Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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KEF Unveils New LS60 Wireless All-In-One High-Fidelity Streaming Audio System |
In celebration of its 60th anniversary, KEF has launched the LS60 Wireless - an all-in-one, high-fidelity streaming audio system. The product features the latest high-performance KEF key acoustic technologies for the highest streaming performance available to date, including the 12th Generation Uni-Q driver array with Metamaterial Absorption Technology and two pairs of Uni-Core drivers. The two floorstanding active speakers can be expanded with up to two KEF subwoofers via sub output on each speaker and can be configured to work either wired or wireless to allow for complete positioning freedom within a room. Read More
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Sonos Announces On-Device Sonos Voice Control in English and French |
After years of research and development, Sonos has finally announced Sonos Voice Control, its entirely new voice experience that delivers fast, accurate, hands-free control of music and any Sonos multiroom system with unmatched privacy. Aware of the growing concerns about digital assistants from the major technology companies, Sonos introduced its first voice experience created purely for complete command of a Sonos system using only voice. A development effort boosted with the strategic acquisition of Snips in 2019. Read More
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Beyma Launches Near and Mid Field High-End Transducer Series |
Over the past two years, Acustica Beyma has significantly expanded its R&D efforts. The results are now visible as Beyma introduced a completely new family of outstanding drivers at ISE 2022. Beyma's R&D department used the latest simulation tools and a rigorous material selection process to create a new set of transducers that crossover from pure professional audio applications into the studio and high-end world. A significant new range of woofers and tweeters with multiple voicing options that will appeal to speaker designers. Read More
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Mcintosh Premieres MCD12000 Reference Level SACD Player and Reference Level DAC |
McIntosh updated its premium audio source with the introduction of the MCD12000 SACD/CD Player. While classified as a CD player, the MCD12000 serves as a reference level digital-to-analog convertor (DAC) that includes reference level SACD/CD playback capabilities. Music played through MCD12000's digital inputs or compact discs is processed by professional-grade eight-channel ESS Sabre Pro DACs, designed for premium performance. Read More
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Renkus-Heinz Introduces Passive Steerable Column Loudspeaker Series at ISE 2022 |
To expand the options available to integrators and system designers, across more installations, in more locations, Renkus-Heinz now incorporates its UniBeam steerable technology in passive columns with the launch of the PCX Series. The US-based loudspeaker manufacturer unveiled the new PCX Series at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show in Barcelona, Spain. Renowned for its digitally steerable arrays, the California company developed a custom passive filter network to control the columns' dispersion pattern. Read More
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Neumann Expands Portfolio with NDH 30 Open-Back Headphones |
When German studio specialist Neumann.Berlin introduced its first Neumann-branded headphones in 2019, it was certainly a bold move given the company's reputation in the microphone and studio monitors segment. And the use of headphones for monitoring was not as popular as it is three years later. The company seems determined to leverage that opportunity and now introduces the NDH 30, open-back headphones as a new reference-class studio design for the most demanding mixing and mastering applications. Read More
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ICEpower Introduces Most Powerful Amplifier Module to Date |
ICEpower is strengthening its pro audio lineup of amplifier modules with two new members. The ICEpower 2000AS HV (High-Voltage) is a fully integrated audio power amplifier module including a universal mains power supply with PFC as well as ErP and Energy Star-compliant standby. The new amplifier module will be available with one amplifier channel of 2000W (2000AS1 HV) and two amplifier channels of 2000W (2000AS2 HV). According to the Danish company, the new 2000AS HV amplifier module builds on the legacies of the existing 700AS and 1200AS modules, as a power solution targeted for live sound experiences. Read More
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Lavoce Launches Powersoft IpalMod Compatible 18" And 21" Subwoofers |
Lavoce Italiana is attending ISE 2022 and announced the official launch of its new SAN184.50iP and SAN216.00iP high motor strength neodymium subwoofers, designed to partner with the Powersoft's IpalMod amplifier and software platform (8500W @ 1ohm). Just one of the many new products that the dynamic Italian transducer company is presenting at this first in-person pro audio trade show. Lavoce has a heritage of 35 years designing and manufacturing professional loudspeaker components and is now extending its portfolio with new IpalMod compatible subwoofers . Read More
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Merging Technologies Creates Scalable, High-Performance AES67 Solution Based on Analog Devices SHARC SoCs |
Merging Technologies announced the availability of its AES67 embedded solution for the ADSP-SC5xx SHARC series of System on Chips (SoCs) from Analog Devices. Merging Technologies’ experience in the audio over IP (AoIP) field (Ravenna/AES67) and Analog Device's experience in unified communications and pro-audio applications, has led to a collaboration that broadens the range of AoIP solutions for manufacturers of electronics and ultimately integrators. Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
(Editor-in-Chief)
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Integrated Systems Europe 2022 First Impressions - No Badges and No Masks in Barcelona
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I’m writing these few words while in Barcelona, Spain, ready to start the third day of the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2022 trade show, the first to finally take place in Barcelona, after two years of waiting. This is a unique event in many aspects, starting with the fact that this is the first trade show I attended where electronic registration is expanded to presenting a QR code on a smartphone to access the exhibition - and no badges being worn by anyone. It’s just bizarre, since often we don’t know who we are speaking to, exhibitors can visit other companies’ booths unnoticed, and I was asked twice during the first day why I was taking photos of equipment. Apparently, I’m not as famous as I think, and my Clark Kent glasses are not enough to indicate that I’m press. Lessons learned - next ISE I will be walking the show in my audioXpress jacket and large “Press” stickers! |
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As I wrote multiple times in anticipation of this major industry event, this is the world’s leading audiovisual and systems integration exhibition (four times larger than InfoComm and CEDIA combined), now finally taking place at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Vía. And everyone attending this edition of ISE probably has vivid memories of attending ISE 2020 in Amsterdam, which was probably the last trade show to take place as the global pandemic was just starting. In fact, in multiple conversations during the first two days of ISE in Barcelona, I was surprised to learn of people who were returning from Wuhan directly to attend the Amsterdam event in 2020, and got very sick shortly after. In fact, I was even surprised to learn about cases that were confirmed immediately after CES 2020, the month before… and we were all there, totally unaware of what was about to happen. Scary.
