The week that was:

• Led by VP Sam Malik, Patriot Visual Group enters the Pro AV space.
• Hal Truex picked to lead PCD.
• AtlasIED, AVIXA, Bose Professional, and more announced strategic partnerships.
• Important updates from AES and WAVIT.

Pro AV Newsmakers, Monday, July 27

While Neat and Legrand | AV were among a bunch of Pro AV manufacturers to announce strategic partnerships last week, the big news of the week was the introduction of Patriot Visual Group. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Patriot Visual Group (PVG) is an American-owned company that offers a comprehensive range of visual solutions and will be led by VP Sam Malik, a Pro AV industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience driving growth and innovation.

[Register for the AV/IT Summit]

As a small high-touch distributor with 50,000 square feet of warehouse space in Atlanta, GA, Patriot Visual Group stocks a wide assortment of products and provides quick turn-around shipping. The company sources its products from multiple high-end manufacturers and provides a full warranty on each unit, with spares included. Additionally, PVG offers full service and support on every product the company sells.

“PVG offers a wide range of high-quality visual solutions to address most any installation requirements an AV integrator may be tasked with," Malik said. "These various displays come from 1st tier partners and there is no second sourcing. To better ensure timely delivery of our products so as not to hold up the installation process, we stock many of our products here in the USA. We sell only through a limited dealer channel—never direct to the end user. Equally important, we offer cash discounts for even greater margins.”

Now, get caught up with the week that was in the latest Pro AV Newsmakers.

People News

John Rudolph Retires, Hal Truax Takes the Helm as President of PCD

As John Rudolph prepares to step down after three decades of leadership at PCD, he named industry veteran Hal Truax as the company's new president. The transition marks the culmination of a thoughtful succession plan designed to ensure continuity for employees, customers and partners while positioning PCD for continued growth.

Founded in 1980 by Henry Beaumont, Rudolph joined the company in 1999, and helped transform PCD into a full-service audiovisual systems integrator, expanding into education, government, hospitality, performing arts, corporate and commercial markets while strengthening the company's reputation for engineering excellence and trusted customer relationships. Now, Truax assumes the role after joining PCD as VP in early 2025, quickly becoming a driving force behind the company's continued expansion. With more than 30 years of experience in professional audiovisual integration, executive leadership, business development and strategic growth, Truax brings a unique combination of technical expertise and customer-first leadership that aligns naturally with PCD's culture. His promotion follows months of collaboration alongside Rudolph, ensuring a seamless transition for both employees and clients.

Product Updates

Bogen Communications Introduces Nyquist Version 11.0 Software Release

Bogen Communications releases its Nyquist Version 11.0 software release. The latest update introduces expanded SIP interoperability, enhanced system monitoring, additional device support, and expanded automation capabilities to enable more comprehensive communication channels and capabilities for integration. Nyquist Version 11.0 provides support for the latest Nyquist peripherals, including NQ-DSC01 VoIP Double-Sided LED Message Display and Flasher, NQ-VCTRL Digital Remote Volume Control Call Switch, NQ-IPHRN01 Indoor/Outdoor IP Horn with Talkback, and NQ-ZPMS-G2 Zone Paging Microphone Station. The latest software release also enables video calling between NQ-ZPMS-G2 devices, expanding communication capabilities for facilities requiring more interactive paging and intercom workflows.

Nyquist Version 11.0 expands SIP interoperability with support for RingCentral, Twilio and Zoom SIP calls, enabling integration with widely used unified communications platforms. The enhanced software improves call security by enabling Secure SIP with TLS 1.2 and SRTP for PBXi SIP trunks. Additionally, the update adds support for multiple incoming SIP trunks from the same PBXi, providing greater flexibility for more complex communication environments.

To improve system supervision, Nyquist Version 11.0 adds Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) of SSD drives for the NQ-SYSCTRL. As a result, system health issues can now be reported directly to syslog and displayed within Check Server Status, improving visibility into System Controller hardware performance and helping administrators proactively identify potential issues.

Partnerships

AtlasIED Partners with A&L Group

AtlasIED announced its partnership with Selangor, Malaysia-based AV distributor Acoustic & Lighting System (A&L Group). This partnership is set to greatly expand AtlasIED’s presence in Malaysia and Vietnam.

A&L Group joins the partnership with over 35 years of industry experience. Originally founded in Malaysia, the team has expanded its footprint across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. A&L Group prides itself on the strong, collaborative relationships it holds with clients, suppliers, and industry stakeholders. The team is entirely committed to fostering long-term partnerships based on reliability, quality, and open communication.

AVIXA Partners with Futuresource Consulting 

AVIXA is partnering with Futuresource Consulting, a global market research and consultancy firm, to offer deep dive studies that analyze Pro AV demand in education and corporate markets. The studies will include end users and technology buyers as well as integrators. Through this partnership, AVIXA and Futuresource Consulting will provide objective and clear market insights for key pro AV verticals. This research complements AVIXA's five-year supply-side industry forecast for products and services.

AVIXA will work with its membership, combined with Futuresource’s buyer decision maker sources to build a complete picture of education and corporate pro AV demand and expectations. AVIXA and Futuresource will begin by co-developing a report focused on the North American education market. The report, which will be released in the fourth quarter of 2026, will be based on a combination of Futuresource Consulting’s decision maker data from its annual survey along with AVIXA’s membership survey.

Bose Professional Expands Distribution with Peats

Bose Professional welcomed Peats Wholesale, a consumer technology and AV distribution company in Ireland, to its growing network. Based in Dublin, Peats connects global brands with Irish retail networks and professional AV/IT integrators. For the first time in Ireland, integrators and end user's will be able to visit the Peats Wholesale Experience Centre and listen to the full line-up of Bose Professional solutions.

Peats joins Bose Professional as part of the company’s growing hybrid sales model, integrating dedicated, in-house sales leadership, and engineering with a network of distributors worldwide. This strategic evolution is designed to deliver deeper regional engagement, streamlined access to technical resources, and a highly responsive partner experience from initial system design through final deployment.

Alongside its extensive product portfolio, Peats provides end-to-end technical expertise, including system design, product training, and after-sales support across the retail, corporate, education, and hospitality sectors. Bose Professional product support and training will be available on site in partnership with the Bose Professional UK & IRL Team, with products available over the counter or for next day delivery.

INOGENI and Yealink Partner to Deliver Flexible 4K BYOM Switching

INOGENI and Yealink have partnered to bring two-to-three host BYOM switching to flagship Yealink hardware, integrating the TOGGLE Series directly with the SmartVision 40 intelligent video bars, AVHub multi-camera audio-visual processor, and MCore touch console computing kits.

The solution combines Yealink SmartVision 40 intelligent videobars with AI-powered dual-eye camera tracking and integrated audio for enhanced meeting experiences; Yealink AVHub intelligent audio-video processor, providing centralized management of cameras, microphones, and speakers for large and divisible spaces; and Yealink MCore mini-PC computing kit, running native Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms and powering room displays and touch controllers

Together with INOGENI’s TOGGLE ROOMS, the ecosystem delivers seamless automatic or manual host switching, instantly connecting guest laptops to the room's professionally installed AV equipment while preserving the native room experience.

LEA Professional Partners with NSL Group

LEA Professional has partnered with NSL Group, a New Zealand-based AV distributor. This partnership will connect New Zealand AV customers with LEA Professional’s extensive technology catalog.

NSL prides itself on exclusively offering the highest quality audio and commercial AV technology to its customers. This partnership will bring LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers, as well as the companion Dante Connect series, which features Dante and AES67 connectivity, to customers throughout New Zealand. These series enable integrators to utilize cloud-based remote control, monitoring, notifications, and more from any internet-enabled device, allowing them to stay connected from anywhere in the world.

Legrand | AV, Utelogy Expand Cloud Management Reach

Legrand | AV's Luxul Pro AV networking switches are now supported within the Utelogy cloud-based AV management platform. The integration, developed through the Utelligence Alliance Partner Program, extends Legrand | AV’s commitment to open AV infrastructure, ensuring that the company’s networking solutions work within the management environments that integrators and operators already rely on.

Networking has always been foundational to Pro AV, but commercial-grade networking, purpose-built for the performance, reliability, and manageability demands of AV environments, is increasingly central to how they are designed, operated, and serviced. Legrand | AV’s Luxul line is engineered specifically for that role, delivering the switching infrastructure that AV systems depend on. Connecting Luxul to the platforms where AV management happens is a natural extension of that mission. Through the Luxul driver in Utelogy, integrators and operators can now monitor and manage Luxul AV networking switches directly within the platform, alongside the AV devices they already oversee.

SFM Named Canadian Distributor for Neat Video Collaboration Solutions

SFM was appointed the Canadian distributor for Neat. The agreement enables SFM to bring Neat’s complete portfolio of video collaboration solutions to market across Canada, providing resellers and system integrators with direct access to the Neat portfolio which addresses the full spectrum of deployment environments—from personal workspaces and intimate huddle rooms to mid-size meeting rooms and large-scale conference facilities—ensuring channel partners can match the right solution to every client requirement.

The appointment reflects the complementary strengths of both organizations. SFM brings specialized knowledge of the Canadian AV and unified communications landscape, a proven well-established national distribution network, and long-standing relationships across the AV and IT channel.

Zixi, Comcast Technology Solutions Partner to Provide Unified Video Supply Chain Distribution

Zixiand Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) announced a strategic new integration to deliver C-band replacement solutions for linear broadcasters and content distributors. The collaboration brings together the end-to-end video management capabilities provided by Comcast Media360 with the Zixi Software Platform to give operators a direct migration path from C-band satellite to IP-based content distribution.

With the C-band satellite transition underway, programmers and distributors are exploring solutions to migrate linear workflows to IP while maintaining the kind of reliability, rights compliance, and affiliate distribution control that C-band has historically provided. At the core of the joint Zixi and CTS solution is a technical integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360, which provides customers with a 24/7 managed service backed by the proven reliability and scale of Comcast Technology Solutions.

Announcements

Introducing WAVIT's Wave of Influence Program

Women in AV/IT (WAVIT) unveiled its reimagined Wave of Influence Mentorship Program with a bold new vision for mentorship that empowers women across AV/IT to build meaningful connections and grow through every stage of their career. Unlike traditional mentorship programs that pair one mentor with one mentee for a predetermined period, the Wave of Influence embraces a fresh, member-driven approach.

Participants have the freedom to connect with multiple mentors, mentees, and peers based on their goals, interests, expertise, and career stage creating flexible relationships that can last for a single conversation or continue for years. Careers are rarely linear, often requiring guidance from multiple perspectives throughout different stages of professional development. Recognizing this shift, WAVIT reimagined its mentorship program to create a more flexible, personalized, and collaborative community experience that better reflects today's workforce.

Powered by the UpNotch mentorship platform, the new Wave of Influence provides AI-powered recommendations that help members discover mentors, peers, and professional connections aligned with their goals.

There were some big strategic moves this week from Diversified and Riedel Communications, as well as new (or renewed!) partnerships from Powersoft and Nanolumens.

[Check out Our InfoComm Impulses... So Far]

As always, we're here to make sure you stay caught up on all the big Pro AV news of the week. Get caught up on what you may have missed from the week that was.

People on the Move

Diversified Welcomes Viral Tripathi as CIO

Diversified has appointed Viral Tripathi as chief information officer (CIO). The technology executive brings more than 30 years of experience leading enterprise transformation and delivering business outcomes in private equity-backed professional services and global organizations where strategic vision, global scale and agility in execution matter.

At Diversified, Tripathi leads the company's enterprise technology strategy, overseeing global IT across applications, cybersecurity, data and analytics, digital innovation, infrastructure, and business systems. His role includes strengthening the digital and data foundation needed to support AI enablement, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring technology serves as a true driver of commercial value and long-term competitive advantage.

Riedel Appoints Marc Engroff as CFO

Riedel Communications expanded its leadership structure, appointing Marc Engroff as chief financial officer (CFO) of Riedel Communications. At the same time, Frank Eischet transitions into the role of chief operating officer (COO) of the Riedel Group, with an increased focus on group-level strategy and cross-functional alignment.

Engroff assumes responsibility for key corporate functions including finance, controlling, M&A, global purchasing, and IT. He plays a central part in further developing the company’s financial structures and supporting its sustainable growth trajectory. With Engroff taking over operational financial leadership within Riedel Communications, Eischet is now dedicating greater focus to overarching priorities across the Riedel Group, including strategic alignment, operational scalability, and the continued development of global structures. He continues to serve as managing director of Riedel Communications alongside Thomas Riedel, jointly representing both the company and the Riedel Group.

Smode Tech Expands Development Team with Four New Hires

Smode Tech has added four new team members across software development and research roles. Aurore Bordes joined as a C++ graphics application developer and product specialist. In this dual role, contributes to new feature development while also supporting the technical needs of SMODE’s user base.

Nicolas Tisserand joined as a senior software developer, where he is focused on the extension and maintenance of the SMODE software suite. He brings more than 20 years of programming experience across a wide range of domains, including music software, 3D reconstruction, virtual and mixed reality and robotics, with expertise in C++, C, Rust and several other languages across desktop, mobile and embedded platforms. Manu Cheremeh joined as a CIFRE doctoral researcher, and will split his time 50% at Smode Tech and 50% in the ATI Paris 8 University lab over the next three years. His is working on research, development, and integration of real-time generative AI modules within SMODE.

Finally, Maxime Cots joined as a senior software developer. His focus is on improving how SMODE handles asset input and output, including images and video, to streamline workflows for studio artists. Cots brings experience from Lumiscaphe, a real-time graphics and VR software company, and MPC/The Mill, the visual effects studio, where he developed internal pipeline tools including rigging engines, render submitters and task orchestration systems.

Partnerships

Nanolumens Partners With 3Dot Technologies

Nanolumens has formed a partnership with 3Dot Technologies, a Burlington, Ontario-based distributor specializing in video wall systems. The partnership expands Nanolumens’ presence in Canada and enables broader access to its full portfolio of display solutions across all vertical markets.

Through the distribution partnership, 3Dot Technologies will provide regional sales support, system design consultation, installation and integration services for Nanolumens direct view LED and video processing solutions. 3Dot Technologies brings experience in designing and deploying customized video wall systems across a wide range of industries, including government, corporate, retail, healthcare, higher education, transportation, entertainment and more. The company supports projects through demonstration, consultation, system configuration, installation and ongoing maintenance.

Powersoft Renews Technology Partnership with Bose Professional

Powersoft has renewed its long-term technology partnership with Bose Professional, extending a collaboration that has seen the two companies develop a shared amplification platform for the professional installed sound market. Under the renewed agreement, Bose Professional will continue to market the PowerShareX four-channel amplifier series, comprising the PSX1204D, PSX2404D and PSX4804D, built on Powersoft’s amplification technology. The platform is well suited to a wide range of environments where permanently installed audio systems are required, including corporate spaces, hotels, retail outlets, educational facilities, theatres, performing arts centres, places of worship and sports facilities.

The PowerShareX series combines high energy efficiency, precise audio signal control and significant power density in a compact form factor. Designed to operate within the Bose Professional ControlSpace ecosystem, which brings together amplifiers, processors and loudspeakers under a single unified software platform, the amplifiers simplify deployment while maintaining seamless functionality across integrated audio installations.

Pro AV around the Globe

In an effort to expand its European footprint, LEA Professional has partnered with Aura Audio, an AV distributor based in the South West coast of Finland. This partnership will bring LEA Professional’s extensive technology catalog to customers throughout Finland.

With over 30 years of experience in the professional audio industry, the Aura Audio team is positioned to expand LEA’s reach in Europe. Through this partnership, Aura Audio will represent LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers and companion Dante Connect series featuring Dante and AES67 connectivity. These series enable integrators to utilize cloud-based remote control, monitoring, notifications, and more from any internet-enabled device, allowing them to stay connected anywhere in the world.

The community of monks at Saint Michael’s welcomed a recent upgrade of the Abbey’s AV, IT, and security systems, a project led by specialist systems integrators Whitwam AVI. Brother Michael, a resident of Saint Michael’s Monastery responsible for overseeing the community’s operations, reached out to Whitwam AVI following a visit he made to Saint George’s Chapel in Windsor.

