A very happy New Year to you. I hope the Christmas break was all you wished for. As we start another year, we have some exciting things to share with you. Our training room is now kitted out with some of the latest digital audio matrix systems, allowing us to offer full customer training on a number of platforms. We have some great new problem solving products, showcase the new additions to Clouds speaker range, and we are sharing some of our famous annual Commercial Audio Christmas Quiz photos (apologies in advance).

Regards 

Brian. Managing Director

Product News

Interchangeable Modules

The rear panels are interchangeable. This means that the cabinet design can support either Passive (Low Z), 100V Line (High Z), Active Analogue or Active Dante model variants. This allows the same speakers to serve numerous applications by swapping out the rear modules.

Optional IP66 rated plate for passive and 100V Line Models.

The 8, 10 and 12 inch additions to the CS-S range are designed and tooled especially for Cloud. Acoustically the speaker has been designed to produce a "front of house" sound, optimally tuned for foreground / background music and musical instrument applications.

AMP205AV

LD Systems introduces as part of the TICA range, the AMP205AV. This super compact 2 x 50w amplifier features an HDMI de-embedder making it suitable to mount behind screens or in a ceiling void. Optional rack tray available for use with other TICA products.

• HDMI input & output, Stereo line outputs
• 2 x 50w into 4 ohms normal mode,  2 x 100w into 2 ohms HP mode
• Auto standby when HDMI signal off
• Remote volume control maybe fitted using 10K potentiometer.
• Optional rack tray

New Customer Training Facility

Commercial Audio has gone digital!

With digital systems being a growing sector of our marketplace, we have equipped our training room with a number of systems from different manufacturers, in order to be able to demonstrate and provide training for our customers. The flexibility of these systems, particularly in the areas of custom controls and deployment over networks, means more complex configurations can be operated more simply, by non-technical personnel. 

LD / Questra - We have a complete digital LD Systems training rig in place with inputs from radio / media player, message scheduler, paging microphone and line level input. 4 zone outputs with control by 5" touchscreen, PC and iPhone. This system provides sound to 3 zones in the training room, as well as background music for our offices.

Yamaha MTX3 - The training room ‘house system’ centre around the Yamaha Matrix processor. This interfaces with the video system and handles the video audio as well as Waves VP330 video player and line and microphone level inputs. Control is via iPad and the system can not only set audio levels but can also select audio and video sources, and trigger digital AV messages. 

Video - The Ecler VEO-MXH44D switches the training room video sources, either manually using the controls on the switcher itself or via the Yamaha MTX3 / iPad control. Inputs from PC, wirelessly from laptop using the Ecler VEO-SWC44 or the Waves VP audio / video media player are controlled in sync with the audio switching to give seamless operation.

Dante - With Dante now an industry standard, we have linked different areas of our offices using this technology. This allows us to demonstrate the setting up and operation of this new technology without any additional cabling.

Team News

You Can't Beat A Bit Of Bully

Our annual Christmas Quiz took on a Bullseye theme this year. After stiff competition, Marc & Matthew emerged as the winners. Taking the title for the second year in a row, they will now have a target on their backs next year.

With plenty of food, drink, silly costumes, and not too many intelligent answers, a good time was had by all. However no one won a speed boat or caravan.

Tech News

100v Line Loudspeakers

There are many types of 100v line loudspeaker available on the market, each one having slightly different characteristics and applications, and you may end up using several different types in a public address system. The topic of loudspeaker performance and specification is a complex subject and impossible to cover comprehensively in this short document, so we have tried to condense their basic uses into the list below.

Ceiling Loudspeaker

For use within a false ceiling void and for ceiling heights of up to 5m depending on the application. Suitable for background music and paging announcements through to mid-level performance sound, depending on product and layout.

Cabinet Loudspeaker

For use on walls, or surface mounted from trays and ceilings, depending on model. 

Suitable for background music and paging announcements through to mid-level performance sound, depending on product and layout. Some models are suitable for external use if they are IP rated.

Pendant Loudspeaker

To be suspended from ceilings or trays and can provide good coverage for large open areas with high ceilings. 

Suitable for background music and paging announcements through to mid-level performance sound, depending on product and layout.

Horn Loudspeaker

To be wall or tray mounted, and suitable for speech only applications. Horn loudspeakers are very efficient and can produce high levels of audio output, however their bandwidth (frequency response) is limited. Suitable for general paging applications in damp industrial environments. 

Column Loudspeaker

Column loudspeakers provide wide horizontal but vertically controlled sound dispersion and can be effective in rooms with tricky acoustics, for example halls and houses of worship when installed in the correct position. 

Primarily designed for speech reproduction, however with the addition of subwoofers they can provide excellent reproduction of low to mid-level music.

Projection/Music Horn

Projection loudspeakers can provide good efficiency and output levels for speech and background music applications. They are a compromise between a cabinet and a horn loudspeaker, and whilst they may not offer the same output level as a horn, they have a sufficiently wide enough frequency response to be able to reproduce background music in industrial and commercial applications.