Want to listen to music without bothering everyone else around you? Put on a pair of headphones. That’s, pretty much, the only recourse in that situation. At least, that’s it while we wait for the A Speaker, a highly-advanced directional speaker that can limit its audio output to within a narrow sound beam.
That’s right, it’s a speaker whose output is contained within a narrow path. If you’re on that path, you can hear the sounds loudly and clearly. Move out of the way, though, and the sound disappears, making it possible to listen to music in a crowded office floor without bothering anyone with the resulting ruckus. Sorcery? Perhaps, although they explain it as a self-demodulating audio beam whose behavior is closer to narrow laser beams than traditional diffused light.
Made by Akoustic Arts, the A Speaker comes in two sizes: original (7.9 x 7.9 inches) and junior (3.5 x 3.5 inches). It comes in a slim enclosure that can either be mounted up the wall or affixed to a stand. Both optional accessories (stand and wall mount) come with a swiveling mechanism that allows you to adjust the angle the speaker is facing, so you’re not stuck with beaming sound to a specific part of the room. Maximum sound level is 90db for the original and 70db for the junior, with both sporting a 3.5mm connector for plugging in to your music source. And, no, they don’t have a Bluetooth option for now.
An Indiegogo campaign is currently running for A Speaker. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $350.