Coming soon to a theatre near you: Better sound from a Latvian inventor

Arnis Gross | 

More than 20 years in the making, a Latvian invention is about to transform the audio industry. With this software and hardware solution, sound emitted from a loudspeaker becomes clearer and more natural than ever.

The applications are numerous, ranging from high-end sound studios, cinemas, theatres to home entertainment systems, computers and sound players on the move—car audio or portable audio including MP3 docking stations—and even outdoor concert venues.

The technology is called CONEQ and its inventor, Latgale-born Raimonds Skuruls, has spent most of his life looking at better sound reproduction from loudspeakers. The first time the technology was publically demonstrated was during the “Lāčplēsis” opera performance more than two decades ago. Later, Skuruls worked as a sound engineer with Latvian rock group Jumprava. In 2004, Skuruls together with investor Viesturs Sosārs formed Real Sound Lab.

CONEQ is already featured in products such as the Hitachi HDTV Ultravision and Wooo brand plasma and LCD television models, Panasonic VIERA brand Plasma television products and Kenwood music entertainment systems. Los Angeles-based Mi Casa Studios, renowned for top-end sound quality on film projects such as Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass and other blockbuster films, is also using the CONEQ audio correction system.

To date the company has invested more than LVL 1 million and has also received a significant proportion in European Union funds. Today Real Sound Lab has offices in both the United States and Japan, plus a dealer network stretching to the other side of the world. In 2008 Skuruls received the most innovative product award from the Ministry of Economics and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and in 2009 was the third person to receive the Latvian Academy of Sciences Walter Zapp (inventor of the Minox camera) award for his loudspeaker correction technology. It is especially encouraging to see the company adopt the model whereby the non-key competences such as programming, hardware design and manufacturing are outsourced to other local Latvian companies and to the University of Latvia.

Eager to experience CONEQ, I visited the headquarters of Real Sound Lab located in an understated office building just outside the centre of Rīga. Atis Straujums, director of development, was quick to correct my preconceptions about CONEQ. This technology is all about correcting loudspeakers so that they can accurately reproduce the original sound source. Correcting room acoustics is another topic. In other words, if you play recorded violin through a CONEQ-corrected loudspeaker in a subway station, it should sound like a violinist playing in a subway station and not like a violinist playing in a concert hall or elsewhere.

Straujums chose to correct the monitor speakers connected to his laptop. With a measurement microphone attached to the laptop and running the CONEQ software, it was a simple matter of waving the microphone in front of each of the speakers in a zig-zag pattern for no more than two minutes. From the accumulated measurement data of more than 300 points the CONEQ software calculated the acoustic power frequency response of each of the speakers and a correction filter was created. The difference in sound quality was quite noticeable.

The CONEQ software comes in both Starter and Workshop versions, is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh computer systems, and starts at around EUR 100.

For professional producers in studios (or audiophiles who want to apply CONEQ to their home entertainment systems) a rack-mounted APEQ hardware equaliser is also available. This unit, currently available in a 2-channel configuration and later this year as a 8-channel unit, is loaded with the appropriate correction filters and placed before the amplifier and speakers.

But the real market for CONEQ won’t be direct sales to home users. The main strategy is to approach the big names in the audio and multimedia industry and convince them to begin incorporating this technology into their TVs, entertainment and speaker systems, portable players, mobile telephones and other consumer and professional audio appliances. The first wave has already begun and ongoing marketing efforts will ensure a Latvian success story.

Latvia’s population declines as birth rate slips, emigration rises

Andris Straumanis | 

Another year, another drop in population: Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau has reported that the country experienced a net loss in residents during 2009, dropping to a total count of 2.248 million.

Overall, the country lost 12,900 in population, the bureau announced May 27. Marriages fell significantly compared to 2008, while men and women are waiting longer to get married and, if they have children, are having fewer. Emigration from Latvia also contributed to the decline in population.

More people died than were born in Latvia last year, contributing to a decline of 8,200 in population. Long-term migration added another net loss of 4,700, according to data compiled by the bureau.

For the second year in a row, the number of marriages dropped. A total of 9,925 marriages were registered in 2009, compared to 12,946 in 2008, a decrease of 23 percent. In 2007, Latvia saw 15,486 marriages.

Residents of Latvia are continuing to wait longer to get married.

“Since 2000 the age of the first marriage has grown by more than two years,” according to a press release from the statistical bureau. The average age of men the first time they marry rose to 29 last year, while for women the average age is 27.

At the same time, married couples appear to be holding together more. The number of divorces last year totaled 5,099, compared to 6,214 in 2008—a drop of 18 percent.

The number of births dipped 10 percent last year to a total of 21,677. After two years of gains, Latvia’s fertility rate slipped to 1.32 in 2009.

However, people in Latvia are living a bit longer. The total number of deaths last year was 29,897, or a drop of 3.6 percent from 2008, according to the bureau. As a result, the average life expectancy rose to 68.3 years for men and 78.1 years for women.

The highest birth rates were recorded in Rīga and its environs, while the lowest was in Latgale. However, the death rate was highest in Latgale and lowest in Rīga’s environs.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

Financial regulator shuts VEF banka

Andris Straumanis | 

Latvia’s banking regulator has shut down the country’s smallest bank, Rīga-based VEF banka, noting that shareholders were not following the law on credit institutions. Five years ago, the U.S. government singled out VEF banka and another institution over money laundering.

The Financial and Capital Market Commission (Finanšu un kapitāla tirgus komisija, or FKTK) announced May 26 that it has annulled VEF banka’s license and ordered that the bank stop all financial operations.

However, the head of the commission said its decision has nothing to do with the bank’s financial condition.

“The reason for annulling the license is not related to the bank’s insolvency,” FKTK Head of Office Anna Dravniece said in a press release.

The bank’s shareholders, according to the FKTK announcement, for some time have not had the commission’s permission to increase their holdings in the bank and do not have a say in the bank’s operation.

As of May 5 the bank had LVL 4.9 million in assets and 170 depositors, only 20 of whom had account balances greater than LVL 1,000. The FKTK has determined that the bank has enough financial resources to cover guaranteed settlements to depositors and that the state’s deposit insurance fund will not be needed. Depositors are guaranteed no more than EUR 50,000 each in settlements.

In their 2009 annual report, VEF banka officials said the financial institution was still recovering from its 2005 designation by the U.S. Treasury Department as a “primary money laundering concern” under a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in 2006 banned American banks from dealing with VEF banka and with Rīga-based Multibanka.

“These two Latvian banks represent a danger to the international community because they facilitate the placement and movement of dirty money in the global financial system,” a Treasury Department official said in a 2005 statement.

VEF banka, which began operation in 1992, was singled out because of concerns about lax controls against money laundering and because less than 20 percent of the bank’s clients were Latvian residents.

Despite its efforts in curbing money laundering, as well as changes in its major shareholders, the Treasury Department has not lifted its sanctions, VEF banka officials wrote in the annual report. They added that removing the restriction was one of their goals for 2010.

VEF banka officials did not have an immediate comment on the FKTK decision to close the institution.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.