Speakers That Keep Playing and Playing
CEO Gary Elsasser showed the Fugoo mobile speaker at this year’s luxury show in New York City. When he wasn’t busy taking advantage of its Ingress Protection rating of IP67 by throwing the FUGOO into a tank of water or on the floor, he told Machine Design what went into this speaker’s development. The exploded view of the core slips into different protective jackets. Shown below is the six-speaker core, though in July 2015 Fugoo will be releasing the XL line featuring eight speakers.
Co-molded seals: These are throughout the FUGOO Core and give it full protection from water, dirt, dust, and mud. This seal also improves the sound quality and allows the speaker to withstand being submerged in up to 3.3 feet of water.
Electronics: The battery is a rechargeable lithium-ion that can play continuously for 40 hours and has efficiency to deliver 75% of performance after five years of use. FUGOO offers Wireless Bluetooth technology with IP67-certified 3.5 mm input jack and mini USB charging port, so no port covers are required for water immersion. It also offers a Digital Signal Processor that dynamically adjusts the sound ranges as the overall volume is adjusted. A built-in omnidirectional microphone gives this portable device full-duplex speakerphone functionality as well as Siri and Google Now voice control with a smartphone or tablet.
28mm neodymium tweeters (2): Magnetic ferrofluid in the tweeters creates a fluid, but physical connection between the speaker and the permanent neodymium magnet to use the magnet and surrounding structure as a heat sink. It also provides a slight damping effect on the voice coil to minimize unwanted acoustic resonance. Fugoo also has worldwide patents on the methods to deliver full 360-deg. sound with speakers on all sides of the product.
43 x 54mm passive radiators (2): The inclusion of two passive radiators allows listeners to get the most sound out of their speakers. It’s a little-known fact that as much sound is generated from the back of the speaker as from the front. Passive radiators help take advantage of the full power of the speaker by adding a deep bass from the pressure behind the speakers.
39mm neodymium aluminum domed mid/woofer drivers (2): Two mid woofers give midrange sound to complete this portable sound system.