3DsoundSurge Reviews: Benwin BW2000

fpgroup.gif (6506 bytes)

Important Info:

Speakers By : Benwin
Price : $89.99 ERP now $25
Power Output:
Subwoofer: 6 watts
Satellites: 6 watts, 3 watts per satellite
Rated: 70/100
Award : none

Minimum/Recommended System Requirements

Sound card or other audio device with 3.5mm stereo mini-plug or adapter for Analog output

Features:

Subwoofer Unit
Total Power Output:	6W (rms)
Frequency Response:	50-250Hz
Driver:	4" woofer
Impedence:	6 ohms
Dimensions: (W x D x H)	4.72" x 4.96" x 6.69"
Weight:	2.2 lbs.

Satellite Unit
Total Power Output:	3W + 3W (rms)
Frequency Response:	150-20KHz
Driver:	NXT Flat Panel Technology
Impedence:	4 ohms
Dimensions: (W x D x H)	5.11" x .86" x 6.89" (including protrusions)
Weight:	.59 lbs. with cable
Power Source:	100V AC 50/60Hz
Adapter Power:	12V DC 1.5A

Reviewer PC:

- Win98
- Celeron 333a o/c 416
- 64 MB PC100 ram
- Creative TNT
- Creative Voodoo 2 (12 Mb)
- 6.4 Quantum SE
- Creative Sound Blaster Live!, Diamond Monster Sound MX300

Update 2: Benwin has announced a new price of just $25. This makes the system an even better buy.

Update: The BW2000 system is now available for only $50 from Benwin's website. This makes the system a lot more interesting option than when we posted the review. It's still not excellent buy but it's not a bad one either.

In a world full of standard (both high and not so high quality) cone-driven sub-woofer and satellite speaker system I was quite interested to check out some of the new flat panel technology that is creeping into the multimedia market. My PC desktop is in a class of its own when it comes to clutter, so the concept of speakers that would hang on the wall just like a small photograph is very enticing.

The Benwin BW2000 speaker systems are built around technology licenced from the British firm NXT. NXT is one of the leading developers of flat panel speaker technology. Conventional speakers use a pair of magnetic fields to make a membrane, or diaphragm, vibrate as a whole, creating sound vibrations. NXT's technology operates on a principle of complex vibrations in panels rather than pistonic motion of a diaphragm. By pistonic I mean that the diaphragm moves as a rigid whole. As a result NXT requires no enclosure.

So how does it work? Well imagine what happens when you tap a drum. The sound vibrates across the drumhead, starting at the point at which you tapped. If you tap it softly, the volume is lower. Tap along the edge, and you get a different tone than if you tap the center. That’s the basic idea behind NXT’s technology, but it goes one step further.

An electronic “exciter”, mathematically positioned on the on the back of a flat surface sends electrical currents through the flat panel. By changing and regulating each electronic tap, the exciter creates different volumes and frequencies that vibrate through the panel. The resulting vibrations are heard as sound. The exciter sends multiple taps along multiple paths resulting in overlapping sound waves. The image below is a snapshot of panel motion, after excitation with an impulse.

According to NXT, the potential for complexly vibrating panels to act as loudspeakers emerged the course of research conducted by Dr Ken Heron of Britain's Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA) into using lightweight composites in military aircraft. Once they saw how composite panels acted as efficient sound radiators, after some research the DERA filed the first patent application for a panel form loudspeaker. That was in 1991.

DERA itself wasn't best equipped to realize the concept's full potential, but NXT plc - one of the UK's largest hi-fi companies, owning the Mission, Quad, Wharfedale and Roksan brands - learnt of the discovery, recognised its potential and took out a licence with DERA to develop the technology for commercial use. Fundamental research at NXT plc identified the key operating principle for loudspeaker use. This led to the creation of a new class of sound radiator operating under this distributed-mode principle. On 27 September 1996 NXT plc publicly announced the establishment of a new arm - New Transducers Ltd, a technology company, now known simply as NXT - to develop and licence the product as the intellectual property holder. If you are interested in learning more about flat panel speaker technology you can read NXT's Technical Overview Online or check out some Abstracts from AES Papers. Suffice to say that they have succeed in lining up an impressive list of licensees, one of which is KWONG QUEST LLC. KQuest is a US based wholly-owned subsidiary of The Great China Holdings Ltd., specializing in the design and manufacture of high technology multimedia equipment for the computer industry, as OEM and under its own brand of Benwin.

So that brings us back to the Benwin BW2000 speaker system. This three piece, system comes with two 5.11" x .86" x 6.89" satellites that weigh in at about .59 lbs. and a compact (4.72" x 4.96" x 6.69"(120 x 126 x 170mm) - 2.2 lb. (1KG)) powered sub-woofer unit, which also incorporates the volume, tone and power controls and a headphone jack. The sub-woofer is a necessity as getting good low bass response from the flat design would require a prohibitively huge panel. The package also comes with a clear, well written instruction manual and right now Benwin is also packaging a carrying case with the BW2000s. One thing that stuck me right away, aside from how thin the satellites were, was the diminutive size of the subwoofer. Its not much bigger than the satellites of the Boston Acoustic's Media Theater system I recently tested.