hd ML8Beam

Harmonic Design Beamforming loudspeakers offer great potential for improving sound distribution in complex architectures and highly reverberant rooms. The goal is to focus the sound only on auditory surfaces, while surfaces that cause unwanted reflections and produce disturbing diffuse sound to be shaded. This leads to a much better speech intelligibility and a first-class listening experience for every listener, allows an inconspicuous positioning of the speakers in previously inappropriate positions, as well as a flexible adaptation of the speaker radiation characteristics to different applications.

The ultra-compact width of just 80 mm makes the hd ML-Series the narrowest beamforming speaker available, which is almost invisible in permanent installations. The elegantly designed aluminum enclosure and the finely woven steel grille with premium powder coating seamlessly integrate the sleek, unobtrusive look of the column speakers into the room architecture, inspiring planners, architects, system integrators, event organizers and the audience.

For excellent and linear reproduction of a sound event from the lowest to the highest audible frequency, conventional loudspeakers must use different types of drivers to reproduce the entire frequency range. The result is incoherence and phase shifts in the middle frequency range due to different membrane mass, varying transient response and decay time speakers of different sizes have. The hd column loudspeakers of the hd ML- and PL-Series are exclusively equipped with full-range loudspeakers and thus trouble-free in the important mid-frequency range, as each loudspeaker has the same response and characteristics. The result is excellent sound quality for speech and music, improved dynamics and consistent horizontal coverage of the listening areas.

With our Beamforming technology, we offer a completely new price-performance ratio. This allows the use of the technology for projects that would require influencing the sound beams, but have so far exceeded the budget. Our own in-house developed and manufactured components, algorithms and the planning software guarantee cost efficiency.

The modular concept of the hd ML-Series continues in the Beam-Series. Up to 32 DSP/amplifier channels, scalable in segments of 8, individual length and RAL colors, seamlessly integrate the speaker into the architecture – not the other way around. The standard colors are black (RAL 9005) and white (RAL 9010) without surcharge. The continuous U-slot on the back of the aluminum profile allows the use of M6 square nuts to attach a wall mount adapter or the use of the hd mounting adapter for quick and easy mounting of the tilt and swivel stand adapter for mobile applications. M6 threads on the top and bottom allow wall mounting with L mounting brackets in the smallest space requirement. The electronic unit is integrated into the housing of the loudspeaker and is optimally protected by the continuous fine-structured design grid with backed acoustic foam and ensures an unobtrusive integration into any room architecture.

The selection of 2” full-range chassis enables the shifting of the inevitable spatial aliasing from linear loudspeaker arrays to the highest frequencies. Due to the increasing directivity of the speakers, this phenomenon is also suppressed. The motivation to keep the speaker diameter to a minimum has increased the challenges for our research and development department in terms of the size of multi-channel amplifiers and DSP platforms, but it was a necessary step to ensure the musicality of the beam-formed speaker array.

Based on the enormous computing power of our hd MultiDSP, a new multi-channel DSP architecture has been developed that meets the high demands of beamforming algorithms. Each of the up to 32 output channels as well as user channel features a 384 Taps FIR filter and 16x IIR filters in double precision. The all-new hd BeamDSP performs over 300 million instructions per second to meet real-time criteria and provide enough freedom to shape the sound as needed.

Each loudspeaker chassis is equipped with a DSP channel and a digitally interfaced and microprocessor controlled stateof- the-art Class-D amplifier. This guarantees best SNR for all gain settings and the possibility to surveil the impedance of each chassis and report its status in case of any fault. Each amplifier channel can deliver up to 75 watts into 4 Ω loads, delivering uncompromising audio with premium dynamics and headroom.

• 2In/8Out High-End hd BeamDSP with more than 300 MIPS
• redundant input section with fallback algorithm
• analog + digital inputs with Dante (optional)
• AdvancedDirectivityOptimization Algorithmus
• AdvancedRoomOptimization Algorithmus
• 384 Taps FIR filter per input/output
• 16x IIR filter (double precision) per input/output
• 75W Class-D amplifiers with digital input for best SNR
• ImpedanceControl with fault detection
• multistage limiter architecture (Peak/RMS/Thermal)
• hd LevelZ Software via USB

To adapt the beamforming loudspeaker to the specific venue it´s necessary to perform a simulation and tweak the beam parameters. Therefore a complete simulation tool has been integrated into the remote software hd LevelZ. Set the audience parameters like height, depth and listening height of the venue and place the speaker at the desired position with optional mechanical tilt angle. Lastly, give a rough estimate of the beam parameters and start to evaluate the 2D Beam-Plot and SPL over distance plot at various frequencies until the final settings have been derived.

Beam steering is the basic discipline of beam forming where the main lobe is digitally steered up- or downwards. Harmonic Design Beamforming loudspeakers are capable to adjust the vertically main lobe beam angle up to ± 60° with an accuracy of 0.1°/step.

Conventional loudspeaker arrays increase their directivity with increasing frequency resulting in a wide main lobe at low frequencies and a narrow main lobe at high frequencies. A frequency independent opening angle preserves the same opening angle over a great bandwidth within physical limitations and is adjustable from minimum to 90° in 0.1° steps. This guarantees perfect concentration of sound where it belongs and where not.

The unique Harmonic Design Algorithm enables up to 4 separate main beams that can be steered individually and still create a specific frequency independent opening angle.

The conventional beam radiation pattern also contains unwanted side lobes that excite the auditorium with disturbing noise while declining the speech intelligibility. By applying special algorithms to the individual DSP channels, an almost optimum, light-beam-like main lobe beam is achievable with an accurate side lobe suppression. The enhancements to improve speech intelligibility in reverberant rooms by applying ADO algorithm are extreme. The strength of the optimization tool may be adjusted by the end-user either towards maximum SPL or optimum target directivity.

By default the focus point of the wave fronts of the individual loudspeakers is infinity and creates parallel running pressure waves. At the distance infinity all wave fronts are perfectly correlated and coherent meaning they arrive at the same time with the same relative phase. Whenever this large throw is not necessary it may be useful to focus the wave fronts to the front rows in steps of 0.1m to tighten the „sweet spot“ .