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FEATURE: DIRECTIONAL AUDIO


Ateis steerable DSP-controlled Messenger G2s and Penton boxes have been installed at Nice Airport


[KEY POINTS]


Beam control technologies take several forms, including beam shaping, beam steering and beam splitting


Greatly improved directivity of sound and, in particular, enhanced speech intelligibility are among the primary advantages of beam control


Beam control solutions are popular choices for transport hubs, houses of worship and other venues suffering from high reverberation times


Positively beaming


The emergence of beam control technologies has been a boon for acoustically challenging installations. But what are the whys and wherefores of the various approaches, asks David Davies?


TO A LARGE extent, the story of fixed installation speakers over the past 10 years can be reduced to two primary impulses: improve coverage and intelligibility, and minimise visual impact. Given that both strands intertwine seamlessly in beam control products, it’s easy to see why they have come to enjoy such prominence in audio for install. For Michael Creason, design services manager at Meyer Sound, the trend is explained by “a combination of the desire to reduce the visual footprint of sound reinforcement products and the increasing demand for clarity of speech and music, even in acoustically challenging spaces that are very reverberant”. Beam control, adds Creason, “allows users to accurately direct the sound to


28 September 2013


the people who need to hear it”. Such techniques are especially relevant to today’s built environment, “where architects of large modern buildings often have a preference to use hard reflective materials for floors, walls and ceilings such as concrete, glass and marble”, says Steven van Raalte, product manager public address at Bosch Security Systems. “The size of the halls in these buildings and the near-absence of absorbing materials cause a long reverberation time (RT) and a large amount of indirect reverberant sound compared to direct sound.” Loudspeakers that can offer precise directivity of beam, it is clear, can help to furnish a solution not just for modern theatres and halls, but houses of worship, transport


facilities and many other venues that incline towards high RTs. So far, so clear, then, but the


more eagle-eyed observer will have noticed the word ‘beam’ being used as a prefix for a variety of technologies: beam shaping, beam steering, beam splitting… Marketing materials can be confusing at the best of times, and there’s certainly been no shortage of it in this area of the market. It seemed a logical move, therefore, for Installationto ponder the ‘beam variations’ in the company of those who know them best: the manufacturers.


A BRIEF NOTE ON DEFINITIONS The word ‘variations’ is indeed crucial, since beam products tend to work off a common


foundation. “Although there are different ways to control coverage pattern, typically all of these three terms – beam shaping, steering and splitting – refer to technology that can alter the coverage pattern without physically moving the source,” says Creason. For Jason Baird, research &


development director at Martin Audio, “these three phrases are really incremental advancements of the same idea, which relates to a linear array of drivers, usually equally spaced and being driven by individual amplifier and DSP channels.”


BEAM STEERING


Continuing his definition, Baird remarks that beam steering is just that, “changing the angle of output via adjusting the


‘Beam control allows users to accurately


direct the sound to the people who need to hear it’


Michael Creason, Meyer Sound


www.installation-international.com


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