But moving on. Here we are two years later, and ISE 2022 returned as an expanded showcase of technology and solutions for the professional systems integration channel, following the postponement from February to May. My first impressions were overall very positive - and I am learning that’s also the general impression of the show. The exhibition center, which many of us know very well from an even larger event - the Mobile World Congress (MWC) - looks able to accommodate ISE with room to grow for the future.
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There are more than 800 exhibitors this year, set over six Technology Zones across five halls of the Fira de Barcelona Gran Vía, representing the different segments of the show, and there’s also some other concurrent events, including the IOT Solutions World Congress (IOTSWC), which is not very clear what it’s all about. IoT means "Internet of Things" and it was once a buzzword to describe connected devices that were supposed to revolutionize the industry and smart cities, among many other concepts (a bit like 5G…). As the complete world of systems and products becomes connected in different ways, and edge AI is proving much more valuable, the "IoT" acronym doesn't make as much sense as before, but anyway there are still companies that use it, and there's this event that has now merged with ISE. Areas represented there explore the crossroads between systems integration and Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, and Quantum Computing, not forgetting IoT itself. It’s a strange thing, and I didn’t have the chance to go there.
What I can confirm is that, over the first two days, the environment in Hall 2, the CEDIA, residential integration exhibits, and Hall 7, the pro audio hall, was very positive, with strong attendance of trade visitors eager to do business, surprising positively. After the first day, which was mainly about press events and exploration, I realized that the strong attendance also has to do with the fact that a lot of companies that are not exhibiting also decided to attend and are having side meetings in many of the “meeting zones” that fill the many empty areas of each hall. The Fira complex is gigantic, and each hall can easily accommodate more exhibitors. Attendance has officially surpassed 55,000 according to Integrated Systems Events, the promoting organization. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number increases until Friday, the last day.
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After the second day, I could note a great contrast between the crowds in the different halls. The “big screens” exhibitors are constantly flooded with people. Hall 2, the residential technology zone, is much quieter, and I was surprised to see some booths almost empty on the afternoon of the second day. In complete contrast, the “pro audio” zone in Hall 7 is completely filled with people, with narrow corridors between booths, reminiscent of the best days of Frankfurt of yesteryear, with parties, food, loud music and lots of unmasked, euphoric people. Perfectly understandable given that this was one of the technology segments most strongly affected by the global pandemic. But I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable by the overexcitement and lack of precaution as the virus is still circulating. Masked visitors from Asia looked astonished as they were offered drinks and plates of food that had been clearly contaminated by the loud conversations taking place. |
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Anyway, the announcements from the companies attending, and even from those not actually exhibiting but just leveraging the moment, show that the pro audio industry is eager to return to full cruise mode and beyond. There’s products that were launched over the past two years that we have never touched or heard, and products that have been in the works and are just now being unveiled. Our inbox was flooded with press announcements and press kits, which is something that completely makes us very happy - the only drawback being our inability to explore everything in such short time. Also of note regarding the Barcelona exhibition complex is the lack of demo rooms suitable for audio demonstrations, which means that all the manufacturers are promoting shuttles to multiple places around town - meaning it could take two or three hours to attend one such presentation. Not good, and should be addressed quickly before the next edition in 2023.
There’s a lot of exciting technology on display, and lots of audio presentations that we will have to detail in a later opportunity. Honestly not likely to happen in the next few weeks, since there are non-stop trade shows, back to back until the end of June! For now, we recommend following our daily news posts with #AlltheAudioNewsthatMatter
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Practical Test and Measurement |
REST for Automated Test and Measurement
By Matt Taylor
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Adding a great perspective on the topic of test and measurement, in particular for production lines, this article makes the case for using web interfaces, and embrace web standards for automated testing of audio equipment. The author, also the founder of Seattle, WA-based company QuantAsylum, advocates an open-design philosophy for controlling and querying things via REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, a widely accepted set of guidelines for creating reliable web APIs and leveraging the know-how of millions of developers. As Matt says, "Instead of needing an engineer that knows how to write GPIB or LabVIEW - a fairly specialized set of skills - you can use an engineer who knows how to code web apps. And how cool is that!” This article was originally published in audioXpress, March 2022. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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An Acoustic Device from Bose
By James Croft
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In another valuable patent analysis, this article looks at an interesting wearable acoustic device, patented by five inventors on behalf of Bose Corp., and which the company would later apply in its Bose SoundWear Companion, the brand's own iteration of an around-the-neck or neckband concept, launched at the end of 2017. With a significant number of claims, the awarded patent describes “an acoustic device having a neck loop that is constructed and arranged to be worn around the neck.” Similar systems have been introduced in the past 20 years but unfortunately never found real applications. As James Croft comments, “It is surprising that it has taken this long, but having experienced the format, I believe that many serious listeners will find a high-quality version of a Neck/Shoulder type system to be a surprisingly enjoyable means of personal listening." Many brands have explored this concept since, but the form-factor is yet to conquer any significant user base, particularly now with true wireless earbuds. Maybe it will be revived for "true spatial audio" like Sennheiser imagined in 1997? |
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