Leading TV manufacturers are using OLED technology monitors in their latest devices. They offer true black and vibrant colors. What do these OLED displays do better than the previous LCD screens with LED backlight?

To understand this we take a look at the technology of the screens. The image of all displays is generated with pixels in the colors red, green and blue. All colours can be created with these basic colours. The current models have over 8 million pixels.

How does an LCD LED flat screen work?

When you think of the term LED display, you might think that coloured LEDs would produce the visible image. This is not the case.

An LED flat screen display basically consists of a backlight, polarization and color filters as well as liquid crystals. The LEDs are used for the backlight. They produce a bright white light. This light is sent through various filters and liquid crystals and finally appears on the front of the display as a colored pixel. Millions of these pixels form the visible TV image.

If several pixels are controlled, the white light of the backlight outshines dark surfaces and leaves a greyish veil. The expert speaks here of clouding. This effect causes the contrast to be reduced and the colours to fade.

What makes the OLED screen better?

OLED displays have the great advantage over conventional LED TVs that they do not require backlighting. This eliminates the clouding effect.

The OLED pixels illuminate themselves, can be controlled directly in the desired colors and thus generate the visible image directly. So the TV images shine in bright vivid colors and a great richness of detail. If the pixel is switched off, we have real black and thus an optimal contrast.

A further advantage of these screens is the large angle of view. No matter whether you sit frontally or sideways to the TV. You always have a perfect picture quality.

At just 4.9mm, the displays are thinner than most smartphones. This opens up new design possibilities for designers for perfect integration of the TV set into your home.

OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) – is a technology that makes it possible to produce perfect black levels, breathtaking colours, strong contrasts and extremely thin televisions. They are also more energy efficient and therefore more environmentally friendly.

There is a myth about vinyl records. Contrary to all prophecies of doom, the record medium is far from dead, on the contrary. There’s something going on in the dead thought world of crackling vinyl.

Even former Apple CEO Steve Jobs loved records. This is rather astonishing, as he has helped the MP3 player – in the elegant iPod’s attire – to achieve a worldwide breakthrough like no other. On the other hand Apple has also invented the .aac format, a high-quality version of a digital music file.

According to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA, record sales have risen sharply in recent years. Many musicians have rediscovered vinyl records for themselves, and vinyl magazines also celebrate the new old trend on the Internet, for example the vinylist.

Do vinyl records really sound better?

Records create a very special atmosphere. There is this quiet crackling, then the transparent, spatial sound. It’s kind of strange, the technology is over six decades old – and has hardly evolved in this time. And yet – what the record conveys is difficult to reproduce with digital technology. Let’s hear what a proven expert has to say about this.

Adam Gonsalves of Portland’s Telegraph Mastering has worked with numerous artists and is an old hand at the record making business. He says: “Vinyl is the only consumer playback format that is completely analog and lossless. All you need is a decent turntable with a decent needle and you’ll enjoy an authentic listening experience. It’s a little more foolproof and less technical.” He continues: “This warm vinyl sound – I think that’s what people like about it. It’s very closely related to the way people listen to music organically.”

Vinyl records awaken memories of one’s own youth

There may be another reason why many of us are so into records. Often they are the bearer of our youth memories. An atmospheric evening with the records leads us back to the wild years of youth. There is hardly anything that can bring back old memories as quickly and as deeply as music – preferably accompanied by a quiet crackle.

Did you know that the sound characteristics of loudspeakers change significantly depending on how they are set up?
Especially the reproduction of bass and the three-dimensionality can be clearly influenced by the way the speakers are set up. In this blog post I would like to show you what is important and how you can achieve a better sound at home.

A loudspeaker can be considered as a kind of acoustic instrument – and as such the room plays an important role. You might  know this from your own experience: In a church your own voice sounds completely different than in the open field. The same applies to loudspeakers – so here are some tips about positioning your speakers.

How to avoid the empty-room rattling

Especially large and high rooms with sparse furnishings are very popular in modern architecture. For a good music reproduction, however, they cause some problems.

Professional tip: Create remedy using heavy poster furniture, curtains and carpets. The installation of an acoustic ceiling is somewhat more complex. Even walls that do not run parallel to each other, as can be seen in recording studios, are acoustically very advantageous.

Don’t position your loudspeakers directly on the wall

A loudspeaker that stands directly on a wall sounds differently than positioned in the room, with some distance to the walls. Try this out for yourself – you’ll be surprised at how big the difference is.

If the loudspeaker is positioned directly against the wall, the bass frequencies are amplified, but usually in a rather spongy way. The sound becomes more muddy, loses its transparency and three-dimensionality. This effect becomes even stronger when the speaker is placed in a corner of a room.

Professional tip: Move the main speakers approximately one meter away from the wall. You will get a much clearer and more spacious sound. If you want more deep bass power, you should think about a good subwoofer. Depending on the model, the subwoofer delivers an impressive, often noticeable deep bass without affecting the spatial quality of the sound.

The loudspeakers should stand free

Another factor that contributes to a blurred and indistinct sound is the reflective surfaces close to the loudspeaker. An example: A shelf loudspeaker stands in the bookshelf, is pushed back against the wall, flanked by two large illustrated books. The latter now form reflecting surfaces – and this is another acoustic stumbling block for clear sound.

Professional tip: Pull your shelf boxes to the front of the shelf so that they can radiate freely. However, it is even better to place them freely in the room, on stands. As the distance from the wall increases, the sound becomes more transparent and spatial.

The JMC Soundboard creates a balanced, lively and omnipresent musical ambience, just like in a concert.

The interplay of 350-year-old spruce, centuries-old techniques of string instrument making and the latest audio technology has resulted in an outstanding loudspeaker. The JMC Soundboard takes you back to the original dimension of music.

A sounding art object with a very own fascination

The Soundboard is not only an extraordinary loudspeaker, it is also an art object that can be designed according to your wishes.

The source of the beautiful sound is the sound spruce, which grows in the huge Risoud forest near Le Brassus. Lorenzo Pellegrini, a tree picker, finds the right trees with a sure instinct. The instrument maker Jean Michel Capt produces this unique product from clay spruce with a lot of skill, experience and know-how.

Nik Hartmann (SRF) reports about the Soundboard

Nik Hartmann (SRF) reports on the SoundboardLearn more about the sound spruce, the people behind this speaker and, above all: experience the beautiful sound of the Soundboard during a sound tasting at our Chollermüli.

Have we aroused your curiosity? Further information about the Soundboard and the Vallée de Joux is provided by Nik Hartmann in the article linked here (from minute 5:25).