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How could we have known that these would be Dr. Bambamba's last words? Everything here at Davidson Loudspeakers has ground to a halt while we try to solve the mystery of what has happened to Dr. Bambamba. As readers of this web page already know, Dr. Bambamba was enlisted by Davidson Loudspeakers to add his unfathomable insights to the origins of The Panga loudspeaker. We at Davidson had all become accustomed to his peculiar juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated related observations about Africa, a sabertoothed tiger, and The Panga loudspeaker. Our mild amusement with this academic refugee from the world of common sense however, has changed to genuine concern for his physical well being and mental stability. For those of you who are not familiar with the recent history of Davidson Loudspeakers, some background will be helpful.
As reported on this web page in July 1997, we have been working on a new driver with huge potential for the profession sound market. This new driver will make it possible, and financially practical to achieve what we call a "stereo everywhere" effect. What do we mean by "stereo everywhere" ?
Think of the precise stereo image that is only possible in an optimally set home audio system. This "illusion" of sharply defined sonic images in 3 dimensional space is never achieved in practice when amplified sound reinforcement is used. This lack of cohesion between the soundfield and the action taking place on the movie screen, the theater stage or the amplified live performance is acceptable both because: 1) we have become accustomed to using the visual images as the predominate clue for sound location in these performances and 2) the venues for the audience of these events are deliberately or inadvertently designed so that early reflections mask the sonic clues from the real source that would allow the brain to recreate a sonic 3 dimensional sound field. The goal of the "stereo everywhere" effect is to restore the cohesion that should exist between action on the stage or screen and the audio signal. WHAT Davidson is doing to achieve the "stereo everywhere" effect will be fairly easy to understand by anyone trained in acoustics. HOW we are achieving this effict requires a very special driver used in a very specific way. We have built the driver and are in the process of patenting and refining the design. We are looking for ONE partner established in the US profession audio market to make commercial versions of the driver for the "stereo everywhere" effect.
Dr. Bambamba has been a infrequent visitor to Davidson during the whole
development cycle for this driver and the evolution of the stereo everywhere
effect. Last September Dr. Bambamba had dropped in on us while we
were collectively beating our heads against the wall trying to solve one
of many problems inherent in developing any new device and system.
He asked if he could help and we told him to be our guest and motioned
him towards the table where we had the prototype device along with a number
of expired patents and other printed material. We didn't pay much
more attention to him, which is generally a good idea at anytime.
He was still there three hours later when we decided to call it quits for
the night. We asked if he was staying and he mumbled something like
" no, he was meeting Dr. Lirpa at the Carnegie Science Center." What
happened next we've only recently been able to piece together. Dr.
Lirpa, his dinner partner that evening was none other then Dr. Loof Lirpa,
known to readers of AUDIO magazine for his often strange home audio products
produced by his company Lirpa Labs. How Dr. Bambamba met Dr. Lirpa,
we can't even speculate. None the less, these lilliputian men of
science had dinner at the Science Center and then went browsing though
the many wonderful displays and interactive science exhibits which include
a WW II era submarine, an Omni theater and a Tesla coil. For any
reader unfamiliar with the last item, please visit the link to this page
for information on the true genius Tesla. In any event,
the Tesla coil exhibit was the last physical location that Drs Lirpa and
Bambamba visited prior to their disappearance. To outward appearances,
the Tesla Coil is a 12 foot tall pillar of insulated coiled wire.
The Tesla Coil can generate momentary bursts of hundreds of thousands of
volts of electricity which causes a spark to leave the coil and travel
some 15 feet to a huge steel mesh cage which completely encloses the coil.
A workman at the science center witnessed Dr Lirpa opening the mesh steel
door to the Tesla coil while the coil could be heard charging. The
workman heard Dr Lirpa make a comment to a concerned Dr. Bambama that
"... with the natural rubber sole of my sneakers,
I am perfectly safe (inside the Tesla Coils steel mesh enclosure) !."
Whether or not Dr. Lirpa would have been safe or not became a moot point
when Dr. Bambamba followed Dr. Lirpa into the cage. With one hand on the
door of the cage, Dr. Bambamba reached out for Dr. Lirpa just as the Tesla
coil was reaching maximum voltage ...
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Dr. Bambamba?(Click on face after download) |
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