Micronas presents the MAP-M, a fully integrated single-chip audio solution for the emerging soundbar market.
Soundbars are wide-but-thin powered speakers, located below a flat panel TV. Thin TVs simply don’t have room for good-quality conventional speakers. Soundbars deliver top-quality sound and solve the audio shortcomings of flat-panel TVs, bridging the gap to high-end home theater systems. They range from 2-speaker types that use virtual surround sound technologies to 4 to 6 built-in speaker designs that add e.g. enhancements for speech clarity. Soundbars enclosing 16 to 32 loudspeakers can generate “sound beams” to fill the room with cinema-like surround sound. These new speakers offer consumers the best combination of price, complexity, size - and audio performance.
With the MAP-M audio processor, Micronas provides a fully integrated single-chip solution for OEMs. MAP-M reduces the BOM and time-to-market for designs by replacing five ICs with one and providing a complete software solution. MAP-M is built on years of experience and millions of consumer audio devices. It supports all applicable audio standards and interfaces, and offers OEMs a range of audio post-processing technologies.
Soundbars offer a convincing value proposition and the market is expected to grow considerably. Henry Choy, senior analyst at Jon Peddie Research, explains: “They are one way that the TV companies can differentiate their products and be able to charge a premium – not all TVs will be connected to an AV receiver for surround sound.”