[The Integration Guide to House of Worship]

“I appreciated the attention to detail which had been taken to respect the surroundings when installing the technology at Saint George’s,” recalled Brother Michael. “On seeing the custom-colored loudspeakers, I knew this would be a great solution for Saint Michael’s Abbey.”

While the original enquiry was focused on upgrading the Abbey’s sound system, the project scope quickly grew, thanks to the commissioning of a full restoration of the Abbey. “Originally, we were designing for a new audio system, new microphones and a camera and video system to improve visibility for the Abbey’s organist,” recalled Ray Clarke, operations and engineering manager at Whitwam AVI. “Following the restoration work, the project was then expanded to encompass the original requirement, plus a broadcast streaming system, CCTV and the integration of a site-wide networking solution across the Abbey and the Monastery.”

Given the historic and sacred nature of the environment and the architectural constraints of installing new technology in a heritage building, the Whitwam AVI team spent time carefully designing and commissioning various custom bracketry solutions and RAL color-matched enclosures for both loudspeakers and cameras to ensure that the new tech would blend into the historic surroundings. Furthermore, the venue’s limited cable routes required Whitwam AVI to install multiple equipment racks throughout the Abbey, some of which needed to be IP-rated enclosures due to the environmental conditions in the basement and crypt. Twisted pair and fiber extenders were utilized in the full system design to link the racks and minimize cabling, whilst custom-colored trunking was installed along the Abbey walls to ensure any cable runs were neatly contained.

The audio system, which covers the nave, the high altar and the side chapels, consists of pairs of Bose MA12 modular column array loudspeakers, ensuring even audio coverage throughout the Abbey. For the video side, five Panasonic AW-UE50 PTZ cameras, also custom colored, are installed at key locations throughout including the high altar, side crossings and at the rear of the nave to capture all proceedings during Abbey services. A portable camera offers an additional perspective for special events such as weddings. Aside from the live streaming functionality, the Abbey’s organist also benefits from an improved view of the venue via a 10-inch Lilliput video monitor, improving the accuracy of timings for musical elements of services.

“We are pleased to see our technologies installed in spaces as unique as Saint Michael’s Abbey,” commented Alan Head at Panasonic. “The team at Whitwam AVI have taken great care to integrate five of our AW-UE50 cameras seamlessly with the surrounding architecture. Given their skill and expertise, we allow for their in-house customization to ensure the integration at the Abbey not only looks great but also gives the user peace of mind in terms of system performance and longevity.”

To ensure accessibility, a Sennheiser MobileConnect system was chosen for its ease of use, allowing hard-of-hearing users to listen to services via a smartphone app. A combination of Sennheiser gooseneck microphones and an Audio-Technica boundary mic for the high altar ensures crystal-clear speech pick-up. Bespoke T-bar brackets at the lectern and pulpit ensure that not even the microphones detract from the elegance of the worship space.

[Industry Experts Share Secrets for Better House-of-Worship Audio]

One of the key requirements was for Saint Michael’s to have the tools to stream its services online on platforms such as YouTube, as well as allow for events such as weddings to be shared with an extended audience.

“We wanted to connect with our community through broadcasting our services and make Sunday Mass available to a wider audience for several reasons,” said Father Abbot of St. Michael’s. “Firstly, to enable those far away to participate, secondly, for intellectual access and finally, to reach those who might be looking for a vocation within a monastery.”

The broadcast system is based on Blackmagic Design hardware and an Epiphan Pearl Nano streaming solution. To maximize the technology and save on additional resources, Whitwam AVI proposed incorporating the broadcast cameras into the CCTV system. Using Antrica video encoders, the Abbey’s camera footage is sent directly to a HikVision NVR, which allows for smart monitoring of activity both within the Abbey and the wider monastery buildings. For video distribution, a networked solution via Lightware VINX encoders and decoders enables CCTV multi-view on an NEC 32-inch large format display in key locations, such as the Abbot’s office.

“It was important to deliver a system that will serve the Abbey well into the future; therefore, having the network infrastructure in place now will allow the system to grow as the needs of the monastery evolve,” said Clarke. “We’re proud to have been on board since the very beginning and to have had this opportunity to work with Brother Michael on a project that encompasses many different elements.”

The feedback from Saint Michael’s community of monks and worshippers has been wholly positive, especially in terms of the quality of the technology and how it is discreetly installed to respect the architecture of the Abbey. The services at Saint Michael’s are now successfully reaching a worldwide audience, with followers in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Australia regularly watching the live stream broadcast of Sunday Mass.

If there’s one place that represents ground zero for competitive fitness, it’s Gold’s Gym Venice Beach. Known worldwide as the Mecca of Bodybuilding, this legendary gym is more than just a place to train—it’s a cultural institution. For nearly 60 years, Gold’s Gym has welcomed elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and everyday lifters, all training in a space where history is literally built into the walls. Murals, framed photos, and memorabilia—from Mr. Olympia champions to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic Terminator jacket—make every workout a connection to the gym’s storied past.

When RSG Group, one of the world’s leading fitness companies, acquired Gold’s Gym in 2020, it took on the responsibility of modernizing an icon while preserving its soul. One of the biggest challenges? The audio system. The existing setup was outdated and couldn’t keep up with the high-energy intensity of the space. But replacing it wouldn’t be easy. Gold’s Gym Venice Beach isn’t just iconic—it’s the busiest gym in the world, serving almost 7,000 members. Shutting down for renovations wasn’t an option. And with every wall covered in irreplaceable memorabilia, they needed a seamless solution that wouldn’t interfere with the gym’s visual and cultural identity.

Check out the exclusive video tour of the outstanding AV installed at Gold’s Gym Venice Beach below.

For Tom Breu, Director of Music Programming & AV Integration at RSG Group, the objective was more than just upgrading speakers—it was about redefining the sound experience at Gold’s Gym. “In the fitness space, sound is an essential component,” said Breu. “You want to be fired up. You want to be motivated. Music drives the workout experience. That’s why we took a unique approach—one that required the best technology available.”

With that in mind, the RSG team established three key goals for the new system:

Immersive but unobtrusive audio—Crystal-clear sound that enhances workouts without overpowering the space or causing a distraction.

Seamless aesthetic integration—A design that blends into the gym’s historic environment, avoiding obtrusive speakers or visible wiring.

Even, consistent coverage—No dead spots. Whether inside or outside, members should experience the same motivating energy.

About the Bose Professional Solution

For a project as significant as Gold’s Gym Venice Beach, RSG Group turned to a trusted partner—Mountain Media, a longtime Bose Professional dealer with over 40 years of experience in AV integration. Patrick Carrigan, President of Mountain Media, had worked on numerous RSG Group projects, but Venice Beach was something special. He described it as “the prize.”

“It’s the most iconic gym in the world,” he said. “When we got the chance to design the audio system here, it was an absolute yes.”

Mountain Media had a clear vision—to create a seamless and immersive audio experience using Bose Professional EdgeMax loudspeakers as the foundation.

EdgeMax: The Perfect Fit for Gold’s Gym

The EdgeMax series was the ideal solution for Gold’s Gym’s intense, high-energy environment. Designed to provide the clarity of surface-mounted speakers in a compact, ceiling-mounted design, EdgeMax met both aesthetic and sonic needs. Carrigan explained, “EdgeMax is awesome for so many applications, especially if you know how to properly tune it. In-ceiling speakers used to be for convenience, not to make music sound great. EdgeMax changes that.”

Another advantage of EdgeMax is its directional sound projection, which allowed Mountain Media to tailor the audio experience based on gym layout and member movement. Tom Breu emphasized how crucial this was: “We discovered that the best experience comes when people have the sound coming from in front of them—not behind. If you’re running on a treadmill, you don’t want the music blasting behind you like someone’s chasing you. You want the sound in front of you, leading the way.” By designing the system so that each machine and walkway had even, immersive coverage, the team ensured that music flowed naturally with movement throughout the space.

Adapting EdgeMax for Open Ceilings

But there was one major obstacle. EdgeMax was designed for recessed ceilings, and Gold’s Gym Venice Beach had open, industrial ceilings with no easy way to mount them. “The guys at Mountain Media love a good challenge,” Breu recalled. “They’re so creative in solving problems and coming up with out-of-the-box ideas. They designed a custom box enclosure that allowed us to hang EdgeMax like pendant speakers.”

By suspending the EdgeMax speakers, Mountain Media successfully adapted the technology to an environment it wasn’t originally designed for—and the results exceeded expectations. Carrigan explained how they took the idea even further: “We designed a light, compact, and shippable encasement for EdgeMax. Now, this solution isn’t just for Venice Beach—we can send it to Gold’s and other RSG gyms around the world.”

Power Meets Precision in the Gym’s Iconic Outdoor Spaces

Gold’s Gym Venice Beach isn’t just famous for its indoor training areas—it also features an expansive outdoor workout space. This area allows members to lift weights under the California sun and in front of the iconic “green wall,” creating an experience that few gyms in the world can offer.

For the outdoor areas, Mountain Media deployed Bose Professional AMU series loudspeakers, designed to deliver full-range background sound with outstanding clarity and durability. However, the outdoor location came with another challenge—controlling the volume at different times of the day.

Since the gym is located in a residential neighborhood, blasting music at 5 a.m. wasn’t an option. At the same time, some longtime Gold’s members have a tradition of working out early in a quiet environment surrounded by the sound of birds, crickets, and dropping weights—so music has to be gradually introduced as the day progresses.

Breu, who started his career in music programming at MTV and later at Europe’s biggest radio station, approached this preference in a very mindful way, using Bose Professional ControlSpace Designer software and the ControlSpace EX-1280 digital signal processor to find a solution. “In most gyms, the music just turns on and off,” he explained. “But here, we created an automation system that gradually increases the volume throughout the morning and adjusts it throughout the day. That way, we keep the neighbors happy while catering to different groups of members.”

Precision Tuning and Troubleshooting with ControlSpace Designer

With multiple zones and distinct indoor and outdoor sound environments, the ability to fine-tune and control the system remotely was essential. Bose Professional ControlSpace provided the perfect solution. “ControlSpace strikes a great balance between simplicity and functionality,” Breu said. “It’s still, in my opinion, one of the best tools in the industry.”

To ensure seamless integration and precise control, the audio system at Gold’s Gym Venice Beach is powered by a Bose Professional ControlSpace EX-1280C processor with Dante networking. The setup features an extensive wiring system leading to an air-conditioned amplifier room housing eight PowerMatch PM8500N amplifiers.

With direct Dante wiring and interfaces, the system minimizes extra connections while ensuring reliable, streamlined operation. Additional inputs are strategically placed for flexibility: a microphone input downstairs, an outdoor DJ input at the back, and an indoor DJ input near the front for portable setups—all seamlessly connected via Dante for efficient signal distribution and control.

Mountain Media was able to balance individual speakers based on their placement—ensuring the best possible audio experience throughout the gym. Robert Cacciatore, AV Systems Programmer at Mountain Media, described the approach. “With almost every speaker on its own line, we have incredible control over the system,” he said. “We can walk the entire gym and fine-tune the balance for different areas—walkways, workout spaces, and more.”

The cloud-based control system also allows for remote troubleshooting and adjustments, reducing downtime. Breu noted how invaluable this feature is: “I can be anywhere, and if something needs adjusting, I can just log in remotely and fix it. No need to physically be there—everything is custom-tuned.”

Building the Perfect Soundscape with Bose Modeler

To ensure optimal speaker placement before installation, the team used Bose Modeler software to design the entire system virtually. Cacciatore explained, “As a system designer, you typically use walls, ceilings, and floors to determine speaker placement. But at Gold’s Gym, the walls are covered in memorabilia—we couldn’t just place speakers wherever we wanted. Modeler helped us find solutions without disrupting the space.”

Using Modeler, the team was also able to predict how sound would behave in the space, avoiding issues like excess bass buildup and ensuring even coverage across all areas. This greatly reduced valuable time spent commissioning and tuning the system on site. “For Tom, it needs to sound musical and dynamic, first and foremost,” related Cacciatore. “His top priorities are clear, high-quality sound and seamless, even coverage that doesn't require high volume. With the Modeler program, you can see how the speakers interact and move things around to eliminate problems before anything is ever installed.”

Modeler also helped the team make adjustments in real-time without impacting the gym’s aesthetic. “Using Bose Professional software, between ControlSpace Designer and Modeler, we can design anything,” said Cacciatore. “All we had to do is maybe drop the wattage a little bit and turn the speaker a certain way and we made it work without blocking any of the iconic stuff on the walls.”

“With Modeler, we can literally show the client how their space will sound before we even install a single speaker,” added Carrigan. “It’s a game-changer.”

Working with Bose Professional: A True Partnership

Beyond the technology, the project's success was also a result of the strong partnership between RSG Group, Mountain Media and Bose Professional. “The Gold’s Gym project far exceeded any of our expectations,” said Carrigan. “We wouldn't be doing what we're doing now if it wasn't for the people at Bose Professional,” he continued. “The Bose Professional team works hard to keep our relationship thriving.”

Cacciatore added that Bose Professional’s openness to collaboration made a significant impact. “Dealing with Bose Professional over the years, we push the product to places that they didn't expect it to be pushed to,” he explained. “Even when we’re using Bose Professional products in unorthodox applications, the engineering team is always happy to work with us, and we’ve shared some innovative ideas with each other. You can always get a Bose Professional tech on the phone and things work out great. I’m very happy with the service we get. And that’s been big.”

The Strongest Gym, with the Strongest Sound

Since Gold’s Gym operates 5 a.m. to midnight, the entire installation had to be completed after hours, which required precise execution. “We had to keep the old system in place and operational, and work around all of the existing equipment,” Cacciatore recalled. “Once the new install was completed, we had to switch over in a matter of hours—and it had to sound better immediately.”

And it did. “The sound was perfect right from the minute we turned it on,” Cacciatore said.

With a new cutting-edge Bose Professional system built around EdgeMax, the legendary Gold’s Gym Venice Beach now delivers an audio experience as powerful as the athletes who train there. Breu summed it up nicely: “After remodeling the whole space with Bose Professional products, we don’t just have the strongest people—we also have the strongest sound.”

The year may be winding down, but the Pro AV machine certainly isn't. Hal Truax is on the move, AVI-SPL made another strategic appointment, and Samsung partners up for golf fun. 

Let's get right to it. 

[SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators 2024]

People News

AVI-SPL Names Eric Barie as  SVP of Marketing 

AVI-SPL, which was once again No. 1 in SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators 2024, appointed Eric Barie as its new SVP of marketing. In his new role, Barie spearheads the development and implementation of the company’s B2B marketing strategy, driving growth and strengthening AVI-SPL’s position as a global leader in digital enablement solutions. 

[AVI-SPL Promotes Kelly Bousman]

In his new role, Barie focuses on aligning AVI-SPL’s sales and marketing efforts with the company’s short and long-term growth plans. He leads the charge in creating a cohesive and unified marketing strategy to support AVI-SPL’s diverse market footprint, enabling enhanced delivery of its solutions and services on a global scale. 

PCD Audio & Video Welcomes Hal Truax as Director of Sales and Marketing

PCD Audio & Video has appointed Hal Truax as its new director of sales and marketing. With more than 30 years of experience in the Pro AV industry, Truax brings leadership, strategic vision, and deep industry knowledge to the role.

He joins PCD at a pivotal moment, as the company continues to expand its reach across Northern California. His expertise will be invaluable as PCD continues to provide solutions to a diverse client base that ranges from performing arts centers to houses of worship. As director of sales and marketing, Truax will oversee PCD’s sales strategy, drive marketing initiatives, and strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders.

“PCD has a legacy of excellence and innovation that I am proud to join,” said Truax. “The company’s commitment to delivering customized AV solutions and ongoing support is unparalleled. I am excited to work with the talented team here to further elevate PCD’s presence and impact in the industry.”

Bose Professional Hires John Born

Bose Professional appointed John Born as the new product management director for ecosystems and emerging technology on the product development team. In this role, Born heads the development of groundbreaking audio technologies at Bose Professional.

With a 20-year background in product innovation and development, Born brings a wealth of experience creating  customer-centric solutions to his new position. Born joins the company with a long career in audio product innovation, most recently directing product and innovation teams at Shure Incorporated. His focus on leveraging multiple technologies to create market-leading solutions aligns perfectly with the company's vision for the future.

