Monday, December 12, 2005

Crowson at 2006 CES

In January Crowson Technology will once again return to the CES show in Las Vegas and will offer private demonstrations (by appointment only) at the Alexis Park Resort. Appointments may be made for January 5-8 by calling(805) 745-8324 or by emailing your request to tradeshow@crowsontech.com.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Crowson Technology Named About.com's Home Theater Product of the Year 2005!

We are proud to announce that About.com's home theater guide Robert Silva has named Crowson Technology's TES100 the Home Theater Product of the Year for 2005!

"If a subwoofer doesn't provide enough "kick" for you, then add more fun to your home theater with the Crowson Technology TES-100 Tactile Transducer. Although subwoofers bring realistic bass sound to the home theater environment, there is still something missing - tactile sensation. The combination of the TES100 Transducer and A200 Amplifier enables one to turn his/her own chair into a home theater component that adds the sensory experience of touch to your viewing and listening enjoyment."

Click here to read on...
Thanks Robert!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Favorite Movie Motion Scenes

Is there one particular scene that you wish you could watch over and over with your TES100? We want to know! Email us your favorite scenes or music tracks to use with your system.

Some of our favorites include:
- Apollo 13
- Lord of the Rings (all three!)
- Pearl Harbor
- Finding Nemo
- Ice Age
- Jumanji
- Days of Thunder
- Star Wars - Phantom Menace
- The Matrix
- Spiderman 2
- U-571

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Crowson's CEDIA Debut a Huge Success!

After a summer of preparation, the staff at Crowson Technology took off to Indianapolis to open their first CEDIA Expo exhibit. Crowson partnered with Fortress Seating to put together what proved to be a very popular and unique home entertainment experience.

Fortress provided three seating units to be set up with Crowson's TES 100s. One of these units (the yellow chair in the picture) is Crowson and Fortress's new Sentient chair. The Sentient is custom built by Fortress specifically for the TES 100 and features completely hidden and permanently mounted actuators and isolators. Visitors were impressed with the quality of motion they felt while sitting in the specially designed chair.

Also a crowd pleaser was the motorcycle motion demonstration. Back at their Southern California lab, Crowson engineers used seismic measuring equipment to record the motion of the frame of an actual running Harley Davidson motorcycle. The motion recording was taken of a 2000 Harley Davidson FXST (Softail), equipped with a Stage 1 Screaming Eagle Kit on an Evolution 88 V twin engine and Samson Shorty Shotgun pipes (Gross weight = approx. 630 lbs). The audible sound from the pipes was simultaneously recorded using professional audio recording equipment and sound engineering software. The resulting two channel recording was then played back through conventional audio equipment (sound: channel 1) and platform-mounted TES100 Linear Actuators (motion: channel 2).

In Indianapolis, the Crowson Team contacted custom bike builder John Retzlaff of CycleMax and FBI Customworks to secure a show bike for the booth. He generously provided us with a Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide which was then supported with the Crowson Tactile Effects System. The bike was customized with a significant amount of Kuryakyn Chrome accessories and a Stage 3 Big Bore Kit mounted to an Evolution V Twin engine (gross weight = approx 620 lbs). Our demo was then set up with channel one being played through a loudspeaker near the rear of the bike (simulating the exhaust location) and channel two through the bike frame (equipped with a n array of platform-mounted TES100 actuators).

The result was an unbelievably accurate and authentic simulation of a running Harley Davidson, so you can imagine the crowd that gathered when the demo ran! When played, the recording started slowly and went through an entire cycle of reving, stalling and finally, fully running. Not your typical CEDIA demo! The bike became a popular place for pictures and a very convincing demonstration of the TES 100's incredibly accurate frequency response. Check out Maureen Jenson, Editor of Home Theater Magazine, trying it out - what a great sport!

Thanks to everyone who was able to stop by our press conference and our booth. If you missed us feel free to email us or call us with any comments, questions, or to just say hi. See you all at CES!

Monday, October 03, 2005

Pacific Northwest Audio Society Demo

After meeting Randolph Crowson at CES 2005, Jerry Pomeroy, President of the Pacific Northwest Audio Society invited Crowson to send a representative to their Mercer Island, WA monthly meeting. Jerry was quite impressed with the level of accuracy delivered at the CES 2005 booth and found it "a very effective solution for enhancing the low-end without high sound pressure levels."

On August 12, 2005, Crowson Technology was finally able to meet the the club members at their meeting location near Seattle, WA. John Yi, EVP of Crowson Technology, brought with him two (2) TES 100 Couch Kits, one (1) A200 Stereo Amplifier, and one (1) of the new BMP-3S (Bass Management Pre-Amplifiers).

John was pleasantly surprised to find both Jerry and Joe (VP of the Society) at the meeting room a full 3.5 hours before the start of the meeting, ready to spend several hours getting the demonstration just right. When all was said and done, the 2-channel demo included an Audio Research Pre-Amp, 2-Channel Amplifier, a Denon DVD 3910 (non-modded), a Hitachi PJTX-100 projector and DA-Lite portable screen, provided by Pro Sound and Vision of Kirkland, WA and the Crowson equipment.

Because there were two couches present and only one Crowson amplifier, another member graciously brought in two (2) Stellavox monoblocks (rated at 200 watts into 2-8 ohms), to power each of the two TES 100 actuators in the read couch "row."

After a short introduction from Crowson about the tactile system and from Pro Sound and Vision about the projector and screen, the demonstration ensued. Everything from 2-Channel classical music, to jazz and finally to movie soundtracks and displays from a THX demonstration disc (Blue Man group, Hero, among others) and finally an Eagles Farewell Tour DVD.

Members rotated through the "active" seats throughout the meeting and many excellent questions on a variety of topic, to include set-up obstacles, the difference between Crowson actuators and "shakers," power requirements, where to set the low-pass filter for optimum enjoyment, 2-channel (w/o sub) vs. multichannel applications, among others insightful questions.

Jerry thanked everyone for attending what was the first PNWAS meeting to incorporate tactile effects and video. All in all, it seemed that everyone, even the skeptics, came to appreciate what Crowson tactile effects could deliver: an augmentation to the low-frequency response that no subwoofer or two-channel arrangement could reproduce, for an accurate, enjoyable bass response that didn't have to disturb neighbors or spouses.

To download the complete PNWAS Newsletter with many more technical details about the demonstration and visit, please click here.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Hello and Welcome

Welcome to Crowson Technology's Blog. We plan on using this space to better connect with any past, present or future customers. Please feel free to contact us with feedback on how we can make this blog more useful for you.