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October 2012 l 37 GERMANY live


The Digital 9000 Series is a “benchmark for the audio industry”. Dave Robinsonreports


SENNHEISER LAUNCHED its new flagship wireless system, the Digital 9000 Series, in a presentation to 200 audio professionals in Hanover shortly before IBC last month. Billed as the “first digital wireless system able to transmit completely uncompressed audio, artefact- free and with superb dynamics”, the 9000 has been a decade in development at a cost of in excess of €12 million. At the launch, Prof Jorg Sennheiser, company CEO and son of the late founder, hailed the 9000 as a “benchmark for the audio industry”. According to Sennheiser’s


president of the professional systems division, Dr Heinrich Esser the launch follows “the biggest and longest R&D project in the history of the company”, which began 10 years ago using technology that was too expensive or not available at the time, “hoping the world would catch up”. In a further presentation,


Sven Boetcher, product marketing manager for pro audio, said the company had shown “courage” in embarking on such a daring project. The


system is in production now and,


according to Dr Esser, is “already a mature technology” given the amount of testing it has been subject to. Targeting broadcasting


professionals, musical theatres and high-profile live audio events, the Digital 9000 system includes the EM 9046 receiver, SKM 9000 handheld and SK 9000 bodypack transmitters, as well as a comprehensive suite of accessories.


The EM 9046 incorporates up to eight receiving channels, each with 328MHz of switching bandwidth in the 470-798MHz UHF range. The SKM 9000 handheld transmitter is compatible with microphone capsules from across the Sennheiser portfolio, including the G3 and 2000 Series and the KK 204 and KK 205 heads (from Sennheiser-owned Neumann). In an unusual step, the transmitters are powered by rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries. The system arrives with two


transmission modes: The High Definition (HD) mode will transmit entirely uncompressed, artefact-free audio, as if a high-


in creating the Digital 9000. “When we started the project


Sennheiser’s Sven Boetcher at the Digital 9000 launch


quality cabled microphone were used. The Long Range (LR) mode tackles difficult transmission environments with many sources of interference by way of a proprietary Sennheiser digital audio codec. The Digital 9000 also


features Sennheiser’s automatic RF cable calibration, which automatically compensates


The flagship digital wireless series


for any loss of signal volume which may occur during transmission. In a series of breakout sessions during the Hanover launch, Dr Esser expanded on the processes and issues Sennheiser had encountered


10 years ago, the price for an FPGA was three thousand dollars, for one chip!” he told PSNEurope. (The cost of an equivalent FPGA chip is now around $70-80.) “Three – thousand – dollars! Ridiculously expensive. And the power consumption was significantly higher. So we had to look at the roadmap for the FPGA companies and hope that over time the price and power consumption would be low enough for our requirements. This was a typical situation for us. Back then, it was impossible to design the system that we have eventually developed today.” On the subject of the battery


choice, Esser said: “Most of our customers do not use rechargeable batteries, because they can’t rely on the remaining battery life. We are using Li-Ion batteries, and there is a chip inside the battery which allows us to very carefully calculate the battery’s lifetime, in hours and minutes, with a tolerance of +/-15 minutes.”n www.sennheiser.com


The 9000 was launched in a pavilion on the Hanover World Fair site


www.prosoundnewseurope.com/live For the latest live news


SOUNDBITES


After a decade of R&D, Sennheiser launches digital wireless system


South Wales-based Magnum Soundhas taken delivery of a Midas PRO2 package from SSE Sales, including custom line system panels to provide a passive split from the DL251 rack, an SSE output panel and an ethercon patch added for extra protection for the DL251. Magnum Sound’s Phillip Hughes commented: “Not only could SSE offer great back- up, but they could provide the package exactly as I wanted it including all the extras.” SSE has also recently provided record producer Trevor Horn and Music Bank (a backline hire and rehearsal studio facility, part of Horn’s SPZ Group) with an Avid Profile system.


www.magnumsound.com www.sseaudiogroup.com


American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding has switched to DPA’s d:facto vocal microphone for her latest tour with Radio Music Society. Jaime Armengol, Spalding’s sound engineer, explained: “To begin with I didn’t tell Esperanza that I had changed her microphone, but when we started sound checking she said ‘what did you do with my vocal? It sounds much better and more natural’.”


www.dpamicrophones.com


Event technology company Hoevenaars LGV in Nuenen, the Netherlands, relied on Lab.gruppen PLM amplifiers for Maximaal Hollands in


Beursgebouw Eindhoven; a large arena musical event featuring some of the county’s best musical acts. For the main PA, the company opted for an EAW KF760 array for the main rig, with EAW KF730s for fills and delay, powered by Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q amplifiers. www.labgruppen.com


TTA, which manufactures Stagetracker FX has named 2M Audioas its exclusive Swiss distributor. 2M also distributes d&b audiotechnik in the country. www.2maudio.ch www.tta-sound.com


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