Benwin BW2000 Flat Panel Speakers

Flat panel technology is what everyone wants these days. Besides, it's the "cool" new thing to have. Flat panel monitors also consume less power and generate less heat. But we're not talking about monitors here - Benwin has recently introduced a set of flat panel speakers.

Who? What?

Many have not heard of Benwin, and for good reason - they simply haven't been around all that long. Their US distributor, Kwong Quest, was founded just last year. Benwin really got people's attention at the Fall 1998 Comdex where they introduced what they claim to be "the world's first flat panel multimedia speakers." Really, Benwin was just the first to introduce this technology to the multimedia speaker market.

The technology itself was actually developed by NXT and licensed by Benwin. As an idea of how much potential there is here, other licensees include all types of manufacturers including Rolls Royce, Harman International (who owns Harman Kardon, JBL, and Infinity), Alpine, MB Quart, Polk Audio, Logitech, Samsung, and NEC. Seems like everyone is interested in a share of this new market. Don't forget, this is a new and emerging technology that is really still in its infancy.

A Benwin engineer that we spoke with at this years E3 told us that there is huge potential in this technology - he told us about a setup where the entire car door panel was a flat panel speaker. Another setup did it with the roof of the car. He also mentioned that there is ongoing experimentation with a variety of materials to improve efficiency and sound quality further. This is potentially the future of sound - here today!

BW2000 Specifications

Courtesy of Benwin