Bose unveils high-end desktop speakers

Bose Corp. introduced new $399 speakers on Tuesday designed to provide top-quality sound from a desktop and capitalize on the emergence of the computer as a home music center.

The audio gear maker said it's able to provide symphony hall-comparable sound in digital camera-sized speakers through what it called a breakthrough: a technology for delivering deep bass tones from small enclosures.

The key to the roughly 5-inch-by-2-inch speakers is what Bose calls "dual internal opposing passive radiators."

Conventional speakers typically feature one large radiator. Each of the new Bose speakers has two smaller radiators, in addition to a larger loudspeaker at the front of the unit.

With the radiators opposite one another inside the back of the speakers, the vibrations created by one work in opposition to those created by the other and cancel each other out. Without the opposing forces, such small speakers might creep along, propelled by the force of the powerful vibrations.

For now, the technology is incorporated only in the Computer MusicMonitor, Bose's attempt to gain a piece of the expanding market to use home computers for digital song downloading. It goes on sale Oct. 4 online, in Bose and other stores and by phone order.

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