like Alexa, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Spotify support. Plus it boasts two mid-range speakers for stereo sound. All this is encased in an IP 5x rated design that’s perfect for outdoor use – rain or shine!
As I demoed the tech in the suite, I glanced behind the sofa to check for additional speakers. The bass was intense and soundscape surprisingly immersive – all coming from a box no bigger than a toaster! Though I couldn’t find any other speakers, team members assured me it really could be done with their tiny device.
Brane Audio’s subwoofer leverages an FPGA to precisely position its magnet for optimal performance. Image Credit: TechGround / Haje Kamps
In the early 1990s, Pinkerton founded Active Power, a company in the energy sector which developed massive 15,000-pound flywheels for power storage. To keep these flywheels perfectly balanced using an axial magnetic bearing required precision feedback loop technology. In 2000, after taking the business public, he launched Clean Energy Labs to explore new opportunities. One of these was employing graphene to create more efficient switches – a project that continues today.
When Pinkerton and his team flipped the switch at 5,000 times a second, they were astonished by how much sound such a small device could make. This prompted them to create Brane Audio in 2015 with the goal of making membrane-based speakers. Unfortunately their plans for 2020 came to an abrupt halt when COVID struck and their factory shut down.
Pinkerton wasn’t ready to let the tech go; he returned to the drawing board.
Pinkerton explains that their experience is unlike anything a typical audio engineer would know, and it took them years to perfect the technology behind the speaker they ultimately launched.
This speaker is bigger than your average portable, making it more like a small boombox. Perfect for road trips, moving around the house or having a pool party – all without needing to lug it overseas!
“We’re launching the Brane X at South by Southwest in Austin this March. Plus, we have speakers with our tech in more compact sizes and lower prices on the way!” – Pinkerton
