All language subtitles for Tomorrows.World.Today.S06E06.Feel.the.Sound.1080p.WEB.h264-CBFM_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
On Tomorrow's World Today

we explore
the cutting-edge advances

that are shaping
four different worlds.

The world of inspiration

where the wonders
of the natural world
amaze and inspire us,

the world of creation
where ideas come to life
from traditional arts,

the world of innovation
where ideas and inventions
move us all forward,

the world of production

where innovations
are mass-produced

to improve our lives.

From Inventionland
world headquarters,

here's your host
George Davison.

When I created Inventionland
back in 2008

I had one goal in mind.

Design an immersive
work environment

that would inspire creativity.

And, visually,
we did just that.

But one thing
I didn't consider
when I was designing it

was how immersive
sound can be.

What if people could hear
the crash of ocean waves
beneath them

when they were
on our pirate ship?

Or the sounds
of the jungle animals
in the distance

when they were in our cave?

The invention
of spatial audio,
it's changed everything.

One limitation with sound
is that, for the most part,

when we hear music
it's in stereo.

And nowadays,
we want to immerse ourselves
in experiences.

Spatial audio technology,
it uses hardware and software

to simulate
a three-dimensional
sound field

to simulate sound
from various directions
and distances.

Today, everyone can benefit
from spatial audio,

from watching movies
and playing video games
to producing music.

So I'm sending Tamara
to the world of innovation,

where she's gonna explore
how spatial audio

will help listeners
in any environment

not only feel
the depth of sound

but also make listening
a truly immersive experience.

[Tamara] Spatial audio
has changed the way
we experience sound.

Imagine music taking you on
a three-dimensional experience

with every sound, every note,
every whisper

surrounding you,
immersing you,
and taking you on a journey.

I'm here at Sonos headquarters
in Santa Barbara, California

to explore
how they are bringing

a powerful new home
spatial audio experience
to listeners

with easy-to-use hardware.

-Hi. Patrick,
it's great to meet you.
-Hi.

-Welcome to Sonos.
-Thank you.

I am so excited to be here

and learn more about
the origin of this company.

[Patrick] Sonos was created
to fill every home with music

and do it
in a really easy way.

20 years ago,
audio was really trapped
in one room of the home.

There were
these complicated wires

and physical media,

and, really, one person

had to be
the technical expert.

Yes, in my house
that would have been my dad.

Yeah, and so what we
wanted to do

was really make it easy
for people to be able
to play any music they wanted

in one room of their house
or their entire house.

We saw, really,
this opportunity

to take some
emerging technologies,

Wi-Fi in the home,
micro-electronics
becoming a lot smaller,

so computing, and phones,
and all those things,

and then the move
to digital music.

-And so all of those things
-[Tamara] Mmm.

we felt we could
bring together
into a new product

-that we introduced here...
-Oh.

...which is really
combining a computer
and audio together

and giving you access
to any song

in any room of their home
or every room of their home.

So you really had
a vision of something
that didn't exist yet.

It was something
that was mind-blowing then

and you've seen
widely adopted since.

Well, I love seeing
the innovation in progress,

and I look forward
to seeing what's next.

And we've got something
very exciting.

We believe the future of audio
is spatial audio,

so I want to show you
what we've got.

I cannot wait
to take a look inside.

-Let's go see it.
-Okay.

-Hi, Victoria.
-Hi, Patrick.

-This is Tamara.
-Hi. So nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.
-Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.
Enjoy the demo.
-Oh, I will.

All right.
Welcome to our listening room.

We're going to be listening
to our new product,

-so make yourself comfortable
in the middle spot.
-Okay.

So, this may be
a silly question,

but what exactly
is spatial [chuckling] audio?

Spatial audio is an emerging
audio technology

which delivers
three-dimensional sound.

So now creators
can view their work

as a sound canvas
or a sound bubble,

and they can place
objects of their mixes
anywhere in the room.

So that's not only
in front of you

but above you
and all around you.

The best way to understand
is to listen.

-Let's do it.
-Yes.

[dramatic music playing]

[gasps] Um, that was amazing.

-This is your job?
-Yes.

I love seeing
people's reactions.

This is the best part
of my job.

-Well, I need to see
what's inside these things.
-Sounds good.

[Tamara] I'm at
the Sonos testing building
in Santa Barbara, California

to explore how speakers
can give us a fully immersive
listening experience.

-Hey, Ryan.
-Hey, Tamara.

We've got
some great stuff to show ya.

-Follow me.
-All right.

So, just how do you make
a brand-spanking-new speaker?

That's a great question.

First thing, uh,

it really starts with
a sound experience brief.

-Mmm-hmm.
-So we write down

the capabilities that we want
out of the speaker.