Planar Welcomes Josh Strecker as Regional Account Manager for Southeast US

Planar welcomed Josh Strecker as regional account manager for Southeast United States. Strecker is responsible for Planar sales efforts in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and the Florida Panhandle. He joins Planar after nearly 10 years at T1V, where he held roles in project management, technical sales and sales. During his tenure at T1V, he worked extensively with Planar, developing a deep knowledge of display technology that he will leverage in his new role with Planar reseller partners and customers.

RF Venue appoints Ahren Hartman as Chief Technology Officer

RF Venue named Ahren Hartman as chief technology officer. Hartman is tasked with spearheading RF Venue’s technology strategy, overseeing engineering and driving the creation of wireless audio products.

Hartman brings over three decades of experience in the pro audio industry, with a strong focus on professional wireless audio systems. He has a distinguished track record of successfully developing and launching innovative products, while holding two patents related to wireless audio systems. Prior to joining RF Venue, Hartman held leadership positions at Shure Incorporated, where he played a key role in the development of groundbreaking wireless microphone and in-ear monitoring technologies. He also worked on microphone spectrum policy with the Federal Communications Commission, in addition to leading Shure’s global quality division.

3G Productions Names New National Director of Business Development

West Coast-based live event production and systems integration services provider 3G Productions has appointed Jennifer Moore to the newly created post of national director of business development. In her new role, she is now overseeing the company’s nationwide touring business and leading its sales team growth as 3G expands into new markets moving forward.

Moore officially joined 3G Productions in mid-November. Forging and fostering relationships with touring acts, creative directors, lighting designers, production managers, and major promoters, her primary initiative is to build the company’s national presence as a full-service production company for tours and large-scale one-off live events, including festivals and corporate gatherings. She is also working closely with 3G’s executive team on the company’s marketing and branding as it scales in size and reach.

Moore comes to 3G Productions with over two decades of experience, having worked at Martin Professional, 4Wall Entertainment, DCR Nashville, and most recently as an executive account manager for Upstaging.

Live Media Group Announces Ryan Jones as SVP, Internal Operations

Live Media Group has appointed former NEP Group leader Ryan Jones as SVP of internal operations. With nearly two decades of experience in engineering, operations, and management, Jones spearheads the company’s internal processes, ensuring Live Media Group remains at the forefront of production services in the live event production industry.

Jones spent 19 years at NEP Group, where he most recently served as director of systems integration, managing complex timelines, stakeholder communication, and ensuring project designs aligned with client needs. In his new role, Jones oversees internal processes, manages truck maintenance and new builds, and leads major system integration projects. He’ll also develop project budgets and schedules, ensuring deadlines and costs are met while guiding his team to achieve critical milestones efficiently. In addition, he serves on Live Media Group’s senior strategy team, helping further growth across the company.

SCT Expands UK Team with Industry Veteran

Sound Control Technologies appointed Mark Sanderson to its U.K. channel team. With over 25 years of experience in AV and UC distribution, Sanderson brings a wealth of expertise and a proven track record of driving growth and success for top global brands.

Sanderson’s role at SCT will focus on fostering strong relationships with channel partners, driving adoption of SCT’s advanced solutions, and delivering exceptional value to end customers. His addition underscores SCT’s commitment to growth and innovation in the AV and UC sectors.

Company News

Samsung Partners with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL

TGL presented by SoFi, the new, primetime team golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports, named Samsung as an Official Screen Partner. The partnership will highlight Samsung’s leadership role in delivering quality screen experiences for fans, both in the venue or watching at home. Additionally, TGL’s custom-built SoFi Center will showcase Samsung’s commercial-grade LED displays to create experiences across TGL’s season of matches beginning this January. 

Samsung LED displays that will be used at SoFi Center include:

• Marquee Outdoor Video Wall: A nearly 600-square-foot outdoor LED video wall will greet guests to the SoFi Center above the venue’s main entrances. Product: Samsung XRB Series Outdoor Display (5,000 nit brightness, 3.9mm).
• Field of Play Video Boards: On each side of TGL’s massive projection screen used for competition will be two nearly 1,250-square-foot LED video boards. These state-of-the-art Samsung screens will showcase match scoring, shot statistics and hole overviews. Product: Samsung VMR Series Indoor Display (1,000 nit brightness, 2.9mm).
• Field of Play Ribbon Boards: TGL’s field of play will be surrounded by nearly 900 linear feet of LED ribbon boards at the field level and upper levels. These ribbon boards will add to the unique visual experience of TGL’s competition and provide sponsorship exposure. Product: Samsung ISC Series Indoor Display (2,000 nit brightness, 3.9mm).
• Team Benches: Indoor displays will comprise each team bench, bringing these areas to life with team branding. Product: Samsung VMR Series Indoor Display (1,000 nit brightness, 2.6mm)

Screen Innovations Partners with Xspot 

Xspot Products, a provider of wire management solutions, has entered a strategic partnership with Screen Innovations. Through this partnership, Screen Innovations dealers will gain access to Xspot's comprehensive range of wire management products through the SI dealer portal. The available products include the Shades Xpack and essential refill components such as the Groove Re-Usable Wire Endpoint, Slackbox Bubble Wire Protection, XGrommet Cover, and the Quantum Locator Tool.

The partnership will enable Screen Innovations dealers to streamline their installation processes while maintaining the highest standards of quality and professionalism that both brands are known for.

Snap One Adds Qolsys and DSC to its Expanding Security Portfolio

Snap One, now part of ADI, has added Qolsys and DSC PowerG security sensors to the Snap One Partner Portal. This addition is a direct result of the integration of Snap One and ADI and strengthens the company’s security offering. Snap One customers now have additional buying and integration options to help expand their business, while providing complete solutions and additional support to their end customers.

Snap One customers can now access a wide range of security panels and sensors from Qolsys, a security and smart home technology provider for residential and commercial markets. DSC is a provider of security sensors, including the PowerG wireless technology that is paired to the Qolsys panel lineup. This lineup, combined with third-party device compatibility, enables customers to customize a complete, future-proofed security solution for any residential or commercial project.

The entire line of Qolsys Panels integrates easily with the Control4 platform, allowing these products to operate as part of a complete, unified smart home system. Additionally, Qolsys Panels and select DSC sensors utilize Alarm.com’s backend platform for alarm transport, remote monitoring and control capabilities. This makes integration and installation simple for integrators who are interested in adding these new brands to their projects.

A sea change occurred at the Bose Professional Division of Framingham, MA-based Bose Corporation. In April 2023, the company announced the sale of the Bose Professional Division to private equity firm Transom Capital Group. In early May, Transom announced the appointment of John Maier as CEO of Bose Professional.

AV Technology's content director, Cindy Davis, sat down with Maier to learn more about the decision to make Bose Professional a standalone entity, what changes are in store for its integrator, consultant, and end user customers, and when he is going to have time to play his drums.

Cindy Davis: What went into your decision to join Bose Professional?

John Maier: Having been in the industry for so long, I've been a huge Bose fan from the early days of my dad bringing home a little bookshelf speaker for the living room to me using 802s and 402s with bands and rental in the 80s, all the way to what the business does now. So, to have Bose Corporation separate from something that was basically part of the business almost from the beginning, I mean, Bose Professional is 50 years now as a company. It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. When I was helping Transom with its companies, we jumped at the chance and dove in and we're excited to be the last company and that was offered exclusivity and able to close the deal.

Davis: What changes are ahead for the Bose Professional, and what are your plans for driving the company?

Maier: The biggest change is going to be, instead of being part of an overall Bose consumer strategy, to be able to be an independent, standalone, Pro AV business and focus 100 percent on that business, the customer, and the solutions for that customer. That's absolutely huge because you're sort of beholden [to Bose Corporate]—and no ill will toward Bose Corporate because it has its own priorities, as it should; it's a big business handling consumer and aviation and automotive. But Bose Professional was a smaller part of its business, and I don't think it necessarily had the focus or the attention that it really needed to flourish. But even in that setting, the business has been growing and has a really strong global business. I'm excited to be able to really focus in and hone in on that customer. And, Transoms has been a hundred percent supportive about going after where the business comes from—the middle market of AV installation and commercial.

Davis: What are the most significant changes that integrators and users can expect?

Maier: Well, the good news is they won't see a lot of change in the day-to-day. We were under a transition services agreement with Bose Corporate, so the flow of business, how they place orders, and how things get shipped through the system, nothing will change on day one. And that was an important part of this was to make sure there was no interruption, no disruption to the business. 

What they'll see on the other side of that is this renewed focus. I'm already kicking off a listening tour, both for our internal team to learn about what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are, but maybe more importantly, for our customers, our end users, and consultants—understanding what's really working for both professionals out there now and where we've got room to grow and get better, and also, where the opportunities are.

Davis: Is there an area where you expect Bose Professional to grow the most?

Maier: But we also want to take the opportunity to really look at the offering across these solutions. What is the education market, the house of worship market, and the hospitality market—what are we offering that's really working? And where are the opportunities to expand our portfolio and offer more complete systems? We've gotten into the conferencing space with VBS and VB1, which have been received really well and has really interesting technologically. We think there's an opportunity to offer a fuller line of solutions around it.  

It's doubling down on that middle market. We have a really strong position, but we don't want to lose focus on that. And because there's a lot of great products out there and there's a lot of competition—a lot of friends of mine are my competitors now. I have to make sure we don't lose the core. We're seeing growth, but we'll double down there and make sure that that's a foothold that we don't lose. I think we'll see double-digit growth and potentially triple-digit growth in conferencing because, again, it's new for us. There are some interesting areas; we're hearing a lot about immersive audio and other things. We're obviously an engineering-based company with a lot of interesting innovations. We're looking at those things as to what possibly could be done down the road, and potential partnerships.

We've partnered and continued to partner with Sennheiser and a few others, and we're talking with more. That will be a part of the strategy going forward. I'm a strong believer in focusing on your strengths and being the experts in the areas that the brand has the brand equity and focusing with partners on the things that they're the experts at, and it would take you decades to get to where they've gotten. And so, we can work together.

Watch the Full Video Interview with New Bose Professional CEO, John Maier

Davis: What can we expect to see at InfoComm? 

Maier: It definitely fits into the space of availability. When we started calling customers to understand the business, the thing we heard over and over again was; if there's a top five features of a product, number one right now is availability. "If someone doesn't have it, I've got to move on because I can't wait, and I've got to get product." So, we've made some moves. There are some really interesting products coming that both expand our offering, the technology, and the flexibility, but also are in an area where we've had availability issues. So, I'm excited to show that.

We're spending a lot of time on the product roadmap. There are some really exciting things already coming this year. There'll be some announcements at InfoComm, and some longer-term, more structural upgrades and updates coming down the road. 

Davis: Are you saying what you'll be showing at InfoComm is available?

Maier: Yep, absolutely.

Davis: What changes are being made at Bose Professional internally?

Maier: We're excited to separate out and build Bose Professional's own culture. I've had this analogy that, in my mind, it has been a bit of a pirate ship to the greater Bose. So, we can take that and move it over. Of course, we've got to build up whole functional areas of the business, and we're doing a lot of that now. We're building the team. We've just added a CFO and a head of People and Culture, and promoted some folks from within to key positions. There's a lot of getting prepped for pulling out of the functional, structural support that we're getting from Bose Corporation right now.

Regarding the market, that's the discovery mode we're in right now. We want to continue some of the work that the team's doing on some bigger overall projects that are coming down the road.

I'm the new guy only once, and that's a perspective I want to take advantage of, and that's why I want to do this listening tour and really dig in and get both the good feedback and the bad feedback and, and then take that back to the team and start to process that and see where we can take it.

What you'll see in the first six months is consistency and more of the same lack of disruption. But you'll also see responsiveness to the market and the channel, what is going on out there, and what is needed from us. Things that we can move fast on, we'll move fast on. We'll also move fast on things that are in the product development cycle longer, but we won't see that until a little bit further down the road. So yeah, I'm excited to dig in, learn, and come back and be the dumb new guy and say, "Here's what we should be doing and start to process that internally." 

Davis: Do you have plans to change where Bose Professional products will be manufactured? 

Maier: Absolutely no changes initially. Again, it's all about consistency. There's only one Bose factory and maybe one partner factory where there's a combination of consumer and pro products made. So that actually makes that part simpler. We don't have to pull full product lines and manufacturing lines out of a Bose factory and move them to a third-party factory or create our own factory because all that separation was already built in.

Obviously, we'll work with our vendor partners on availability. We've had a lot of improvement, and in fact, we're down to one or two areas that we're still pushing, and we think we'll have a full recovery by the fall. Generally, the supply chain setup doesn't change much. It's more like handing off contracts and us signing on with that partnership. Then, of course, we'll dig in, and we'll find out where there are opportunities to get more efficient, with potentially better results, faster, and cheaper shipping. We're going look for all those efficiencies as we shift over.

Davis: A final question. You've been in the music industry for quite a long time, and you're a musician. What instrument or instruments do you play?

Maier: Drums are the main thing. I dabble in a bunch of other stuff, but drums are the thing that I was as a kid was going to be a rockstar. I met my wife through music, and here we are, 27 years later, in LA, and we still play and still enjoy music, but it's more of a fun side thing at this point. 

Transom Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has announced the appointment of John Maier as CEO of the newly independent Bose Professional.

“John is an experienced and successful pro-audio industry executive and it’s great to have him join the team at Bose Professional,” said Russ Roenick, Managing Partner at Transom Capital. “We have known John for over 10 years and watched him grow Blue Microphones from a small professional microphone company to a global professional and consumer electronics brand. He also helped us transform Loud Audio from a collection of unconnected brands to the now thriving Mackie.”

“I am thrilled to be joining the team at the new Bose Professional,” said Maier. “I’ve been a user, salesman and overall admirer of the business and products since early in my career, and I see a great future ahead. I’m in the ideal position of knowing the brand and market well, while still bringing an outsider’s perspective to the business. I look forward to helping Bose Professional and Transom achieve all their goals.”

Maier spent the past several years as an operating partner for Transom, overseeing such businesses as Mackie. Before that, Maier was the CEO of Blue Microphones, a designer of award-winning and critically acclaimed microphones, headphones and accessories. He helped leverage the company’s professional recording studio heritage into the consumer electronics space and grew the company tenfold during his tenure, eventually selling the business to Logitech.

Prior to Blue Microphones, Maier was the CEO of TC Group Americas where he helped the Danish company build brands like Tannoy, LabGruppen, TC Electronic and Lake, tripling the company’s revenue. Prior to TC, Maier held several leadership positions in the audio industry, including Alesis, Guitar Center and Sound Marketing. He is one of a select few who has managed companies named to the Inc. Magazine “Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies” for ten consecutive years.

Maier earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration from California Lutheran University and has served as board member or advisor to many for profit and non-profits during his career.

We’re well into 2023, and it is clear that the hybrid workplace is the new normal. CEOs, facilities directors, and AV/IT managers are still reshaping the office layout and footprint. Meeting equity has become the mantra for the hybrid model if it is to be successful. Huddle rooms and smaller meeting spaces that did not have AV in the past now need to be inclusive of remote participants. 

“2023 will see the shift from task-based workspaces to interaction-based workspaces,” said Aurangzeb Khan, senior vice president of Intelligent Vision Systems at Jabra. “This means downgrading real estate footprints for more concentrated and purpose-built offices with technology that enables people to experience authentic interactions with all their colleagues, whether they’re in the building or not.”

Petro Shimonishi, director of Pro AV Solutions and Connected Ecosystems at Panasonic Connect added, “To ensure employees embrace the true benefits of a work-from-anywhere lifestyle, employers must utilize AV tools that foster collaboration and seamless experiences for in-person and virtual employees.”

Bring your own device or meeting (BYOD or BYOM) should never mean using the built-in video or audio from a laptop for all to huddle around. And for companies looking to outfit several to hundreds of meeting spaces, a device that includes the camera, speakers, and microphone is a time and cost-saver. This is where the all-in-one videoconferencing solution comes in.

We’ve gathered a dozen all-in-one videoconferencing solutions. Some are better for huddle spaces or a remote office, while others are better suited for small- to medium-sized meeting spaces.

