d&b audiotechnik Shows New Products at USITT

It's only right and proper that d&b audiotechnik should feel a special warmth for the USITT Conference & Stage Expo recently held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: "Any town that has a famous song about beer is okay with us," said d&b USA marketing manager Roger Keim. "It even has a German name." But there is a serious intent to USITT that's not to be ignored, that's why d&b chose this event to launch ArrayCalc V7 in the USA. "This is a hub for US audio professionals," continued Keim, "These users will quickly realize that ArrayCalc V7 is a potent modeling tool in the designer's arsenal." Loudspeakers on display included models from the V and E-Series, and several elements from the d&b White range.

The essence of the new ArrayCalc V7 is its ability to perform acoustic simulations with mixed point source and line array system configurations; notably the White range installation products from the xS-Series, with several members of the Black range; Q, T and E-Series. Simplifying the process of creating remote control workspaces for line arrays as well as point sources, via an export function into the d&b R1 Remote control software, is just one of the advantages of ArrayCalc V7. It also offers a new print out section that will include the point source loudspeakers and an array collision detector. The sophisticated additional algorithms address the requirements for a d&b style simulation and planning tool for a complete installation project, as well as for corporate and A/V rental markets. Hybrid designs that included a mix of point source and line array loudspeakers used to be a much harder task. Not anymore.

Elsewhere, Jason Waggoner and Christopher Kulesa from d&b USA's training department delivered a well attended education session, "Demystifying Audio," a light-hearted look at the fundamentals of audio. "Humor makes the learning easy," said Kulesa, "And as Bob Hope taught us, there's something funny about the sound of a comedian who can sing."

Launched only last year, the V-Series line array continues to attract much attention; the V8 and V12 loudspeakers are three-way passive designs housing two 10" LF drivers, one hornloaded 8" MF driver and two 1.4" exit HF compression drivers with 2.5" voicecoils mounted to a dedicated wave-shaping device. They have an 80- and 120-degree horizontal constant directivity dispersion respectively, which is maintained down to approximately 250Hz. The V-SUB is an actively driven cardioid subwoofer powered by a single d&b D12 amplifier channel and houses two long excursion neodymium drivers in an integrated cardioid setup: an 18" driver in a bass-reflex design facing to the front and a 12" driver in a two chamber bandpass design radiating to the rear.

To complete the display teenyweeny elements of the E-Series were on the stand; the diminutive E4 and E5, plus the E6 which is rapidly acquiring a reputation on par with the venerable E3 (a fifteen year veteran) that it replaced. From the White range 5S, 8S, and 12S were on show, with a small flown system of 10AL. A pair of 4S were used to provide a live illustration of the R1 Remote control software.

"A mix of sophisticated software tools, well defined loudspeaker systems, and clear educational emphasis are three fundamentals of USITT; and a little beer afterwards certainly helps," concluded Keim. "It's what made Milwaukee famous."