Developed by Yamaha's Centre for Materials and Components Technologies, TLF has remarkable physical characteristics. It is around one millimetre thick and highly flexible, allowing it to be hung and rolled up like a poster. It's also extremely light - just 400g for a speaker measuring one square metre.
The additional attached cloth layer can be printed with any image or design using printing process, such as silk screening or an inkjet printer. On display was an A0 size speaker with a picture of the M7CL48-ES.
It is highly directional, emitting flat audio waves which mean sound can only be heard when the listener is standing directly in front of the TLF speaker. This directivity also means that any number of TLF speakers can be hung side by side, with almost no unwanted 'crosstalk' from one to the next, says the company.
The technology also produces a gradual decay curve which, together with the high directivity, means the possibility of feedback is virtually eliminated, compared to traditional loudspeaker design.
"We believe TLF is not just an alternative to traditional loudspeakers. TLF has many potential applications in the retail, advertising, public information and leisure markets as it makes possible a new era of posters and displays that can also broadcast highly directional audio," says Yamaha.
(Jim Evans)