This article is not intended to be an exhaustive round-up of videoconferencing solutions. The following solutions are known for being easy to set up and use. Each manufacturer has additional videoconferencing solutions which are purpose-built for different environments and integrate with larger systems. 

Manufacturers were not made aware that we were running this article, nor did they pay for placement. 

Atlona’s AT-CAP-FC110 ePTZ Camera

Atlona’s AT-CAP-FC110 ePTZ Camera is part of the Captivate Series, developed for video conferencing and hybrid meetings within small- to medium-sized meeting, learning, and gathering spaces. The camera delivers high-quality imaging at resolutions up to 4K@30Hz, with a generous 110-degree-wide horizontal field of view for coverage of compact spaces such as huddle rooms. The camera’s CMOS sensor preserves fine detail and color fidelity, while its dual-element microphone array provides a 16-foot audio pickup range. Along with electronic pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities, it offers auto-framing functionality based on detection of up to six participants.

Biamp's Parlé VBC 2500a and Parlé ABC 2500a 

Biamp’s Parlé VBC 2500a and Parlé ABV 2500a, the all-in-one business conferencing bars from Biamp, are compatible with assisted listening systems (ALS). Featuring a new dedicated 3.5mm output connector with a mono balanced line level, the Parlé bars provide a premium audio experience for individuals requiring hearing assistance. For crystal-clear audio throughout the room, the Parlé bars also feature 27-microphone arrays and Biamp Beamtracking technology to actively track and intelligently mix conversations. To optimize performance at install, the Biamp Launch software analyzes and tunes the acoustic performance of the room with just a touch of a button.

Boom Collaboration’s Boom UNO

From Boom Collaboration, the Boom UNO is a complete conferencing system that combines a 120-degree, wide-angle, full-HD camera with a 360-degree omnidirectional microphone and built-in speaker. The compact device has plug-and-play functionality via one USB cable and is available in black and white. It is compatible with Zoom, Teams, Webex, Google Meet and all major meeting apps. The Boom UNO gives users all the tools they need for effective collaboration in a simple user-friendly package. Enjoy video calls in full HD combined with a powerful speakerphone with omnidirectional pickup, full-duplex and advanced echo cancellation, and noise suppression. 

Bose's Videobar VB-S

Bose’s Videobar VB-S is a compact, all-in-one USB conferencing device that’s easy to install and brings premium audio and video to rooms up to 10 by 10 feet. With four beam-steering microphones, a 4K ultra-HD camera, and signature Bose sound, VB-S delivers a meeting experience so clear you can read the room from across the globe. The Bose VB-S works with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and more, bringing enhanced video and audio performance to popular unified communications platforms. The Bose VB-S makes meeting rooms easy.

Crestron's UC Video Conference Smart Soundbar & Camera

The Crestron UC Video Conference Smart Soundbar & Camera (UC-SB1-CAM-FLEX) is a front‑of‑room device that eliminates the need to install additional microphones, speakers, or cameras in a conference space. The UC-SB1-CAM-FLEX comprises a high‑performance AEC‑enabled speakerphone and camera. It is available as part of a complete Crestron Flex UC video conference system kit. A single USB 3.0 connection provides a plug‑and‑play interface to the Crestron Flex UC Video Conference System. Its high‑powered, two‑way stereo speakers produce full, rich and real sounding audio. The integrated Huddly IQ camera features an ultra wide‑angle 150-degree diagonal field of view to capture an entire conference room in Full HD 1080p video resolution.

Jabra's PanaCast 50

Jabra's PanaCast 50 offers a plug-and-play solution to deliver an advanced immersive and engaging video experience. Intelligently adjusting the video stream to follow the action, allows the Jabra PanaCast 50 to detect active speakers and the flow of conversation for a fully immersive and responsive remote meeting experience. Three 13-megapixel camera array creates a 4K, 180-degree field of view. With nine edge processors, two edge AI processors, and eight beamforming microphones, the system architecture enables the video bar to carry out real-time integration of audio, video, and data.

Logitech’s Sight AI-Powered Tabletop Camera

Logitech’s Sight AI-Powered Tabletop Camera works with the front-of-room camera Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini to intelligently capture the best perspective of meeting participants and track conversations as they move around the conference room. Logitech Sight provides alternative perspectives by extending audio and video into larger rooms. With dual 4K cameras and seven beamforming microphones, Sight captures conversations and nonverbals as they naturally happen. Sight works with leading video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, making it easy to use hybrid-friendly meeting layout features like Zoom Smart Gallery and Microsoft Teams dynamic view.

Owl Lab's Owl Bar

The Owl Bar by Owl Labs device is an all-in-one front-of-room camera, microphone, and speaker that pairs with the Meeting Owl device and Whiteboard Owl camera for a more equitable meeting experience. The Owl Bar works wirelessly with a 360-degree, center-of-the-room camera for a front and center videoconferencing experience. The Owl Labs ecosystem uses its proprietary AI-powered software to automatically switch between cameras to capture the best view of in-room attendees, enabling more natural face-to-face conversations between in-person and remote participants. 

Panasonic Connect’s PressIT360

Panasonic Connect’s PressIT360 covers a full 360 degrees, and has four integrated cameras and seven microphones, ensuring that communication remains natural between both in-person and virtual participants. The device is portable with flexible mounting options, ideal for hybrid environments. PressIT360 captures sessions with five different views that can be transmitted back to a PC using a single USB cable for quick plug-and-play setup. As hybrid work and learning continues growing, audio and visual technology must work together to ensure no matter where a user is, they can clearly see, hear, and engage during a lesson or meeting.

Poly's Studio USB Video Bar

Poly's Studio USB video bar connectivity enables you to get up and running fast. With Poly DirectorAI technology, group and speaker framing are built in. No drivers or software are needed. Everybody on the video call can see the important details — right down to body language and facial expressions. With presenter tracking, the camera follows the presenter as if there were a camera operator in the room. Powerful stereo speakers ensure everyone can hear. A 6-microphone array gives you the confidence your ideas will come across clearly. With Poly, everyone is an equal participant in meetings. 

Vanco International’s PA-CVB1 PulseAudio Collaboration Video Bar

Vanco International’s PA-CVB1 PulseAudio Collaboration Video Bar is a capable, flexible, and affordable all-in-one small room conferencing solution. Featuring an ultra-high-definition 4K camera embedded in a sleek sound bar form factor, the PA-CVB1 includes smart framing; auto-tracking to automatically follow moving speakers; and a 120-degree field of view, ensuring everyone can fit on the screen. High-quality CMOS image sensors ensure lifelike, crystal-clear images. The PA-CVB1 also  leverages a built-in six-ray beamforming microphone to locate and focus on speakers in real time, and built-in audio processing algorithms use a high-fidelity 48K sampling rate and lossless audio transmissions technology while supporting AEC, AGC, and ANS processing.

Yealink's MeetingBar A10

Yealink's MeetingBar A10 compact design makes it perfect for small spaces and home offices, and it can be set up in minutes. Auto Framing recognizes the number and the positions of attendees, framing everyone smoothly in the most appropriate view even in small spaces. Speaker tracking focuses on the speaker's face in real-time, framing it in a close-up shot to create a vivid face-to-face meeting experience that engages attendees. Smart Gallery provides better support for remote collaboration by following active speakers to ensure everyone can be seen clearly and feel included. The built-in 8 MEMS beamforming microphones and speakers in MeetingBar A10 provide full coverage of small spaces for a worry-free, full-duplex voice experience. The 4K camera and 120-degree field of view, capture all important details in the room clearly with great color.

Welcome to hybrid life, 2022. Whether you’re in the classroom or conference room, you now have to consider both remote and in-person participants. That makes having pristine sound and high-performing video equipment more important than ever.

Systems Contractor News looks into just a few of these solutions in our newest series: SCN Hybrid World. Starting with speakerphones, we look to provide a list of resources and solutions with tips from the experts behind some the biggest names and products on the market. 

This article will be updated with new products and features, so be sure to check back often. (Most recent update: 12/6/2022)

SCN Hybrid World

• 11 Speakerphones for Today's Workspace (published April 24, 2022)
• Look Up, Listen Up with These 9 Ceiling Mics (published June 1, 2022)
• 17 Video Conferencing Cameras: Plus Expert Tips for Choosing the Right One (published June 27, 2022)
• SCN Hybrid World Review: 4 Selling Points for the Shokz OpenComm UC Headset (published Oct. 3, 2022)
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11 Speakerphones for Today's Workspace

As workplaces slowly begin to fill up once again, conferencing in the new normal has a different look. Whether it’s a conference room, workspace, or home office, speakerphones need to be flexible for the hybrid age and accommodate both the remote and in-person employee.

The meeting space itself has also changed. “I think our mindset has changed so much to automatically select larger distances from people and that’s a part of COVID that will stay with us,” said Holger Stoltze, senior director of technical sales and marketing for Yamaha Unified Communication. “And that means the open meeting space is growing. The whole audio and noise problem becomes a completely new one in that environment.”

Having the right speakerphone with high-quality audio for those present and connected to the call is imperative—but that doesn’t mean manufacturers had to reinvent the wheel. “It’s not so much new technology as it is leveraging a familiar tool in new ways,” said Lauren Simmen, director of product marketing for Crestron. “Having a phone that allows for a conversation that’s separated from the laptop you’re using to take notes or adjust that critical PowerPoint can be a really efficient means of communication.”

See all 11 speakerphones here. 

Look Up, Listen Up with These 9 Ceiling Mics

Having crystal-clear audio is more important than ever, with those calling in not wanting to miss anything their in-person colleagues have to say. That's where ceiling microphones and beamforming technology come into play.

Simply put, a beamforming mic is “an array of microphones that use a beamforming algorithm to combine the signal of separate mics into a single stronger output signal," according to Chris Swartz, product manager for Sony Electronics. However, not all beamforming mics are the same.

Finding the right beamforming ceiling microphone is good for a wide variety of use cases, be it in an educational or corporate setting. Along with beamforming technology, there are quite a few benefits ceiling mics offer versus other types of conferencing equipment.

Find out more about these nine ceiling mics.

Seeing Is Believing with These 17 Conference Cameras

The hybrid life is not only upon us, but seemingly here to stay. Seeing and being seen are important parts of the new age of conferencing and collaboration, because it keeps participants—from colleagues to students—engaged and actively part of the conversation.

Every environment is a little different. Corporate presentations in large boardrooms may need a different approach than those for smaller huddle rooms. So, where do you even begin to look for the right solution?

“There are a number of things to consider,” explained Tony McCool, country manager for MAXHUB UCC solutions. "What is the size of the room? How many people will be in meetings? Where is the preferred camera location? What platform will you be using, or will you need flexibility of platforms? Do you want a dedicated room solution, or will you use your own laptop? Will meeting participants wish to share content from their laptops or mobile devices on to the display? Once we know these answers, we can then progress to understanding the ideal camera solutions.”

Find out more here.

SCN Hybrid World Review: 4 Selling Points for the Shokz OpenComm UC Headset (reviewed by Mark J. Pescatore)

Like many of you, I’m always in the market for a good headset. Whether it’s in-ear or over-the-ear, I’ve been using headsets for decades during phone interviews (and videoconferences in more recent years) to keep my hands free to type. So, when Shokz invited me to test its new OpenComm UC headset, which doesn’t put a speaker on or in your ear, I was intrigued. Here’s what I learned.

Better Heard, Not Seen: Industry Experts Offer Installation Advice In-Ceiling Speakers

They say seeing is believing. But what happens when you don’t want to be seen?

In today’s evolving world of hybrid classrooms, meeting rooms, and even houses of worship, having the right technology is important, especially when needing to be heard. However, the right speaker can be invasive, with wires and bulky devices taking away from the aesthetics of the venue. In-ceiling speakers sound like an easy choice—but they aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

“The choice of in-ceiling speakers boils down to weighing coverage versus imaging and soundstage,” said Randy Blanchard, director of audio for Vanco. “They’re not appropriate for environments with extremely high ceilings—an eight-story hotel lobby, for instance. There are also times where you’re going for a strong directional, like live sound reinforcement, where you really want a point-source system.”

So, when are in-ceiling speakers right for your project? Read more to find out.

More to come...

This is your hub for all things hybrid. Is there a solution you're looking for? Let us know on LinkedIn or Twitter.

For almost 30 years, Lighthouse World Outreach Center church has been a part of Monroe, GA, which has a population of about 14,000. During that time, Lighthouse WOC has done its best to grow within its budget.

Despite that limitation—or perhaps because of it—the church has grown substantially over the years. Today, Lighthouse WOC’s central chapel seats 1,000 inside a unique, angled front sanctuary that resembles a theatrical auditorium.

[Streaming Services: Houses of Worship and the Online Experience]

When it suddenly became necessary to update Lighthouse WOC’s video projection system in a hurry, the church turned to its longstanding AV provider Strata AVL to provide a high-quality and affordable solution. “We knew quite a few of the guys from Strata when they worked on our children's building project,” said Paul Hamilton, creative director, Lighthouse WOC. “They had the expertise and resources to help get our sanctuary back up to speed with current AV tech. We also had a good relationship and knew they would do the job right and make sure we were happy with the install.”

Against the Clock

The word “suddenly” nicely describes the job Strata was faced with when Lighthouse WOC called them. “About two months before Christmas in 2020, one of the old projectors in their worship center died,” said Strata co-owner David Roche. “We had already been discussing upgrades for projection in the long-term plans for the worship center, but the church wasn’t quite ready to move forward. That event moved the projector upgrade project front and center, since the church had scheduled Christmas events requiring video projection.”

By late 2020, pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions were becoming a problem. “Thankfully, our friends at Digital Projection, Draper, Blackmagic Design, and Environmental Lights came through with the equipment we needed right on time,” Roche said.

To remedy Lighthouse’s dead projector problem—and deliver brighter and better visuals to the congregation—Strata installed two Digital Projection E-Vision 9000 WU laser projectors that deliver 9,000 ANSI lumens. “DP was the perfect fit for the church’s budget and space, and offered great lighting and visual capabilities,” Roche offered.

The company also chose two Draper Cineperm 8x14-foot projection screens, which were mounted closer to the church’s front center point to provide a more integrated viewing area. Two new Blackmagic Design Micro Converters (SDI to HDMI) drive the projectors, and one Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3G outputs SDI from the church’s computer using ProPresenter graphics software. Strata also installed Environmental Lights 5-in-1 strip lighting with RGB and tunable white behind both screens to make the displays more visually appealing inside the church.

[How LED Wall Units Deliver Stunning Visuals to a House of Worship]

When it came to executing the Lighthouse project on time and within budget, the clock was Strata’s biggest challenge. “From the first call Lighthouse made to us to completion took about six weeks,” Roche recalled. “That timeline included a visit to the church to assess the situation, the creation of visualizations to show how the new screens in new locations would appear, the church approval process, engineering time, equipment procurement, and installation. The project was completed in mid-December 2020, in time for the church's Christmas programs.”

Project Discovery

Since completing the projection project, Strata has done further work for Lighthouse WOC. “Our next phase was to upgrade our audio across the board in our sanctuary,” said Hamilton. “We upgraded our front of house to Bose ShowMatch speakers, which have been outstanding. We wanted to keep our console Allen & Heath because it would work with our musicians’ Aviom system and be easier for our sound techs’ training. Our Allen & Heath Avantis digital mixer has been outstanding and an easy transition for everyone. We've since added in Shure in-ear monitors for the praise team, and we are running our recording and livestream through digital audio workstations on Apple Mac minis with M1 chips.”                

Strata’s success in serving Lighthouse WOC’s visual projection needs begs a larger question: How can AV equipment providers/integrators meet the needs of small-to-medium churches with smaller budgets, while giving them the top-quality audio, video, and lighting they’re looking for?

According to Roche, the process starts with hearing what the client wants, and then channeling those desires into affordable options. “Professional lighting, camera work, and audio mixing are very common in the megachurch world, and smaller churches have high hopes of being able to do that same level of production,” he explained. “Usually, they don’t realize the budget and staffing those productions require. Our job is to become educators and help them understand the reality of what technology costs, as well as the skill levels required of technical staff to produce what they’re seeing.”

