Shure Wireless Debuts Axient Product Line - SPS

Scan, Plan Command. That is Shure’s new slogan when it comes to their state of the art brand new product The Axient Wireless Suite. This product line developed from world-renowned Shure brings a sigh of relief to all wireless microphone users. This product line is to make the world of wireless easier to operate, control and setup. Nonetheless it is also there to be “as usual” the highest quality system Shure has put out yet.

This system starts off with two different types of transmitters a belt pack and a hand held. The AXT100 Body Pack Transmitter is capable of ultra-linear RF performance with more channels and perfect audio quality. It includes an extended rechargeable battery with dead accurate AF,RF and Power Metering. The pack also comes with a standard IR sync and up to 80MHZ tuning range. The physical design of the pack is made of a lightweight metal casing with moisture resistant to handle the extremes. The antenna is removable and you can lockout the onboard user interface as well. The battery can last up to eight hours and you can also use 3 AA backup charging batteries. With the AXT200 (Handheld mic) you have the same capabilities as the AXT100 however the battery life is up to ten hours and you can enable simultaneous transmissions on two independent frequencies. What makes both the AXT100 and AXT200 unique is the control software called ShowLink Remote Control.

Shure’s Wireless Workbench 6 software is the ultimate software package when it comes to wireless remote control. The user interface and practicality is very easy and the ascetics look great. The Wireless Workbench or WWB6 connects to the Axient Spectrum Manager which is a state of the art coordinator for spectrum and frequency band interactivity with the transmitters and receivers. It provides wideband scanning which is then automatically matched with all transmitters and receivers. It even provide a live list of backup frequencies and will automatically change over to them if interference is detected. In my opinion that is really useful for any show especially one that your running 30+ wireless.

To connect the whole system together including the AXT100/AXT200 receivers, the Spectrum Manager, WWB6, The wireless access point (AXT610) there is a AXT620 Axient Roadrack Ethernet Switch. This product is specifically tailored for Axient systems. The switch includes 9 ports equipped with power over Ethernet and automatic assign of IP addresses. The system is basically plug and play, which is a great tool when time is limited in production setup.

For RF distribution there is the AXT630 Axient Antenna Distribution System. It provides 4 BNC antenna output pairs and two Ethernet ports for control. The system also can enable the recharging stations for the transmitters all integrated in a rack.

My thoughts on this product are unimaginable. I wish I had this system for shows I have worked on in the past. The system is easy to use and provides outstanding capabilities and performance. The Axient products are a really game changer for the wireless audio industry and who better to debut and manufacture it than Shure.

Digitally Steerable Arrays - SPS

Imagine driving the direction of your car with a joystick or a playstation controller verses a physical steering wheel. Now take that same feeling of ultimate control at anytime and apply it to speaker direction. With the Digitally Steerable Arrays allow you to control the acoustic output and the coverage angle of the array. The theory behind arrays is so you have multiple drivers producing the same exact signal in a vertical alignment, which creates deconstructive and constructive interference thus resulting in a very tightly controlled beam angle. However, to control the room reflections from the output of the speakers you have to physically hang and/or place the speakers at a specific location. What if you could not install them there at that specific location? Well DSA technology would allow you to hang the speaker lets say of axis and you can still control the acoustical output and direction of the drivers themselves to put it to the desired listening location.

Digitally Steerable Arrays is a fairly new technology that is marketed and geared toward installation applications such as; house of worship, theatres, amusement parks and other similar applications. However, I really think this could be adopted once the technology is mainstream into the touring and large-scale sound systems to be able to customize the direction and beam angles of the PA for the best possible listening scenario for each specific venue.

So how does this technology work? There is a dedicated power amp including its own DSP for each driver. To control the acoustic output of the column and steering the DSP’s allow adjustments in phase and frequency response independently of the array’s axis. To accomplish steering by including small amounts of delay between each driver which results in the engineer to be able to focus the acoustic output toward the listeners and away from reflective surfaces. The best part is that you don’t have to physically calculate delay times and frequency issues for each driver instead manufactures provide software to manage it all.

You can also change the throw distance without compromising intelligibility (the whole reason why the array was created) this is great when you have different uses for the speaker system and need to change listening locations while under restrictions of physical movement.

In my opinion this DSA technology will be really great to the industry even if it does not go mainstream. It is a unique idea to handle intelligibility, throw distance, positions, room reflections and acoustic output. The technology will hopefully be picked up by some major brands and implemented into new product lines. I can bet that in the coming years we will see the technology of DSA’s come into play in some or all types of environments.