When the momentum of a movie has pinned you to your seat, often it's the soundtrack that's carried you there
And it's this intensity we're obsessed with – to hear every sound, every instrument played. So we'll fill any space with a richness and depth that sweeps you up and puts you in the moment.
It’s not just sound technology that excites us, it’s the passion that goes into the music. Watch the story of someone who shares our obsession –the man behind the Batman soundtrack, Geoff.
A better sound experience
Soundtrack producer Geoff and Philips sound expert Gerrit describe how they create epic movie moments, in the cinema and in your living room.
Would you like to know how Philips technology can give you the same surround sound experience at home as you have in the cinema?
I love the idea of taking a sound from an instrument and making it interesting – doing something to it that just draws your attention to it.
Geoff Foster, sound engineer at Air Studios.
Worked on major Hollywood films
like Dark Knight and Quantum of Solace.
Our obsession for true cinematic moments in your living room is driven by the qualities we'd like you to hear in our home theater range.
For surround sound from every angle
Get closer to the action with sound punching from the front
For surround sound without the clutter
Our patented speakers achieve a full sonic impact thanks to their side-firing drivers. This means sound shoots off sideways and front-on. So that's three drivers operating within your speaker at once in a tripole configuration.
Add to the equation, additional amplifiers with the Philips proprietary sound algorithm and you've got a 9.1 system – quite impressive given conventional systems run a 5.1 set-up.
With the theory explained, now it's time to experience a sound that engulfs you.
It's the silk dome tweeter that draws you into a scene by delivering an enhanced sound quality that radiates from the front. This effect can be reproduced at mid to high range frequencies for exceptional sound clarity.
We then apply our Crystal Clear sound technology to achieve a high quality conversion of the original movie score. The most advanced Class D amplification decodes the original sound via an impressive digital to analog convertor (DACs).
Ambisound technology drives sound around you from a single source, whatever the size and shape of your room. The result is all the excitement of superior surround sound without the clutter of multiple speakers. You can really hear the difference in sound quality that's far more natural than other systems and the wider listening sweet spots make it an experience that you can share.
That's the simplicity of surround sound from just one source.
It's not just your listening experience we look to improve on, but your living space too through unobtrusive design. From the modern aluminium finish, to the compact size of our home theater range, we build on an already successful performance.
Make your online world sound good too. Now you can access online content from your personal computer through your home theater system via Wi-Fi or DNLA Network link. So all you have to do is select your favourite movie, music or holiday photo album.
Immerse yourself in the film with cinematic sound and a big screen to match. Our home theater systems and flat TVs complement each other in design and user interface. So you can operate both with a single remote control.
Gerrit works at the Philips Advanced Technology Laboratory in the Belgian city of Louvain. There are other Philips research facilities in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, as well as in Singapore and South China.
So how did your obsession with sound develop?
I came from a musical family and my father was a big jazz lover, so I grew up with music. It has been a key part of my life as far back as I can remember.
By the time I was fifteen I had already built my first do-it-yourself amplifier with large box speakers.
How did you pursue a career in sound?
To work in Philips, you have to have it in you. You have to be passionate. I never planned my career. I'm not a career-driven person, I was lucky to be able to do what I loved doing.
You have to be interested in sound and have ideas. It's not just a career; it's more innate than that.
What is your role at Philips?
I am the spokesperson for Home Cinema. Everyone has their own responsibility but I try to join everything together, so it becomes one program rather than lots of different projects.
I would single out two. First, there’s the introduction of the Ambisound Soundbar with integrated playback. To be able to get a surround sound experience from just one device and a subwoofer with no need to run wires to rear speakers is a real advantage for many people.
Then there’s ‘360Sound’. It’s all about recreating the experience you have in a cinema where you’re surrounded by rows of loudspeakers. We wanted to do it with a 5.1 loudspeaker set-up, so we combined a direct firing driver with two dipole drivers to deliver the correct balance between diffuse and direct sound.
A real landmark moment was the development of Double Bass. A great deal of research went into this project and its completion gave me an enormous sense of job satisfaction. It was the result of earlier research done at Philips Research and my own ideas. There was quite some scepticism whether it would work. It failed a couple of times, but I kept the idea alive and am glad that I did.
Double Bass was introduced in our first Ambisound Soundbar. This was definitely a defining moment for me.
What do you see as the future in sound?
The future of sound is difficult to predict I imagine music will be on a server somewhere – but not on a hard disk.
I enjoy the idea of something physical – you can see this with the revival of vinyl and how it's growing. I think the strive for authenticity will continue – ‘as the artist intended'.
Another possibility is that, as people are exchanging existing music a lot, people may co-create/compose their own music more and more. People will fulfil their aspirations to be like their favourite artist!
Most popular products