All of Strata’s projects begin with “discovery,” which Roche described as spending time with the client to learn about their project goals. “During discovery, we show them the costs versus benefits of what they’re asking us to do,” he said. “Once they have that information, they can make intelligent decisions about what they’re willing to afford and the compromises they’re willing to live with. In essence, our process leads clients to set their own expectations for their project. The final decisions are always theirs.”                        

Smart Shopping

There are many ways for integrators to equip smaller churches with affordable equipment that produces solid results. “In fact, digitization and networking of just about every piece of gear have made good AV capabilities much more affordable in recent years,” Roche said.

Cameras provide a good example, according to Roche. “The image quality of many of today’s lower cost video cameras is very good,” he explained. “But compared to their broadcast counterparts, those cameras come with compromises like clunky I/O connections, less user-friendly lens controls, and a lower level of manufacturer technical support. If a church is willing to deal with those limitations—and they have tech staff and volunteers with a little creativity—they can produce great content with lower cost cams.”

There’s also the issue of affordable video displays. Although Lighthouse WOC opted for projectors and screens, Roche said the price differential between LED walls and projection has been greatly reduced in the past few years. “The cost for those is still a little bit high for smaller churches, so projection is the ‘go to' for them,” he added. “But I see video walls moving into smaller churches and venues in the next few years unless we have a major change in the economic climate.”

For audio, Dante technology has “totally changed the way we build audio systems,” Roche noted. “It has made available capabilities that were prohibitively expensive or unavailable just a few years ago. Just about every audio manufacturer supports Dante, even in their more affordable lines. And signal paths in the Dante world are much simpler, which leads to lower installation costs. Consequently, adopting a Dante-based audio system lowers costs and increases capabilities, which are huge benefits for smaller churches.”

[DiGiCo Console Brings Audio System Flexibility to Nashville Life Church]

Thanks to today’s affordable networked digital AV technology, small and medium-sized churches can produce live and streaming content that meets megachurch quality standards. Lighthouse WOC Senior Pastor Raymond Hardy said the key to achieving results on a budget is careful shopping.

“Speak with several firms concerning their approach, product choices, and recommendations for their facilities, and then balance that with estimated costs,” he advised. “Because AV technology changes so quickly, we try to choose equipment that is state of the art from established manufacturers, taking into consideration the best equipment with the most attractive cost. But in the end, after doing our due diligence, we seek wisdom from God before we pull the trigger on hiring someone. God knows, and we certainly desire His direction in making those decisions.”

Qualcomm Technologies and Bose announced the two will continue their partnership, providing high-quality audio experiences to end users. Bose is integrating Qualcomm wireless voice and music platforms across its portfolio of premium earbuds, headphones, speakers and soundbars. The two companies have a long history of collaboration to deliver premium listening experiences.

[Bose Professional Provides the Ultimate Guest Experience at a Wellness Hotel]

“Bose is undoubtedly one of the most iconic brands in audio and I’m proud to see our long-standing relationship continue to grow,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm.  “Bose has an incredibly robust and competitive product roadmap that will leverage our most premium audio and connectivity platforms to bring to market their most innovative audio devices ever.”

Bose will incorporate Qualcomm S5 Audio SoCs into future wireless audio devices, utilizing powerful processing and low-power capabilities to support the rich user experiences consumers want most, for music, calls, gaming, and more. The Qualcomm S5 Audio platforms are designed to elevate audio enjoyment by supporting ultra-low power performance for all-day use and robust high-performance wireless connectivity.

[AV Network's top stories, product news, and expert insights] 

“Bose and Qualcomm Technologies have collaborated closely for many years to implement solutions that raise the bar for consumer audio experiences,” said Lila Snyder, chief executive officer, Bose. “And as we build on this important relationship, we’ll continue working together to push the limits of what’s possible for our products and technologies to bring people more enjoyment from their music and content than ever before.” 

Founded in 1842, the University of Chile is known for its teaching and research, boasting 21 Chilean presidents as well as two Chilean Nobel Prize winners. In the university’s quest for new ways to connect professors and students, Bose Professional was selected to ensure its vision was realized.

The Bose Videobar VB1 all-in-one USB conferencing device provides professors with the most straightforward and transparent user experience needed for an advanced hybrid classroom setup. The six automatic beam-steering microphones actively focus on voices in the room and reject ambient noise, facilitating a natural, collaborative environment. The proprietary Bose sound supports multimedia presentations, plays Bluetooth audio, and ensures voices and conversations sound natural.

[Black Box, Bose Professional to Bring Pro Audio to Retail, Education, and More]

The 4K ultra-HD camera offers an auto-framing Group Mode that delivers crystal-clear video, so remote students can better see and understand group conversations, the whiteboard, flipchart or other in-room objects.

With more than 43,000 students, the university’s five campuses support 14 different areas of focus within five different colleges. Designed by Chilean technology integrator Tecnomove, the hybrid learning solution included more than 100 Bose VB1 devices. Some of the classrooms have a Bose VB1 device mounted on a mobile cart with a flatscreen display, providing professors the flexibility to adapt to the dynamics of each class. A Kaptivo camera was integrated into some of the rooms positioned to simultaneously capture the class, with a Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub to initiate and control each class session.

[SCN Hybrid World: Workplace Products and Expert Tips] 

“Hybrid classrooms are accelerating the technology adoption rate by professors,” shared Dario Riquelme Zornow, project manager at the University of Chile’s Online Education Office. “Many are so motivated that they’re already exploring new teaching methods and seeing new opportunities to make their courses more attractive and engaging.”

“Tecnomove was able to accommodate the versatility required by the online education team, addressing their needs even as they evolved as the project progressed,” stated Carol Noches, sales manager at Tecnomove. “The impact of the Bose Professional solution goes beyond simple technology—we know we’re contributing to the education of young people in our country.”

ADI Global Distribution, a distributor of security, AV and low-voltage products, announced it has been recognized as 2022 Distributor of the Year by Bose Professional.  ADI was presented with the award during a reception at InfoComm 2022.

[Bose Professional Provides the Ultimate Guest Experience at a Wellness Hotel]

"We congratulate ADI on receiving our inaugural Distributor of the Year award," said John Brunner, BOSE Professional Americas distribution manager. "We value ADI's support and partnership to successfully distribute our product offering. And we look forward to another great year working together."

In its inaugural year, the BOSE Professional Distributor of the Year award recognizes a distributor's success and commitment to the Pro AV market. ADI was selected for its support and sales growth achievement for the BOSE Professional product line. 

[SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators 2021] 

"BOSE Professional is an important supplier for ADI, and we're proud to be recognized as their Distributor of the Year," said Cynthia Menna, vice president and general manager of Pro AV at ADI. "This award reflects the hard work and dedication our team demonstrates to position ADI as the indispensable partner of choice for Pro AV." 

The hybrid life is not only upon us, but seemingly here to stay. Seeing and being seen are important parts of the new age of conferencing and collaboration, because it keeps participants—from colleagues to students—engaged and actively part of the conversation.

Every environment is a little different. Corporate presentations in large boardrooms may need a different approach than those for smaller huddle rooms. So, where do you even begin to look for the right solution?

“There are a number of things to consider,” explained Tony McCool, country manager for MAXHUB UCC solutions. "What is the size of the room? How many people will be in meetings? Where is the preferred camera location? What platform will you be using, or will you need flexibility of platforms? Do you want a dedicated room solution, or will you use your own laptop? Will meeting participants wish to share content from their laptops or mobile devices on to the display? Once we know these answers, we can then progress to understanding the ideal camera solutions.”

Since corporate meeting spaces, classrooms, and even home offices come in a variety of shapes and sizes, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Ensuring that everyone can be seen and heard is imperative toward achieving meeting equity (a term that continues to gain ground in the industry).

”A good rule of thumb is the smaller the room, the wider the angle," McCool added. "Large rooms are fine with PTZ-style cameras with an 80-degree angle or so. Medium rooms—120-degree cameras are ideal where the participants at the front can be located far enough from the camera to still be visible. For the smallest rooms or huddle spaces where people are very close to the camera, 180-degree cameras are ideal, or perhaps the new generation of 360-degree cameras, which can be placed in the center of the table."

[SCN Hybrid World: Look Up, Listen Up with These 9 Ceiling Mics]

As the hybrid workplace continues to evolve, it seems an endless amount of audio solutions—like speakerphones and ceiling mics—plus a wide range of conference cameras are available. Another factor to consider is whether it is wiser to piecemeal a videoconferencing solution together or look for an all-in-one solution.

"One of the many advantages in an all-in-one solution is the ability to ensure optimization and certifications for the most popular UC platforms," said Peter Nutley, product expert for collaboration and public sector at Jabra. "Wherever team members are, and whatever collaboration hub they are using, they are able to connect with each other as well as clients, partners, customers, and just about anyone in an instant. In addition, all-in-one solutions greatly reduce meeting room installation, setup, and commissioning times."

Of course, audio quality is a must for an all-in-one solution. Many conference cameras include innovative technology to block unwanted noises.

“If remote participants are struggling with poor audio coming from conference rooms, it’s affecting the quality of their meetings,” Nutley said. ”Offer them a solution that combines the best of all worlds, with industry-leading professional audio and innovative 180-degree video, facilitating natural conversations no matter where they’re working.”

As with any product category, the extra bells and whistles are sometimes just a nice add on, while other times increase the efficiency and performance of the camera. Take speaker tracking, for example.

“Effective speaker tracking, or auto framing, helps the remote participants joining the meeting room feel more like they have an equal seat at the table,” Nutley explained. “Without effective auto framing, far-end participants can struggle with even knowing who exactly is in the meeting room, let alone who is talking. Our intelligent software uses our AI technology to understand what’s happening in the room and react accordingly, perfectly framing active speakers. The result is a meeting experience that’s been completely reinvented, making remote collaboration more dynamic with a real human touch.”

[SCN Hybrid World: 11 Speakerphones for Today's Workspace]

“We also provide solutions for front-facing cameras that combine fixing on a room area, person, or whiteboard as well as tracking a presenter at the same time,” McCool added. “This could be useful in training environments. Just as important could be the quick and easy way of switching tracking off and to utilize pre-set camera positions.”

Welcome to the world of conference cameras. Here are several current offerings with a variety of feature sets to consider.

AVer VB342 Pro

AVer’s VB342 Pro is equipped with a 4K PTZ camera to deliver crisp imagery in any meeting. Featuring a 92-degree optical lens with 15x zoom, the VB342 Pro delivers true-to-life video quality. The VB342 Pro includes AVer’s Audio Fence and beamforming technology to ensure outstanding sound for small to medium-sized meeting rooms. AVer Audio Fence technology is designed to turn any space into an uninterrupted meeting zone by silencing any distraction outside the viewing angle.

Bose Videobar VB-S

The Bose Videobar VB-S is a compact, all-in-one conferencing device that’s quick and easy to install, bringing premium audio and video to smaller spaces such as meeting booths, huddle spaces, and rooms up to 10x10 feet. Four beam-steering microphones automatically focus on voices in the room and reject noise. A 4K UHD camera with Group Mode and Individual Mode delivers crystal-clear video—helping remote participants feel like they’re in the room—while signature Bose sound supports multimedia presentations, plays Bluetooth audio, and ensures voices on the call sound natural. The sleek, low-profile design helps keep meeting spaces clutter-free. 

Biamp Vidi 150

The Vidi 150 is the latest professional-grade conferencing camera from Biamp for meeting spaces ranging from huddle rooms to medium-sized conference rooms. Designed with extraordinary simplicity for a wide array of use cases, it features a 4K camera with a 120-degree field of view, 8MP sensor, and a built-in mic array. It also adds manual electronic pan/tilt/zoom (ePTZ) with remote controlled, user-definable presets, as well as automatic participant framing and ePTZ. Like the Vidi 100 before it, both are cost-effective solutions offering excellent picture and audio quality.

ClearOne UNITE 180

The ClearOne UNITE 180 4K ePTZ professional-grade camera features a full 180-degree panoramic field-of-view designed for visual collaboration. With real-time stitching, the camera achieves a variety of useful viewing modes for any application and environment, including wide spaces, bringing the views of multiple lenses together as one complete image. Large classroom settings, training centers, or any wide conferencing area are all captured and presented with perfect clarity in any of the camera's six viewing mode options. The 4x zoom capabilities further enhance the UNITE 180 feature set.

DTEN GO with Mate

With the DTEN GO with Mate, transforming any display into a powerful videoconferencing system for Zoom is as easy as connecting via HDMI. The companion DTEN Mate 10-inch touchscreen then pairs with the GO to provide touchscreen control and screen mirroring. The four-camera array covers up to 32 feet with 160-degree horizontal field of view. A 12-microphone array covers the same dimensions, and with DTEN’s Audio AI sound suppression technology, participants can be sure what needs to be heard is, remotely or in person.

EPOS EXPAND Vision 3T

The Vision 3T is an all-in-one conferencing video collaboration solution for today’s smart, hybrid office. With just one touch, participants are in their hybrid meeting with a full Microsoft Teams experience. Collaboration is enhanced with full HD video and innovative voice pickup and noise cancellation technologies powered by EPOS AI. Easy to set up, easy to install and easy to manage, participants can immerse themselves in a natural meeting environment seeing facial expressions, body language, and more in clear detail and audio clarity with 360-dergee coverage from its wide-angle 4K camera with Sony sensor, enhanced PTZ, and superior audio from included EPOS EXPAND 30T.

Hall Technologies HT-CAM-4K-EPTZ

The HT-CAM-4K-EPTZ makes “meetings more meaningful and less stressful” with an easy and convenient-to-install camera designed to automatically do all the work. The sleek form factor houses powerful 4K UHD and is coupled with AI intelligence that can frame according to the number of people in the scene, and the characters are in the middle. The all-in-one solution is designed with advanced ISP processing algorithms to deliver vivid images and streaming for seamless collaboration and connectivity. The auto framing feature works by using a 100-degrees wide-angle lens to ensure all participants and materials can be properly viewed.

HuddleCamHD Pro

The HuddleCamHD Pro is a 4K webcam with electronic PTZ capabilities. Certified by Zoom Video Communications and available with either USB or NDI|HX connectivity, the HuddleCamHD Pro is designed for enterprise. The camera’s intelligent 4K sensor has a wide 108-degree field view with 8x digital zoom. Auto-framing automatically centers the capture area on meeting participants and adjusts as people enter and leave. Users can adjust the capture area with the include remote, or request or provide remote camera control. Positioning is flexible: The HuddlecamHD Pro is equipped with a beamforming dual microphone array that can capture intelligible speech from up to 10 feet away, and the camera cab be clamped to a monitor, attached to a tripod, or mounted to the wall or ceiling.

Jabra PanaCast 50

The Jabra PanaCast 50 intelligent video bar is engineered to help businesses across industries navigate the hybrid way of working. It combines panoramic-4K video technology, professional-grade audio, and AI-driven features to completely reinvent meetings and collaboration for today’s hybrid workforce. PanaCast 50’s intelligent video features ensure that meeting participants have an immersive experience—no matter where they are located. Patented real-time video stitching technology automatically joins the streams from three 13-megapixel cameras, creating a smooth, 180-degree field of view in Panoramic-4K that captures the entire room. Its Virtual Director feature automatically detects who is speaking and intelligently adjusts the video in real time to focus on them for more dynamic collaboration.

Konftel Cam20

The Konftel Cam20 is a Zoom Certified conference camera that revolutionizes the experience and quality of everyday videoconference calls. The plug-and-play device features 4K UHD performance and a 123-degree field of view, allowing participants to receive a clear and balanced image of all colleagues on the call. With WDR technology, the Konftel Cam20 automatically adjusts to any changes in the lighting conditions including sunlight contrast. Hosting interactive conference calls with the Konftel Cam20 can be conducted in a seamless manner due to the auto framing functionality, allowing room participants to always be in frame. The installation process can be done quickly and easily by using the flexible clamp to attach to any desired screen, or by utilizing a stand.

