Designing a Pro-Audio Product to Complement an Existing Lighting Portfolio

Encompass Lighting Group shared our same goal, to create a timeless form that would deliver superior audio quality. The speaker’s slim profile is used to create a stealth form while other contours are intended to capture the subtleties and visual attributes of a horn. This shape draws attention to the product’s functionality, yet still complements other decorative elements with various shapes, sizes, colors, and materials suspended from the power rail. It was designed to integrate with two different brands, Tech Lighting and LBL, under the client portfolio.

A Unique Plug-n-Play System

Railtones™ is the first high performance audio system that is powered from a low-voltage track lighting rail and wireless connection to the streaming audio source. Speaker circuitry was designed to work with the low voltage power requirement used in the track lighting system. You simply mount the speakers to the power rail as you would any low voltage lighting fixture, connect the transmitter to any audio device, and you instantly have audio without any wire installation.

The speakers are compatible with a portable MP3 player, Smartphone, stereo, or computer. The speaker drivers and electronics were specially tuned to maximize sound quality, while also isolating signal interference with the 2.4GHz wireless control. A dimmer filter, which allows the speakers to run on very low power, was also incorporated so lights on the shared power rail could be dimmed to 25% for use without affecting sound quality from the speakers.

Providing Quality Sound

The speakers have a three-zone capability where they can be controlled individually with the use of the railtones™ remote control. The blue LED light located just behind the speaker grill indicates when the speaker is communicating with the audio device. The uni-body, one-piece housing was designed with thickened walls in order to isolate unwanted vibrations, optimize sound compression, and yield higher sound quality for the listener. Furthermore, a soft-touch spray finish is applied to the housing exterior to exemplify the product quality. The railtones™ open architecture system allows for an infinite number of speakers in both residential and commercial applications.