The product line: six bodies, one waveguide
Six cradles for iPhone and iPad, each cut from solid aluminium around the same folded horn. The bodies differ because every device put its speaker somewhere else.
The six bodies
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| iPhone 3G / 3GS | Earliest documented body |
| iPhone 4 / 4S | Also offered as a five-unit pack |
| iPhone 5 | Lightning pass-through; three standard colours |
| Braeburn HD | Amplifier in the base; panoramic video cradle |
| iPad 1 / 2 / 3 | Larger body, same waveguide concept |
| iPad mini | Listed in the category index |
How the line developed
The first model fits the iPhone 3G and 3GS; the last ones fit the iPhone 5 and the iPad. The waveguide concept never changes. The mounting and the aperture position move with each device generation, and that constraint is what justified owning the machines.
Two variants extend the idea rather than repeat it. The HD model integrates the amplifier into the base of a cradle intended to hold the device horizontally for video, which the product page calls a panoramic video cradle. A combination pack pairs an iPhone body with an iPad body.
What the product pages state, and what they leave out
Consistent across the product pages: machined aluminium construction, use of the device's existing charging cable rather than any electronics of its own, an integrated microphone port so the cradle can be used for speakerphone calls, a connector that adapts to a fitted case, and the figure of 8 dB without power.
Missing from every page: the band over which that 8 dB applies, the measurement distance and axis, the flare law, and any dimension of the horn itself. The pages that discuss method on this site therefore describe how such a figure is properly established rather than reverse-engineering one that was never published.
Why one geometry needed six bodies
A horn is sized to the aperture it serves. Every time the device changed, the speaker slot moved: along the bottom edge, round to the lower rear face, wider on one generation and narrower on the next. The throat has to sit over that opening, so a cradle designed for one device does not transfer to the next even when the acoustics are unchanged.
That is the whole reason the line has six bodies rather than one adjustable product. The waveguide concept is constant across all of them; what varies is the mounting, the connector position and the footprint. A firm that owns its machining centres can cut a new body for a new device in a production run; a firm that tools for injection moulding cannot.
What a multi-pack says about the buyer
Alongside single items the catalogue lists three-unit packs, five-unit packs and a family pack. A desk accessory sold in fives is not being bought by one person for one desk: it is an office order.
That fits the feature the product pages mention on every model — the integrated microphone port. A cradle that holds the phone upright, aims the sound at the listener and leaves the microphone clear is a speakerphone stand first and a music accessory second. The acoustic gain serves the call, which is also why the geometry is sized for speech rather than for bass.
What follows the device, and what does not
The fittings follow the device: a 30-pin connector on the earliest bodies, Lightning on the last. A cradle cut for one connector and one slot position will not seat the next phone.
The geometry does not follow the device. A folded horn cut into solid aluminium behaves the same way whatever sits in it. The questions the line answered are the questions any passive amplifier has to answer: where to put the throat, how gradually to expand, how to measure what comes out.
Reading the product pages critically
Repeated copy is not repeated testing
The same sentence describing the waveguide appears on the iPhone 4/4S page, the iPhone 5 pages and the HD page, with only the device name changed. That is ordinary catalogue practice, but it means the pages cannot be read as six independent measurements. One figure appears to have been carried across a product line whose geometry necessarily varied.
The HD model is a different acoustic problem
Holding a device horizontally for video puts the speaker aperture in a different place and in a different orientation relative to the listener. The product page describes the amplifier as integrated into the base, which implies a longer or more sharply folded path than the upright cradles. It is the one model in the line where the same figure would be most surprising.
What a multi-pack tells you about the market
Three-unit and five-unit packs, and a family pack, sit alongside single items. A desk accessory sold in fives is being bought for an office rather than a person, which fits a product whose main benefit is speakerphone clarity — the integrated microphone port mentioned on every product page.