Logitech Rally Bar

The Rally Bar has a motorized lens that covers rooms 130-degrees across by 80-degrees high, with lossless image quality up to 5x optical zoom. The device also has a second built-in camera—AI Viewfinder—dedicated to computer vision that can detect meeting participants to ensure they are automatically seen and included in the frame. This extra information helps optimize RightSight 2, which uses the secondary AI camera to automatically adjust and reframe to include people stepping in and out of the room who are out of sight of the main camera. With RightSight 2, the Primary PTZ camera zooms in on the active speaker while the AI Viewfinder captures a view of everyone in the room.

Lumens MS-10 Soundbar

The MS-10 4K video soundbar is an all-in-one videoconferencing unit incorporating a high-quality auto-framing camera, multiple omnidirectional microphones, and a high-fidelity speaker system. It is ideal for conferencing, collaborating, and unified communications being compliant with all major platforms including (but not limited to) Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx. It is designed for easy mounting to either a monitor or the wall and enables USB connectivity via Ethernet and IR control.

MAXHUB UC S10 Pro

The UC S10 Pro is easy to understand and set up, making it possible for everyone in the room—from home offices and huddle rooms to large meeting and conferencing spaces—to make their voice heard. Presentations are simplified with one-click wireless screen sharing of up to four screens. With intelligent face recognition, a 120-degree field of view, and auto-framing in spaces of all sizes, all meeting participants are clearly visible. Built-in noise reduction, echo cancellation, and voice pickup leads to fewer distractions. The UC S10 Pro also includes a speakerphone, which makes for easy conversation in rooms of various sizes.

MSolutions MS-4KCam

The MS-4KCam Ultra HD USB camera is built for today’s modern collaboration rooms. Its digital ePTZ capability can magnify portions of the camera’s wide-angle picture (up to 120 degrees), and then reposition the image to fill the frame. The extreme wide angle is ideal for conference rooms and auditoriums, and its low profile and affordability is perfect for smaller rooms including huddle spaces. MSolutions’ new MS-6U1C extender set pairs perfectly with the camera in all installations, allowing a single USB-C data channel to be extended up to 333 feet over a single CATx cable. The MS-6U1C extender now includes a remote powering option for the MS-4KCam as well as third-party conferencing cameras.

NexiGo Iris N1000

The company’s flagship webcam produces 4K video quality closer to a DSLR or mirrorless camera with its 1/1.8-inch 8.5MP Sony Starvis sensor. Put simply, its iris provides DSLR quality but with the convenience and affordability of a webcam. With advanced auto-tracking technology, it keeps the speaker centered if they move. If there are several people in a meeting, it can auto-frame the image to include multiple subjects. Other features include10x digital zoom, picture-in-picture, and dual omnidirectional microphones with noise-cancelling technology.

Nureva XT

The Nureva XT was designed with the classroom in mind, bringing flexible and future-proofed hybrid learning to extend the in-room experience to remote learners. The Nureva XT has solutions for standard-size and large classrooms backed by one of Nureva's innovative audio systems and the Nureva CV30 classroom camera kit. Its Microphone Mist technology combines full-room microphone pickup, in-room voice amplification, and HD camera with an 84-dergee field of view to focus on the front of the classroom. The scalable Nureva XT is easy to install and manage.

Vaddio IntelliSHOT

The IntelliSHOT professional USB camera makes video collaboration and streaming classes easy. Whether auto-framing people around a conference table or tracking the classroom instructor, the IntelliSHOT ePTZ camera delivers foolproof performance. Free remote management and advanced auto-framing configuration allow integration partners to remotely fine-tune system performance for each customer environment. Use in larger spaces with its impressive 30x zoom and easily connect room audio with the built-in audio mixer for an all-in-one videoconferencing system. Plug and play with popular collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. The IntelliSHOT is TAA and Buy America compliant, and includes a three-year warranty, including a first-year advanced replacement program.

Every year, Future publications contract with AV industry experts to evaluate products submitted by manufacturers exhibiting at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) for Best of Show. There’s no denying that this year continues to be challenging for manufacturers than in past years so we allowed companies not exhibiting at the show to submit for an award we created in 2021, Best of Market.

Our judges are experts in the categories of products we have chosen for them to evaluate and always remain anonymous to the manufacturers. They are your peers, AV/IT managers, directors, and engineers, or industry consultants and integrators.

We want to congratulate the ISE 2022 Best of Show and ISE 2022 Best of Market for AV Technology. In addition, we're also announcing the winners for our sister publication, Tech & Learning.

[ Check out the winners of SCN 2021 Installation Products of the Year ]

Best of Show, Integrated Systems Europe 2022 - AV Technology

Albiral Display Solutions - Arthur Holm DynamicMC

Arrow Electronics ElementMP Series Media Players

Arrow Electronics xConnect Guardian Monitoring Software

AV LINK GROUP  MaitreView 4KPro

Avocor Google Meets Series One by Avocor

Barix AG Exstreamer MPA400

Biamp Parlé Conferencing Bar

Black Box Black Box MCX Gen 2 Series Matrix Switching, Multimedia Distribution and Management System

Crestron 8x2 4K60 4:4:4 HDR Presentation System (HD-PS622)

ELEMENT ONE V-FREE – Automatic Touchscreen Disinfection

Jabra Jabra PanaCast 20

Liberty AV Solutions Arranger

Lightware Visual Engineering Lightware -Taurus UCX

MAXHUB UC-M40

Poly Poly Sync Series

Poly Poly Studio X70

Vizrt PTZ3

VuWall PAK

WolfVision Cynap Pro

CHECK OUT PREVIOUS YEAR'S WINNERS

[ 2021 Best of Show Winners ]

[ 2020 Best of Show Winners ]

[ 2019 Best of Show Winners ]

Best in Market, Integrated Systems Europe 2022- AV Technology

Bose AMM Multipurpose Loudspeakers

Datapath Aetria

Epiphan Video Pearl Nano

Epiphan Video Epiphan Unify

MetraAV HDMI All-in-one Correction Tool (HDM-AIO2)

Shure Stem Ecosystem

Best of Show, Integrated Systems Europe 2022 - Tech & Learning

Crestron Crestron Flex

Optoma Optoma Creative Touch 5-Series Interactive Flat Panel Displays

Vizrt TriCaster 1 Pro

Best in Market, Integrated Systems Europe 2022 - Tech & Learning

Epiphan Video Pearl Mini

Bose Professional announced the Angel Wellness Hotel has selected Bose Professional audio products and technology in its recent renovation, realizing the creation of the ultimate guest experience. Located in the picturesque Tannheimer Valley near Lake Haldensee in Austria, Angel Wellness Hotel is known as a destination for rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.

As a locale that caters to a variety of guest entertainment, it required an audio solution that delivered unparalleled audio quality and was flexible enough for a variety of unique spaces—each with its own environmental requirements. The new audio solution was created to align amenities to each aspect of their guests’ needs and provide a sophisticated user interface without sacrificing features and accessibility.

[How Bose Enables Hybrid Learning at Ritsumeikan University]

Austrian integrator Rogllivtec GmbH & Co KG partnered with Bose Professional to design the full-range, bespoke solution that includes a variety of FreeSpace loudspeakers, MB210-WR outdoor subwoofer and PowerShare adaptable power amplifiers, all leveraging Dante and managed using ControlSpace CC-64 control centers.

“Audio plays a central part in a hotel’s atmosphere,” shared Christoph Rogl, managing director of Rogllivtec GmbH & Co KG. “By using Bose Professional technology, we provided an intuitive interface to manage a flexible audio system across a variety of distinct locations—and ultimately created a harmonious integration of technology and experience.”

[The Nine 2022: Meet 9 Pro AV Superstars] 

The hotel uses stored soundscapes, which are accessed and controlled throughout the hotel’s spaces via the ControlSpace Remote app so employees could effortlessly control the system at the push of a button. 

“Our philosophy is the perfection of the last 5%, which the guest perceives only subconsciously. Therefore, we’re not concerned with ‘background music’ but with a holistic spatial experience. This can only be realized with absolute quality, and with Bose Professional it was accomplished,” stated Gert Zimmermann, member of the Mattersberger-Zimmerman family of owners.

Bose Professional announced that Ritsumeikan University selected the Bose Videobar VB1 all-in-one USB conferencing device as part of their overall technology strategy to ensure their students’ needs are met—both in and out of the classroom. As one of Japan’s leading global universities, it is comprised of 16 faculty teams, 21 graduate schools and 35,000 students across four campuses. The new Osaka Ibaraki Campus, in its commitment to deliver flexible learning and student safety, tapped technology typically found in workplace conference rooms to foster a flexible, progressive learning environment.  

[LC Packaging Vision of Globally Connected Headquarters is Realized with Bose AV Technology]

The Bose VB1 brings premium audio and video to small and medium-sized learning areas, providing critical features—like beam-steering microphones and 4K ultra-HD video—supporting the hybrid collaboration so critical in today’s evolving educational landscape. Since two-way communication between professors and students was key, the six beam-steering mics made conversation more natural, actively focusing on voices while rejecting ambient noise; plus, the auto EQ delivers optimized audio to all participants.

In addition to crisp image resolution, the 4K ultra-HD camera also provides auto framing which allows everyone to see and understand the content instructors present on whiteboards, flipcharts, or other in-room objects, reinforcing the “same location” feel. 

 [Bose Introduces AMM Multipurpose Loudspeaker Line]

“The Bose VB1 provided clear, high-quality audio to remote students and the beam-steering microphones easily picked up students socially distanced throughout the room,” said Kengo Kurashina, member of the information infrastructure section team of the Information Systems Department at Ritsumeikan University. “I was also extremely pleased with the sound-masking exclusion zone feature provided; I can easily hear what students are saying because of the audio quality and clarity Bose is known for.” 

Billed as the world’s first “super boutique” hotel, The Londoner on London’s Leicester Square is a study in elegant understatement. Although 16 stories tall, six of those floors are located underneath the property, so the hotel blends seamlessly into the area’s historic low-rise facades.

The Londoner’s contemporary design interior, created by international design firm Yabu Pushelberg, is similarly stunning yet restrained. Although it is a 350-room/suite hotel with world-class convention/meeting facilities, it has been crafted to provide the intimacy of a small boutique hotel. It is within this unique setting that Visual Systems Sales, part of the Myriad Audio Visual Group, was tasked with discreetly integrating an impressive suite of cutting-edge AV equipment.

Inconspicuous Yet Accessible

Edwardian Hotels had two goals for The Londoner’s AV system: It had to be accessible and usable everywhere, without making its presence obvious to guests. “They wanted the ability to route signals across the whole hotel and the main area on the ground floor,” explained Ray Sappal, a director with Visual Systems and The Londoner’s AV project manager. “They didn't want it to be the key focal point of the building, because the building itself is all built around art. The main criteria was that the AV had to be inconspicuous."

To achieve these dual goals, Visual Systems unobtrusively installed a hotel-wide Samsung MagicInfo digital signage system. They also deployed a similarly all-encompassing music system running on Dante audio networking to cover all public areas, including The Londoner’s restaurants and bars.

The hotel’s nine meeting rooms were each equipped with a 98-inch Samsung 4K commercial display, along with a Symetrix Dante Bluetooth and Logitech Rally videoconferencing system. Sappal said the meeting rooms systems are “self-contained using UNICOL VertiSlide brackets with AMX touchpanel control, and BYOD systems including Barco ClickShare and Apple TV in each.

[A Tale of Two TVs]

For sound delivery, more than 300 Bose professional speakers were color-matched to The Londoner’s various ceiling finishes. The install incorporated most of Bose’s entire current range of speaker models, Sappal said, including Bose’s ShowMatch arrays, which were “installed within the ballroom on hoists so they can be raised above the ceiling when not in use.” Bose RMU loudspeakers incorporated into the ceiling structure are used as delays or main sound when the arrays are not being used.”

Star of the Show

Although The Londoner’s AV system shines throughout the property, the undeniable star is The Ballroom on basement level 2 (B2). Capable of serving 700 seated or 1,000 standing guests, it features a “state-of-the-art AV and production lighting system,” Sappal said. “Not many hotels I've seen in my 30 years in the industry have this amount of AV equipment.”

Equipped with its own master control room, The Ballroom has multiple facility panels located around the room’s perimeter. The panels can handle a variety of sources and include LEMO connectors, which can be patched to the hotel’s loading bay for outside broadcast. They also include ports for lighting, intercom, audio, video, SDI, networking, as well as power sockets for 16, 32, and 63 amp 3-phase connections.

[LEA Network-based Amplifiers Provide the Ideal Solution for Ontario’s Luxurious Pearle Hotel & Spa]

“A client can hire (rooms) on B1 to B3 and spread their event over three floors, with interconnections between each floor,” Sappal explained. “You can have video and audio playing from The Ballroom into all these areas.” Each meeting room also has an interface, so the AV manager can route events from The Ballroom to any meeting room using a password-protected access page on any touchpanel or iPad control panel.

There are four tab-tensioned retractable display screens within The Ballroom, illuminated by four 16,000-lumen Christie laser projectors. Video signals are carried via an Extron XTP video matrix. “We also installed six Panasonic HD-SDI pan/tilt cameras with controllers around the ballroom, on custom-made swing-out brackets, for streaming events externally or to other areas of the hotel using AMX SVSI video-over-IP interfaces,” Sappal added. “The custom brackets enable the cameras to be quickly hidden behind the decorative chain mesh when not required, without having to physically remove them.”

[Android TVs Demonstrate ROI in Hospitality]

The Ballroom’s lighting was selected and installed in concert with Visual Systems’ sister company Creative Staging to ensure that the venue was truly “event friendly,” according to Sappal. “Most ballrooms we have seen over the years very rarely have in-house production lighting,” he noted. “We have integrated house light control with the production lighting control to give the lighting engineer complete control over the whole room via the lighting desk. Alternatively, the whole lighting system can also be controlled via the AMX touchpanels and Lutron panels for smaller events without a dedicated lighting engineer.”

Visual Systems and Creative Staging installed eight motorized 12m trusses on load cells, outfitted with 30 moving wash and 20 moving profile light fixtures from Martin Lighting. The system is controlled via a pair of Avolites Quartz consoles and an Avolites Titan Net Processor in the control room.

Sound is controlled via a Bose ControlSpace EX DSP and amplifiers, while Powersoft amplifiers are used for the Bose ShowMatch Arrays. The team also installed a Sennheiser MobileConnect assistive listening system along with a Sennheiser infrared system. “For voice, we installed 14 channels of Sennheiser D6000 series radio microphones with four antennas discreetly installed in the ceiling of The Ballroom, all mixed from a pair of Yamaha QL digital mixing desks,” said Sappal. “For large events, we have installed a Clear-Com FreeSpeakII wired and wireless talkback system.”

Hybrid Accommodation

While The Londoner’s AV installation was hindered by COVID-19, the project didn't stop because the U.K. was in lockdown. Sappal said Visual Systems kept working with a limited crew on site to meet its deadline.

Today, the virus remains a problem for The Londoner’s various events—but Visual Systems planned for the likelihood of delivering content to off-site participants. With the Panasonic PTZ cameras, all AV-equipped areas of the hotel can support virtual or hybrid events, if required. Plus, two portable video streaming systems can be deployed as needed around the hotel. Contained in flight cases, one system has a Blackmagic Design 4K video switcher and streaming solution, while the other features an Analog Way presentation video mixer for more graphic-intensive presentations.

Despite the personnel and supply chain issues caused by COVID-19, Visual Systems succeeded in completing The Londoner’s extensive AV system as planned—and wowing its guests with the system’s subtle yet awesome capabilities once in service. According to Sappal, The Londoner’s clients have told the hotel staff how impressed they are by the AV technology and how well it blends into the hotel’s decorating scheme.

“The client has themselves expressed that the AV design complemented the interior design,” Sappal added. “Overall, the feedback has been very, very positive.”

“You’re ON MUTE!”  will undoubtedly go down as one of the signature catchphrases of 2020/21. Unfortunately, that’s not the only reason conference participants can’t hear each other. The use of cheap headsets, or worse, the reliance on laptop audio, are among the reasons millions of students couldn’t hear instructors, and remote workers suffered through unintelligible meetings.

Unintelligible audio would almost be forgivable if it were a problem born of the pandemic. But audio has long been the forgotten partner in what we call “AV.” For as long as there have been conference meetings with a star-shaped two-way device placed in the middle of the table, audio has gotten short shrift. All meetings became a huddle room experience. 

