Remember the good old times when people use to watch movies on TVs? The most affluent people even had a dolby surround system, which allowed them to closely appreciate the sound of each arrow during the Battle of Helms Deep in The Lord of The Rings.
Imagine having access to a comparable sound quality experience, but using an affordable surround system that can be connected to your laptop and slapped around the room like a magnet. Suddenly, the idea of re-watching the entire LOTR trilogy arises.
The device that promises to be "the first grab-and-go quality surround speakers in the market" is called SIMO (single-input-multi-output) system. It's the first product of Pangissimo, a Boston startup launched in 2017 by a team of biomedical engineering students at Boston University. The name is a combination of Pangea, the first supercontinent, and 'fortissimo,' which means 'to play loudly' in Italian.
"SIMO bridges the gap between those highly-expensive, home audio surround systems that you have to pay up to $10,000... and your average Bluetooth speaker," said Parsa Shahidi, co-founder and COO of Pangissimo.
What does SIMO look like? They're four magnetic speakers that can be placed magnetically around the same room or more distantly, up to a range of 30 meters (or 100 feet). Connected to the laptop via Bluetooth, each sub unit can run for up to eight hours; a single cable charge them all—and if they're all out of juice, they need to be charged for one to three hours, Shahidi explained.
As streaming services are slowly (but not so slowly) replacing traditional TVs and stereos, many users turn to their machines to access entertainment services, from on-demand shows to music playlists.
With more people spending the core of their finances on a laptop, the need for affordable hardware add-ons that can be purchased separately, depending on customers' needs, is growing as well. The global market for computer accessories is set to reach $15.88 billion by 2021, with vendors coming up with new products to add or to enhance the present features of a computer. Are you a gamer? A large keyboard makes sense for you. Do you use your laptop mostly to code? A second portable screen, invented by a Boston-based startup, might be worth the investment.
Pangissimo, which aims to retail their portable speakers at $179, said it's targeting consumers among the music lovers, while also receiving interest from educators and business professionals looking to optimize their conference calls.
The startup, which is accepting pre-orders now, is planning a Kickstarter campaign in coming months to raise funding for manufacturing, with a target number still to be determined.