How do we want people
to experience it
in their homes?

And then we build
acoustic models.

So the brief is where
you kind of dream it up

-and then this is where
you start to realize it.
-Absolutely.

What you see here
are a couple of
different versions

that we would call
a sounds-like prototype,

where the acoustic team
has essentially duct-taped

-and glued
a 3D-printed model together
-[chuckles]

and placed drivers around
in different spots
for us to listen to

and hear if that delivers
on the sound experience
that we want.

Okay, so I really want
to break this down to basics.

When you say "drivers",

tell me a little bit about
what a driver does

and kind of
where it fits in here.

Yeah, so drivers
is what people might think of
as a speaker.

-Mmm-hmm.
-We think of
this whole product

-as a speaker.
-[chuckles]

But this is made with
six different drivers in it.

So there's woofers
for low-end,

mid-range drivers,
and tweeters that deliver
high-end.

[Tamara] Okay. Gotcha.

So you're kind of
experimenting in this phase

with what you want it
to sound like

and what it might look like.

-But this is really
all about the sound.
-Absolutely.

So what you see here
really is the convergence

of the acoustic design
and acoustic architecture
with industrial design.

You can see
the shapes and sizes
that we explored

as we were in
the development process.

And I'm noticing that.
What do you call this indent?

We call that
a cinched hourglass shape.

Okay, well, I'm noticing
that the cinch occurs

in different places
on different models.

-Does that make a difference?
-It absolutely does.

You can see in a clear model
of the final product here

-we've got six drivers.
-Mmm-hmm.

-So there's one on the kind of
bottom and shoulder...
-Mmm-hmm.

...one facing up
and one facing out.

And those all
strategically placed

to deliver the best,
most immersive
sound experience.

All right.
So we've talked about
how it sounds.

We've talked about
how it looks.

What else goes into
putting this together?

So in addition to building
the world's most immersive
smart speaker,

the Era 300 is also the most
sustainably-produced product
that Sonos has ever made.

Okay, so how is it different
than what's come before?

So the Era 300 uses
about 40% recycled plastic.

-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.
-It uses under two watts
of energy in standby mode,

and also uses less power
when it's actually on.

-And what am I
looking at right here?
-This is an example

of our plastic
recycled source material.

So we take this,
and it gets melted into
these beads

and then used to make
the various plastic pieces
of the speaker.

Got it. So this is an example
of the materials that help
with sustainability.

What about how it's
actually put together?

What you see here is a speaker
that's been completely
disassembled.

-And what you notice
is there's a lot of screws.
-[Tamara] Yeah.

[Ryan] We would normally use
glues and adhesives

to get the product
to not rattle,
and not make any noise,

and come together.

But with the Era family
we use screws instead

to ensure that
it is repairable
and more sustainable.

Sustainability was also
a very important part
of our package design.

The box is made from
recycled materials.

As you look inside...

...you see the speaker
comes in a nice bag

-and even has
a paper handle on top.
-Okay, hold on a second.

How does a paper handle
support something like this?

Our package engineers
did an incredible job
and a lot of testing

to make sure that you can
safely get from the store
to your house

without dropping your speaker.

Well, kudos to your
project engineers.

Now let's go take a look

-at our antenna
testing chamber.
-Oh.

So this is one of
my favorite rooms
in the building.

This is where we do
the testing for the Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth antennas.

So this is really the heart
of what powers that experience

so that you don't have to have
your music tethered

into just one room with cables
and stuck in a cabinet.

[Ryan] Absolutely.

I'm gonna
introduce you to Sohini,

who's our antenna engineer,

and she'll walk you through
a couple of demos.

Fantastic. Thank you.

-Hey there.
-Hey, Tamara.

-How are you doing?
-I'm great.

So, tell me a little bit about

-what's going on in here.
-Okay.

So I just finished setting up

a measurement for this antenna
that we have here.

And I'm going to measure
the signal that is coming out
of the antenna

in all directions.

Let me show you
one of the other setups

that I have done
in one of our other chambers.

So I have this Era 300 speaker
set up inside this
antenna test chamber.

And I'm going to measure
the Wi-Fi connectivity
for the antennas.

How many antennas
are in there?

There are four Wi-Fi antennas
in this speaker,

-and I'm all set
to start measuring them.
-All right.

[machine whirrs]

[Sohini]
While the test is running,
let me tell you a little bit

about the location
of the antennas
inside the speaker.

So you can already see
one of the antennas
in the front.

-Mmm-hmm.
-There's one more antenna
in the front.

So two antennas in the front,
two in the back.

And that provides
a whole 360 degree
of Wi-Fi coverage.

I can see why they all need
to work properly.