If you’re reading this, you are a member of our audiovisual industry. With few exceptions, intelligible audio should always be prioritized. 

When student engagement goes up, hybrid meeting fatigue goes down, and there is parity near and far—feel free to say, “I told you so.” 

Following are 23 products (in random order) that are sure to enhance the audio experience. 

ADECIA Family

Yamaha Unified Communications’ ADECIA family of communication products enable organizations to overcome implementation, configuration, and room acoustic challenges by providing all the equipment required for a successful installation with the highest audio quality. ADECIA includes the new RM-CG ceiling microphone, new RM-CR audio processor, and Yamaha’s long-trusted PoE switches and VXL Series line array speakers. Every component automatically integrates, reducing complexities and costs. Designed for a variety of rooms and audio connections, the end-to-end flexible solution immediately detects, configures, and optimizes all components—accounting for the location of speakers and microphones, reverberation, and echo behavior for the best-sounding meeting.

meetingIO Series

TOA Electronics’ meetingIO Series is a combination of LENUBIO and AMIO for the perfect acoustic environment. The LENUBIO, integrated audio collaboration system with DSP, features Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) and Ambient Noise Control (ANC) to allow for clear conversation. The AMIO, steering array microphone with DSP, is a hands-free microphone featuring a low-profile. Both track presenter location to instantly eliminate speech volume drop-offs, acoustical anomalies, background chatter, and more. Because the LENUBIO and AMIO know exactly where the presenter, unwanted sound can be dialed out, while maximizing the fidelity and intelligibility of the speakers’ voice. TOA offers a diverse portfolio to ensure pertinent audio pick-up, as well as amplified sound.

BMA 360 with Voice Lift

The ClearOne BMA 360 with Voice Lift is the world’s most technologically advanced beamforming microphone array ceiling tile. It’s the industry’s only ultra-wideband, frequency-invariant beamforming mic array with uniform gain response across all frequency bands.

    The BMA 360 offers everything desired in a beamforming microphone array CT—superior beamformed audio, echo cancellation, noise cancellation, auto-mixing, power amplifiers, and camera-tracking functions. FiBeam technology provides natural and full-fidelity audio across all beams and within a single beam. Deep sidelobe beamforming, DsBeam, provides unparalleled sidelobe depth, below -40 dB, for superior rejection of reverb and noise in difficult spaces.

Evolve2 75

Jabra’s Evolve2 75, the latest headset from its Evolve Series, has been specifically engineered for hybrid working to keep you connected and productive everywhere you go. Groundbreaking dual-foam patent pending technology, eight precision-placed microphones, and Jabra Advanced Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) create incredible sound quality in even the noisiest environments, to increase flexibility and easily enhance performance wherever you work. A unique ear cushion design lessens pressure and improves ventilation for all-day comfort and crystal-clear audio—everywhere. 

TeamConnect Ceiling 2 with TruVoicelift

Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Ceiling 2 dynamic beamforming, is now available with TruVoicelift and advanced zone control, combining the advantages of a boundary microphone and a microphone array. TCC2 is the best solution for both (video) conferencing and in-room audio for classrooms, lecture halls, boardrooms, and more. TCC2 now offers unparalleled levels of control with the addition of a priority zone, five advanced exclusion zones (for pinpoint targeting and removal of unwanted noise sources) and more. Easy to install and, due to a flexible microphone ceiling mount system, easy to integrate.

LHM2-N & LHM2-P Active Optical Cables

Opticis USA’s LHM2-N & LHM2-P Active Optical Cables were recently unveiled. The two additions to Opticis’ active optical cable (AOC) line-up are the LHM2-N (fixed-end) and LHM2-P (detachable). These two new HDMI 2.0-based additions to Opticis’ AOC lineup offer simple plug-and-play installation and deliver true 4K (4096x2160) resolution for high-speed video and audio signal transmission up to 100 m (328 ft) without any degradation. The all-new LHM2-N and LHM2-P are made explicitly for mission-critical, digital signage, and cinematic display applications using a plenum-, LSZH-, or TPU-graded hybrid cable. These high-performance active optical cables support a high dynamic range (HDR) with digital cinematic initiatives (DCI) that display vibrant images and offer incredible theatrical experiences for movie enthusiasts.

M3 Hanging Ceiling Microphone

The Audix M3 is an innovative, tri-element hanging ceiling microphone designed for applications where aesthetics, sound quality, and ease of installation are critical, such as corporate conference rooms, classrooms, courtrooms, and medical applications.

    The M3 incorporates three independent, phase-coherent hypercardioid capsules with tailored frequency response for greater effective coverage area and optimized speech intelligibility. Low noise preamp circuitry is employed for the highest possible signal-to-noise ratio and studio-quality sound. The silicone-jacketed cable offers a balanced, shielded signal and a very clean look. The unit features flexible mounting options for drop ceiling or hard lid applications. The M3 is available in white or gray, as well as both analog and Dante versions.

EMCEE200

Hall Technologies’ EMCEE200 is a multi-view presentation switcher scaler with Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and Picture-Over-Picture (POP) capabilities. It can process up to four 4K@60 video sources with zero latency, and offers dedicated confidence monitor and presentation HDMI outputs in different window layouts. EMCEE features a built-in dual mic mixer and a wide range of audio embedding and de-embedding options. It can not only record the presentation to an external storage device, but also provides USB3.0 4K capture to stream live with no additional hardware. EMCEE200 is the perfect companion for seamless presentations.

Phonum Wireless Bluetooth Speakerphone 

beyerdynamic’s Phonum wireless Bluetooth speakerphone is an excellent option for audio in conferencing. It’s ideal for broadcasting to remote students, huddle spaces, home offices, and anywhere else quality audio is desired. Phonum gives excellent voice transmission, whether speaking on one-to-one calls, moving around the room, or meeting with several people. It’s ideal for video conferencing, meetings, and presentations thanks to its highly developed and precise microphones; intelligent, down-firing speaker; Gecko 360-degree technology; and a special microphone arrangement. Universities and houses of worship find it to be the perfect affordable solution for many needs.

BlueJeans Meetings with Dolby Voice 

BlueJeans Meetings with Dolby Voice from BlueJeans by Verizon is a breakthrough in video conferencing audio that eliminates “Can you hear me?” frustrations. Innovative technology from Dolby engineered into the BlueJeans Cloud elevates the meeting experience by allowing attendees to hear clearly and communicate naturally regardless of their location—desktop, mobile, or meeting room. Spatial audio presents each person’s voice from a distinct location, so everyone hears as if they were together in the same room, making it easier to focus on the conversation content. Everyone can be heard, even when voices overlap, so participation is easier, dialogue flows without delays, and work gets done.

Bose Videobar VB1

From Bose Professional, the Bose Videobar VB1 is an all-in-one USB conferencing device that brings premium audio and video to huddle spaces and medium-sized rooms. Six beam-steering microphones automatically focus on voices in the room and reject noise. A 4K ultra-HD camera with auto framing delivers crystal-clear video, helping remote participants feel like they’re in the room. Proprietary Bose sound supports multimedia presentations, plays Bluetooth audio, and ensures voices on the call sound natural. Single-cable connectivity means there’s no need for separate audio and video cables at the table, reducing clutter. Bose Videobar VB1 helps you huddle up, see more, hear more, and work better.

4098 CORE Supercardioid Microphone

DPA’s 4098 CORE Supercardioid Microphone works well in a wide range of conference situations. In addition to its compatibility with the brand’s DM6000 table/ceiling mount, the mic is available in varying lengths and mounting options, for any application. This flexibility allows the 4098 to be used for any size conference room down to a single office Zoom setup. When paired with the brand’s MMA-A Digital Audio Interface, any space can become a conference room. Compatible with most Apple devices, the MMA-A is a dual-channel pre-amp and A/D converter, and ideal for mobile applications.

EXPAND Vision 3T

EPOS Audio’s EXPAND Vision 3T is a simple and intuitive video bar designed specifically for small meeting rooms of up to seven participants. Today’s workforce demands video conferencing solutions that ensure effective collaboration and productivity. Certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms, the EXPAND Vision 3T was developed with intelligent picture framing, enhanced PTZ, voice tracking, and EPOS AI noise cancellation to emulate the in-person experience. The more general use EXPAND Vision 3 is expected to be released in Q1 of 2022.

EasyIP CeilingMIC D

Vaddio’s EasyIP CeilingMIC D overhead microphones with Dante networked audio deliver professional audio quality for superior conferencing experiences. It features plug-and-play design—with installation as simple as connecting a Cat5e cable between the network switch PoE port and the microphone receiver. With a three-element array head providing full 360-degree pickup coverage, one EasyIP CeilingMIC D provides excellent coverage for an average size meeting room table. Ensure clear coverage of all meeting participants in larger spaces with multiple ceiling microphones—the number of microphones is only limited by the availability of network switch ports. Centrally manage microphone routing and system configuration with free Dante controller software.

MAS-A100 Beamforming Ceiling Microphone

The Sony Electronics MAS-A100 Beamforming Ceiling Microphone is a hands-free lecture and presentation solution with advanced speech reinforcement technology, enabling truly hassle-free lectures and presentations. This microphone system has dedicated channels for speech reinforcement and recording, with comprehensive audio volume stabilization and clear audio processing to produce sharp recordings. The dedicated recording channel records with a wider capture range and optimal intelligibility—perfect for lecture capture. Supporting Dante and PoE, MAS-A100 links with third-party systems via a single cable connection. Auto-calibration streamlines system configuration, and settings can easily be adjusted via the network using the free MASM-1 management software.

Atmosphere X-ANS

AtlasIED’s Atmosphere X-ANS ambient noise sensor uses patented adaptive filtering technology rather than a microphone to accurately measure the noise level of a commercial environment and adjust automatically without picking up voice. The information is transmitted to the audio processor as data—not as voice programming—lending more enhanced security and volume adjustment accuracy than conventional ambient noise sensors that simply send audio to the processor for analysis and compensation.

NV-32-H

QSC Audio Products’ NV-32-H (Core Capable) from QSC is a multi-purpose, software-configurable video endpoint native to Q-SYS, offering two distinct operating modes based on the needs of the application. Core Mode transforms the device into a fully integrated Q-SYS processor with local HDMI switching capabilities. Peripheral Mode allows multi-stream video encoding or decoding for network-based HDMI video distribution. Like all Q-SYS devices, the NV-32-H offers native integration and control, simplifying setup and configuration while eliminating the need for advanced programming knowledge.

DC12/2

The Renkus-Heinz DC12/2 is an ultra-compact, steerable array—delivering clarity, intelligibility, and control to compact spaces. Designed for tight control and invisible aesthetics, the DC12/2 addresses the needs of smaller, more challenging installations. Additionally, the DC12/2 is the first digitally steerable array with smartphone and tablet control. The DC12/2 features new updates as of Q4 2021. The upgrades deliver improvements to multi-unit configurations and a new full-range performance mode. An additional software update includes delay and discrete gain control for spaces such as conference and meeting rooms.

Nureva XT

Nureva XT is a unique and highly integrated combination of audio, video, device management, and product services designed for educators who want the flexibility to extend the in-classroom experience to remote students. Easily combined with existing classroom technology products, Nureva XT enables live participation of remote students, while also supporting full-classroom audio pickup—all via a single USB connection to the instructor’s computer. There are four solutions, each combining a Nureva audio system (HDL300 for standard, Dual HDL300 for large) with the new Nureva CV30 classroom camera kit and a three- or five-year subscription to Nureva Pro. 

Sonia

Xilica’s Sonia range of networked amplifiers and ceiling speakers modernizes installed audio systems for IT-friendly collaboration spaces. The series includes the Sonia C5, a compact 5.25-inch in-ceiling speaker with a wide, even dispersion pattern that enables fewer speakers in large spaces. Sonia C5 is powered by Sonia Amp, a PoE+-enabled amplifier with integrated network switch that can power up to eight Sonia C5 speakers in daisy-chain. The Dante-enabled, plenum-rated design creates a single CatX drop to the ceiling for a full-room audio system. When paired with Xilica Solaro DSPs, Xilica’s VoiceMatch technology optimizes room audio and acoustics for highly intelligible speech. 

C2070

The Konftel C2070 is an innovative collaboration kit featuring the Cam20 conference camera and Konftel 70 speakerphone that can, together, streamline video conferencing in huddle spaces as well as medium-sized meeting rooms. With the Konftel Cam20 USB conference camera, a clear and balanced image of participants and their colleagues is assured. Its WDR technology automatically adjusts to achieve a great picture in different light conditions, and its 4K video resolution enables superb digital zoom. Its counterpart, the Konftel 70, creates balanced, natural, and lifelike conversations using noise suppression and echo cancellation as part of Konftel’s acclaimed OmniSound technology.

Rally Bar 

Logitech’s Rally Bar is an all-in-one video bar solution for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other leading video conferencing services that transforms meeting rooms with its cinema-quality video, crisp audio, and stunning design. With advanced audio engineering, Rally Bar features ultra-low distortion speakers that provide crystal-clear sound to every corner of the room. The video bar’s AI-based RightSound technology focuses on the active talker and auto-levels loud and soft voices, while suppressing unwanted noise. Plus, users can easily accommodate larger groups and spaces with Rally Mic Pods. Now, everyone joining conference meetings can hear and be heard with outstanding clarity. 

SoundTube IPD-TSB2.0 Soundbar

MSE Audio’s SoundTube IPD-TSB2.0 STNet Dante-enabled soundbar is ideal for audio conferencing. The IPD-TSB2.0 Soundbar brings Dante connectivity from end to end in conferencing and boardroom video installations. Making the soundbar interoperable with other Dante products gives integrators additional flexibility when designing and installing audio systems. Built with high-quality materials and stylish, brushed metal cosmetics, the IPD-TSB2.0 Soundbar is a reliable, unrivaled solution for any audiovisual system. With a built-in amplifier, digital signal processor (DSP), and AES67 compatibility, it provides outstanding dialogue and clarity along with an open, wide sound stage. Wall-mount and table-top hardware are included.

As Black Friday 2021 finished with Thanksgiving leftovers, retailers began stoking the cyber coffers with deals on everything from Paw Patrol to $1,700 off an 8K QLED TV. But we’re going to focus on the latter — the electronics that some of us coveted throughout the year. 

Following are some of my personal favorites from this Cyber Monday, and I’ve also curated some that are sure to pique the interest of AV Technology and SCN readers. More Apple products would be on my list, but I’ve never seen them offer a significant price cut.  

I looked to our sister publications, Tom’s Guide and TechRadar, for the best deals on electronics and accessories for our hybrid workplaces, and smart homes.

P.S. Prices and availability are subject to change.

Cindy’s Top 10 Cyber Monday Deals

Samsung 65-inch QN900A Neo QLED 8K Smart TV (2021)

Was $4,999.99 now $3,297.99 at Amazon
Save $1,700 - One of the best Cyber Monday TV deals we've spotted so far is this 65-inch QLED 8K TV from Samsung that's on sale for $3,299.99. That's a massive $1,700 discount and the lowest price we've seen for the stunning Samsung display. The Samsung QN900A is one of the best TVs you can buy, thanks to its exceptional picture quality and state-of-the-art design.

Bose QuietComfort 45

Was $329 now $279 @ Amazon
First time on sale! The Bose QuietComfort 45 offer enhanced active noise cancellation, better sound, and longer battery life than its predecessor. In our [Tom’s Guide] review, we called them a no brainer for Bose fans who want to swap out their older QC headphones for something more modern, or shoppers who want first-class Bose noise cancellation at a cheaper price than the premium Bose 700. 

Panasonic Lumix S5

Was $1,997 now $1,697 @ Amazon
Get $300 off the full-frame Panasonic Lumix S5 mirrorless camera this Black Friday in one of the best deals we've seen yet. The S5 makes it into our list of the best cameras for vloggers, on account of its advanced video features, while its 5-axis image stabilization will be great for both filming and stills shooting.

