Raise Your Glass

Has Sony regained its mojo, and what could be the implications for hi-fi of its work on TV sound? Barry Fox digs deep into the company’s recent patent fi lings in search of the bigger picture...

- Barry Fox

Television and hi-fi are not words you often see together. As TVs have become thinner the sound has got worse. Punters are sold ‘hi-fi’ soundbars that are only marginally better than the lo-fi speakers in the TV that they are supposed to improve upon. But a thread of recent events means that could change – for the better. Sony is one half the thread. But only one half...

Akio Morita, who founded and figure headed Sony until he died in 1999, was the P T Barnum of consumer electronics. When he gave a press conference he would pull exciting new gadgetry out of his bag to appreciative ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the audience – and headlines the next day. I saw him do it with high-quality cassette recorders, portable CD players, hi-fi Betamax VCRs and Walkman personal stereos, along with portable computers, floppy discs, digital cameras, dye transfer photo printers and video camcorders.

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