Speaking of,
how's our test subject doing?

It should be already done.
Let's take a look.

[Tamara]
What are we looking at here?

[Sohini]
This is the 3D pattern

of the Wi-Fi signal strength.

And what do
the different colors mean?

The darkest red means that
the signal is the strongest,

and the blue means that
the signal is weak
at that spot.

All right, well, we've got
a lot of red in this one,

so it looks like we're doing
pretty okay.

[Sohini] That's right.

All right, Tamara.

Ready to go check out
the reliability lab?

All right.
Time for my next test.

-Thanks so much.
-Buh-bye.

[Ryan] Welcome
to the reliability lab.

All right.
So we were just testing Wi-Fi.
What are we testing in here?

So this is where
we do all of our
environmental testing.

We've got a suite of tests
that we run each speaker
through.

You can see the Era 300.

-Mmm-hmm.
-That gets a heat
and humidity test.

The Move is one of
our portable speakers,
so it's much more durable.

We do drop testing.

We do water testing,
so it gets put in a sprayer.

The Roams are also portable.

They get dropped
from really high.

-[Tamara laughs]
-[Ryan] They also get
water tested.

They get tumble tested
in, like, a big dryer-like
machine.

Making sure that
whatever speaker
people have bought,

it's gonna live up
to the promises
that we've made about it.

What do you think
is the most surprising test
that you do?

[Ryan] We've got sunscreen,
vinegar, sweat, olive oil.

We really want to make sure
that if someone's got
one of these speakers

and they're using it
in their kitchen
or using it at that the beach

that if you have sunscreen
on your hand

that it's not gonna
degrade the finish,

doesn't change the color,
or wipe off the controls,

or anything like that.

And at what stage
of product development

are these tests
actually happening?

Throughout
the development process.

-Mmm-hmm.
-Every time
we make a change...

...we re-test
to make sure that,

if there was a small change
to the plastic

or some kind of a coating,

that it's still robust.

Now we're gonna go
to my favorite spot

-where we do
all the audio testing.
-[Tamara] Ohh.

-I can't wait to see it.
-Yeah.

-Welcome to the acoustics lab.
-Very cool.

I'm gonna introduce you
to Doug

who's our distinguished
audio systems engineer,

and he's gonna
walk you through a few tests.

Hey there.
It's great to meet you.

Nice to meet you too, Tamara.

So, tell me about
what's going on here.

Well, what we're
gonna do today

is we're gonna take a look

at some testing
of the drivers.

-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.
-The drivers are the elements

that are nested
inside the loud speaker
that actually make the sound.

And today we're gonna be
taking a look at testing
the low frequency driver,

the woofer,
that's in the Era 300.

Fantastic.
I can't wait to see it.

-It's already started.
-Oh, let me take a look.

[machine hums and beeps]

[Tamara] All right,
so what's happening over here?

[Doug]
Well, this is the woofer,

and what we've got
trained on it is a laser.

And what we're measuring
as we put these tones into it

is the displacement.

And we're also measuring
the temperature

of the voice coil in the unit.

-Why do you use a laser?
-Non-contact.

We don't want anything
touching the driver

-while it's being tested.
-Got it.

-And so how's
our testing going?
-It's going very good.

What we're doing
is we're stepping up in level
and also in frequency.

As we put higher
and higher frequencies in,

we're getting more
and more rise
in the temperature.

This is
the voice coil temperature.

We also see that as we put
more power into it

it's also getting hotter.

In the total
harmonic distortion

we're seeing
that the distortion
is also going up

as we put more power into it.

Now, distortion's something
I'm familiar with.

Why does
the temperature matter?

Well, it's all about
reliability and durability.

We want these loudspeakers
to last for a very long time
in the home.

Makes sense.
All right, what's next?

We're gonna
introduce you to Kylie

who's gonna show you through
a couple more measurements

-that we make in the lab.
-Fantastic.

-Hey, Kylie.
-Hey.

Doug told me to come check out
what you're doing.

Yeah, so right now
I'm getting ready to test

-our mid-ranger driver
of the Era 300.
-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.

So this plays back
the mid to high frequencies.

Ohh. What's in there?

This is our two-part
anechoic chamber.

It allows us to measure
the transducers

without any other reflections.

Would you like
to take a look inside?

-Yes, I would.
-All right.

-Okay. You can follow me.
-Cool.

-Oh, wow. What is this?
-Welcome.

This is our anechoic chamber.

So anechoic meaning, like,
anti-echo.

-Mmm-hmm.
-So there's no reflections

off the walls.

So if I clap my hands
it sounds really dry

because there's no reverb.

-Oh, yeah.
There's, like, nothing.
-Yeah. Exactly.

