T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025

Although most of the products shown at T.H.E. Show in Costa Mesa lean toward the higher end and specialty markets, some affordable products from next-gen designers were mixed in, too—Chesky Audio's LC1 bookshelf monitor, for one, which has been receiving plenty of buzz. Another noteworthy example of a different sort—an active speaker—is the all-in-one Brane Audio Brane X portable speaker ($499) with a built-in true subwoofer.

Based in Austin, Texas, Brane Audio is a self-described audio-tech company. Its Brane X speakers can be deployed as a single unit—each speaker can deliver full stereo sound with a pair of tweeters, a pair of midrange drivers, and a downward-firing bass driver—or as a pair with one for each stereo channel. A cute summation from Brane: it's "like a 2.1 system in a little lunchbox." There's even a handle on top. The speakers can also be operated in a multiroom setup—up to eight units—with no latency, the company said.

The Brane reps explained that subwoofers normally require larger drivers and voice coils that need much more energy than a battery could reasonably sustain. They said they've been disappointed with what they've found to be insufficient bass response in products from makers such as JBL and Sonos. So they developed their own ideas.

They said they found a solution—their Repel-Attract Driver—that relies on passive forces "to do most of the legwork" to move the diaphragm and a lot of air to deliver deeper bass. "We pressurize the inside of the speaker cabinet; instead of fighting that extra air pressure, we're using it to our advantage," Brane Audio assistant engineer Henry Rodgers said. Brane claims that this approach saves as much as 10 times the energy that a typical voice-coil driver would need, in addition to being quite compact.

When you turn the unit on, you can hear it pumping up "We have an array of magnets that interact with more magnets connected to the voice coil as the driver unit moves back and forth," he explained. A sample model with a transparent enclosure showed the driver arrays and other insides.

An older gentleman requested a remix of Röyksopp's "Sordid Affair" for its sweet bass drop. Preconceptions of what kind of music people enjoy, be damned. Bass output was impressive, extending low and moving much air.

Four or five patents are in process, the company said, and it's planning to scale the technology to extend its product lines over time.