And what about
all the different shapes
and sizes of foam

-I'm seeing on the wall?
-[Kylie] These are
really large pieces of foam

because we're dealing with
really big soundwaves.

-And so they need to be bigger
-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.

so they absorb
the lower frequencies.

Oh, and, wait,
that's the other side
of the driver

that we were
looking at before, right?

[Kylie] Yeah, so this driver
is radiating out

into these
19 different microphones.

-So that way we're able
to measure the sound
-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.

at every angle
that it comes out.

Ah, right,
and that makes sense
with spatial audio

because you're around,
and above, and behind.

Absolutely,
and we actually have
an even big chamber

where we can
measure all of that
at the same time.

Whoa!

What is going on
with this floor here?

So, we're in the bigger
anechoic chamber now.

This is so big that
we're actually only seeing
half of the chamber.

-So up and down.
I'm in the middle right now.
-Yeah. Exactly.

And what can you
test for differently in here?

Yeah, so since
it's such a large space,

we're able to put
25 microphones up

-at a further distance away.
-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.

[Kylie] And that allows us
to measure sound

as the speaker rotates

to measure
how the sound is radiating

across a whole balloon
of data.

Can we actually run a test
so I can see it in action?

Yeah. We're gonna play
a frequency sweep.

-It's gonna play low
and then go high.
-Mmm-hmm.

[tone rising]

-Okay.
-Let's go see
what that looks like

-outside the chamber.
-Cool.

[Kylie]
So, what you're looking at
is we have 25 measurements,

one for each microphone,

and we have a very smooth
frequency response.

What does it mean for me
as a listener

-when you have
a smooth frequency response?
-Yeah.

It means you're gonna have
a very natural
listening experience

-Mmm-hmm.
-that's gonna be true
to the artist's intent.

-Oh, cool.
-In fact, we have you set up

to go talk with Chris Davies
after this.

He's gonna talk to you
about how we collaborate

-with music producers.
-Awesome.

-Thank you so much.
-You're welcome.

[Tamara] So, as head of audio
here at Sonos,

tell me a little bit about
what you and your team do.

My team is responsible
for everything

from the architecture
of our products

-to make sure
that all the parts
-[Tamara] Mmm-hmm.

are coming together
the way that they need to,

all the way through
to the final sound tuning

to make sure that the sound
that we're delivering
to our customers

is something that we can be
really excited about.

See, that's what
I actually wanted
to ask you about,

that customer experience,
the music we get to enjoy.

What's it like
working with the artists?

We have a team
that works with us

that we refer to
as our soundboard.

It's made up of mixers,
producers,

people throughout
the audio industry,

and we work
with them extensively
to get feedback

on not only what we're doing
well with our products
but also what's not working.

What's an example
that a consumer might be able
to sort of understand

the complexities of that?

Yeah, one of the tracks
that we've worked with a lot

is a track called
Deep, Deep Feeling
by Paul McCartney,

which was mixed
by Giles Martin

-who is part of our team here.
-Mmm-hmm.

And that track has a lot
of different spatial elements
in it,

and various things
that are in specific locations
but also moving around.

And we can listen to that
out of our product,

but also be able
to walk into his studio
and listen to it in the studio

to be able
to hear specifically
how it sounds

and what he was intending
to create with the mix.

It's just
an amazing experience
to be able to connect between

what's happening in the studio
and what we're able to bring
into people's living rooms.

You have a very cool job.
It really is a true marriage
of art and technology.

Thank you very much.

-Hey, Jeff.
Welcome to Inventionland.
-Hey, George.

Thanks for having me.

Well, hey, your team was here,

and they put
all this equipment in,

and I'm hoping you can tell me
what's going on.

That's why I'm here.

Sonos has been
a pioneer in audio

for over 20 years.

-Mmm-hmm.
-And just like the transition

from mono to stereo,

we're really excited
about a new transition

that's happening
in the music industry.

And this is spatial audio.

And this has got creators
really excited about

really showing their content,
their art in a new way.

And with Sonos,
we now have the way

-to actually show that
to people in their homes.
-Mmm.

So what we've setup for you
is the ultimate home theater
listening experience.

-We got
a Sonos Arc in the front...
-Okay.

...a pair of subs
to each side,

and a pair of Era 300s
in the back.

So this is gonna give you
immersive sound

all around you, above you,

-and you're gonna
feel it in your core.
-Oh, my gosh.

Immersive sound.

My sound engineers
in Inventionland
are gonna love this.

[chuckles softly]
I'm gonna leave you to it.

[whispering] Okay.

[woman talking indistinctly]

-[man]
Come on, you guys. Let's go.
-[dramatic music playing]

[thunder rumbling]