LG 83-inch C1 OLED

Was $5,999 now $4,996 @ Walmart
Go big for less with the 83-inch LG C1 OLED, selling now for $1,000 off the regular price. Sure, that's still a pricey 5 grand, but premium OLED displays aren't known for being cheap, especially at this giant size. Packed with features, like HDR, HDMI 2.1 and both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, it's a fantastic TV, now at a slightly more reasonable price.

iRobot Roomba 692 Robot Vacuum

Was $299.9 now $174.99 at Amazon
Save $125 - Roomba robot vacuums are one of the most popular Cyber Monday deals, and Amazon has just dropped a further $25 discount on the best-selling iRobot Roomba 692. That brings the price down to just $174.99, which is a fantastic deal for a robot vacuum and the lowest price we've ever seen.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2

Was $299 now $174 at Amazon
With excellent active noise cancelling, superb sound quality, and a rather neat design, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 are well worth your time. And with $122 off their original price, they are a bit of a bargain. 

Harmati Electric Standing Desk

Was $299 now $199 @ Amazon
For under $200, this is a brilliant option for anyone looking for a standing desk. It comes in three different colorways and has a quiet, motorized system for raising and lowering the desk. The wood desktop measures 47 inches by 24 inches, and reviewers loved how neatly it fits into most home offices. The best part? You can currently save big on this desk. 

Jabra Elite Active 75t

Was $209 now $149 @ Amazon
This deal takes 29% off the original price, saving you $60 in total on the Jabra Elite Active 75t, one of the best wireless earbuds on the market. 

Razer Iskur Fabric Gaming Chair

Was $499 now $349 at Amazon
Save $149 - Razer is known for making top-shelf gaming peripherals, but it only got into the gaming chair scene last year with the Razer Iskur. This year's follow-up, the Razer Iskur Fabric, improves on the original with a more breathable fabric construction while keeping all the features that makes the Razer Iskur one of the best gaming chairs around.

Ring Video Doorbell Wired Bundle with Echo Show 5

Was $144 now $61 @ Amazon
This deal bundles Ring's least-expensive video doorbell with its smallest smart display. When someone presses the button, you'll be able to see them on the Echo Show 5 and talk to them, too. We also recommend you pick up a Ring Chime, as the Ring Video Doorbell Wired doesn't work with existing chimes.

TECHRADAR EXCLUSIVES on VPNs!

PureVPN

5-year plan |  Was $6.65 now $1.13 a month | code 'TECH15'
Save 88% - It may not be the best quality VPN on the market, but PureVPN is without doubt the winner of this year's VPN deals race - especially for TechRadar readers who get to benefit from an extra 15% off with code TECH15. That brings the monthly rate down to an effective $1.13, paying a one-off $67.96 five years of VPN coverage.

NordVPN

2-year plan |  Was $11.95 now $3.29 a month
Save 72% - One of the biggest names in VPN has one of the best savings. This is the lowest we've seen NordVPN for a while now, and is a terrific price on a service that sits in at #2 in our overall chart of the best VPNs.

Surfshark VPN

2-year + 3 months FREE | Was $12.95 now $2.21/pm
Save 83% - The best cheap VPN just got a whole lot cheaper. It's throwing in three free months to its 24-month plan, so you get a whole 27 months of boosted cyber security with loads of great features for only $2.21 a month.

MORE CYBER MONDAY DEALS

MacBook Air (M1)

Was $999 now $899 @ Amazon
The M1 MacBook Air offers fantastic performance thanks to its new Apple Silicon. The new M1 CPU also helped it reach over 14 hours in our battery test. In our [Tom’s Guide] review, we found it offered amazing MacBook Pro-like power at a lesser cost. It features a 13.3-inch Retina display, Apple M1 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. If you want an even bigger bargain, the 512GB model is also on sale for $1,099 ($100 off). 

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet

Was $139 now $69 @ Amazon
Amazon's Fire HD Kids tablets are great for youngsters, thanks to their combination of chunky rubber bumper, Fire for Kids software and a a no-questions-asked two-year replacement guarantee. They're available in 7, 8 and 10-inch varieties, and all are super-cheap at Amazon right now.

EPOS H3 Gaming Headset

Was $99.99 now $86 at Amazon
Save nearly $23 on the EPOS H3 Gaming headset, which proudly sits on our list of the best Xbox Series X headsets. But this comfortable and sleek all-rounder headset doesn't just work on XSX, it's also compatible with PS5, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.

JBL Tune 120TWS

Was $120 now $59 @ Amazon
This deal takes 50% off the original price. JBL's wireless earbuds pack a punch with a 5.8mm driver for solid bass performance. With 16 hours of battery life shared between the headphones and their charging case, you'll be able to rock out all day long.

GoPro Hero10 Black + Accessories + Subscription

Was $549 now $349 @ GoPro
The Hero10 Black is GoPro's new action camera, adding a new processor, higher resolution and improved image stabilization into an already compelling package. We awarded it 4.5 stars in our review, and it's even better value right now. This deal direct from GoPro is not only $100 cheaper than we've seen it elsewhere, but also throws in a 1-year GoPro subscription and accessories pack. 

Marshall Emberton

Was $150 now $129.99 at Amazon
Save $20 - Whether it's the IPX7 water-resistant rating, over 20 hours of use, or light weight, this portable speaker from Marshall has a lot going for it. And, this Cyber Monday, it's cheaper than we've seen it this year, now at 13% off. Of course, that wouldn’t matter if it didn’t sound good, which it does. In fact, its multi-directional sound means that you can hear the music clearly no matter where you’re sitting in relation to it.

Hulu

Was $6.99 per month now $0.99 per month
With a ton of original series and movies, plus the latest TV shows, Hulu has a lot to watch. Normally, this ad-supported tier costs $6.99 per month, so you'll be saving $6 per month (for up to 12 months) with this offer. The deal expires on Monday (Nov. 29) at 11:59 p.m. PT so there's no time to lose.

Ring Video Doorbell Wired + Echo Dot

Was $99 now $41 @ Amazon
Ring's cheapest video doorbell is even cheaper in this deal that takes $18 off its regular price and throws in a free Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) to go with it. You get a 1080p camera and two-way talk, while the Echo Dot can act as your doorbell chime.

Samsung HW-S50A

Was $249 now $147 @ Amazon
This Samsung soundbar not only looks great, thanks to its premium fabric finish, but also sounds great on account of its five internal speakers and Dolby Atmos support. Not only does it have Bluetooth, but it's also packing a Music Mode so you can stream your favorite Spotify tunes to it. Amazon has currently knocked $102 off the usual price, bringing it to its lowest level.

Cleer Audio Crescent

Was $699 now $599 @ Best Buy
It's by no means a cheap option, but the Cleer Audio Crescent not only upgrades your audio but also adds a statement product to your living room. It offers 8 front-facing, full-range drivers and 2 large woofers. It's a 3D soundbar that can really fill out a room. Plus, it offers built-in Google Assistant support which is a nice touch. We awarded it 4 stars in our [Tom’s Guide] review. 

Google Chromecast (3rd Gen) Streamer

Was $29.98 now $19.98 at Walmart
Save $10 - The Google Chromecast is a brilliantly functional streaming dongle. There's plenty of app support, Google Assistant voice commands, and a great Android TV interface holding things together. Note you won't get 4K streaming, or a remote.

Belkin Power Strip Surge Protector

Was $24.99 now $19.99 at Amazon
Save $5 - This Belkin power strip has over 65,000 positive reviews and is on sale for the cheapest price we've ever seen at just $19.99 at Amazon. It boasts several AC outlets, an 8-foot long cable that comes in handy when your outlet feels like it's located in a faraway desert outpost, and a 3,940-Joule energy rating. With 12 outlets, you'll have room to keep all your smart and mobile devices charged.

Apple MagSafe Charger

Was $39 now $31.99 at Amazon
A nice little 18% discount on this Apple accessory, the Apple MagSafe charger can be used to charge iPhone 12 models onwards, as well as AirPods with a wireless charging case. As a ubiquitous Apple accessory, this is one of those essential bits of kit always worth snatching up in an Amazon Cyber Monday deal as a cheap stocking filler or gift. 

Fire TV Cube

Was $119.99 now $79.99 at Amazon
Save $40 - Today's Cyber Monday deal from Amazon includes the powerful Fire TV Cube on sale for $79.99. That's a $40 discount and the lowest price we've found for the hands-free 4K streaming player that's Alexa compatible.

Philips Hue White and Color Lightstrip Plus 2M Starter Kit

Was $109.99 now $68.99 at Best Buy
Save $41 – There's a significant $41 saving on this starter set for the Philips Hue Lightstrip. Use it to jazz up the ambiance in any room around your home. Be that adding a customizable glow effect behind the TV, fitting strip lights in the kitchen, or whatever your imagination decides.

Ring Alarm 8-piece Set

Was $424.98 now $229.98 at Amazon
Save $195 - Buying all your smart home devices in one bundle is a good way to save cash, and this package is much cheaper than buying everything separately. This package has received two discounts over Cyber Monday and is now the cheapest it's ever been. Note, these devices are now shipping for a mid-December delivery date.

Thank you to our sister publications, Tom’s Guide and TechRadar for keeping an eye on the best deals. Be sure to check out each site for hundreds of Cyber Monday deals.

Hotel properties often represent a diverse sampling of what’s happening in commercial AV integration. While hotel installations are technically all considered part of the hospitality vertical, specifics of the AV use cases there vary quite a bit between venues, from boutique independent hotels to the largest global chains. A hotel project today will often encompass AV for several different applications, including meeting spaces, convention spaces, leisure activities, dining, retail, and entertainment venues. The possibilities truly seem endless for the systems integrator.

The team at Security Automation Sound Services (SASS) found themselves focused more on the corporate and business side when they began work on the audiovisual integration project at the Hilton Greenville in Greenville, NC. With five meeting rooms and 43,194 square feet of event space, the hotel is a popular destination for corporate gatherings, business meetings, and small conventions, as well as privately hosted events.

The SASS team was tasked with upgrading AV systems in the divisible ballrooms and conference rooms used mainly for these purposes. The existing AV environment was sparse at best. Video was limited to basic projectors, while some audio components could support announcements and simple presentations. A control system had been installed at some point, though it was rarely used and never effectively.

[ Installing AVoIP Systems Today Affords Future Expansion Possibilities ]

“They had a sound board temporarily placed in each space, with some wireless microphones and a single wall-mounted loudspeaker,” said Stephen Gardner, owner and president of SASS. “There were some corporate executives interested in the rooms, which are quite large—and we needed to jump in quickly to put a plan into action.”

A longtime installer of Bose commercial sound systems, Gardner loaned the hotel a small system to improve the audio quality and capabilities while the SASS team began considering the AV infrastructure upgrade. Even with the temporary Bose system in place, audio was stretched to its limits considering the large spaces it worked to fill—which led to an accelerated decision-making process by hotel execs.

[ The Integration Guide to AVoIP ] 

Gardner quickly set his sights on an AV over IP architecture, given the variety of spaces and the distance between some locations. “We wanted to build one system that could feed all of these different spaces,” he said. “We wanted to establish a flexible input and output strategy that we could easily scale. That’s not really possible with a legacy matrixed system, where you are limited by fixed I/O counts and dedicated endpoints.”

Gardner guided the client toward Atlona’s OmniStream Pro family instead of a more expensive option suggested by another firm. While both solutions offered the flexibility for signal distribution the hotel required—along with the system expandability he sought—OmniStream’s interoperability with Gardner’s audio choices was significant.

There was one other factor in OmniStream’s favor: Gardner had his eye on bringing the hotel’s AV control on the network, which he could most easily achieve with Atlona’s Velocity IP-enabled control platform.

“I come from the analog world, but the AV universe is all rapidly moving to IP,” said Gardner. “We don’t want our end users to be stuck. OmniStream and Velocity together offered Hilton Greenville the best of both worlds for a genuine AV over IP environment.”

[ What's the Status of the AV over IP Transition? ]

Simplified Programming

Gardner stressed that Atlona’s professional programming environments ultimately helped him bring together a very complex AV distribution architecture.

“There was very intense programming when it came to building this system, and I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say we pushed the envelope,” Gardner said. “In the hotel’s West Wing alone, we accommodated microphone and video feeds in three spaces that can be divisible into four, five, or six rooms depending on what is happening in the hotel. We’re also feeding endpoints in the Greenville Room, which is a more upscale room for small conferences, and then there are four rooms on the other side of the hotel.”

Gardner noted that Atlona has established a “click-and-play” system that is easy to use. While he pushed the envelope on the programming side, he said Atlona’s environment made the process easy to manage overall. Most importantly, the system is doing what the previous one could not, even for audio alone.

[ AVoIP and the Meeting Space ]

“There are partitions in each of West Wing ballrooms, and they could never take advantage of pushing unique content to divisible spaces,” Gardner said of the legacy system. “The existing control system was supposed to accommodate that, but it was difficult for the end user to comprehend. Ultimately it sat there mostly unused.”

“Velocity changes everything on the control side when it comes to ease of use,” Gardner continued. “If it’s a single room, we’re just worried about master volume on the touch panel. And when they link the rooms, they can easily pull in HDMI video feeds and direct them to two or more spaces. Velocity keeps the complex very simple.”

Network Convergence

The OmniStream Pro architecture includes a mix of OmniStream 111 WP Wallplate networked AV encoders, OmniStream 121 (single-channel) and 122 (dual-channel) networked AV decoders, and OmniStream 238 IP-to-analog audio bridge devices. The SASS team installed two wall plates in each of the six West Wing divisible spaces—one in the front of the room and one in the back—and one in the Greenville Room, with a second in storage if needed. Front and back wall plates were installed in the four remaining rooms on the other side of the hotel.

The team added OmniStream decoders in a variety of locations to better suit delivery to endpoints, which included Epson Cinema 660 projectors and Screen Innovations 160-inch screens. Some were installed in ceilings near Epson projectors, and others within an existing 42U equipment rack that was rewired and reused for this project. The IT-friendly rack also integrates two 48-port Cisco network switches and all pertinent audio equipment, including the OmniStream 238, a Bose ControlSpace EX-1280C DSP, and a Sennheiser EW 500 G4Series wireless antenna system.

OmniStream’s integration with the ControlSpace EX-1280C DSP was especially critical to execute Gardner’s vision, which would include Bose loudspeakers.

“Bose uses Dante exclusively. Before we brought in OmniStream, it would not talk to the existing AES audio streams moving through the spaces,” said Gardner. “Now, the OmniStream 238 brings the audio signals into the Bose, which has a 64x64 I/O capacity.”

The DSP moves the audio to Bose FreeSpace DS 100F loudspeaker systems, which were deployed in a 70-volt configuration to accommodate the longer runs.

“The FreeSpace system replaced these enormous wedge-shaped speakers that were just cancelling each other out because of how they were spaced and positioned,” said Gardner. “The audio integrity is now perfect for these spaces.”

The Sennheiser system improves presentation audio. Configured as a redundant A/B system, the wireless Sennheiser solution includes high-quality handheld microphones and a mix of single- and dual-channel receivers. A distribution amplifier in the rack brings in the various antennas from the system’s power amplifier.

Gardner noted that Atlona, Bose, and Sennheiser all worked closely with him and his team to customize the system and provide the flexible programming environments he needed. He also had high praise for Screen Innovations, noting that the company made the installation easier by eliminating the need for flush-mounting screens.

“We really had to think through the programming. We couldn’t simply cut-and-paste the same setting for every space because each was unique,” Gardner concluded. “This was especially true when it came to the HDMI video feeds, the microphone system, and the DSP flows. These companies made a very challenging programming and integration project a lot more seamless than it could have been.”

Click here to read more stories from the September 2021 issue of SCN.

Related Stories

AV-over-IP Workflows Suitable for Applications of All Sizes • The AV-over-IP revolution isn’t just transforming the way organizations send signals across buildings and campuses; it’s changing the landscape of the broadcast industry as well.

Product Review: Atlona OmniStream 112/121 AV over IP Solutions • Jeremy Caldera looks at an Atlona AV over IP solution, testing how the Atlona OmniStream 112 networked AV encoder and 121 decoder transmit high-quality 4K video over gigabit Ethernet infrastructure.

What's the Status of the AV over IP Transition? • Manufacturers discuss the transition to AV over IP networks and their company’s place in the shift.

Optimizing AV over IP in Corporate Network Installations • Thanks to scalability, flexibility, and ease of deployment and management, AV over IP continues to gain popularity among integrators and tech managers in corporate environments, according to Atlona’s Seth Powell.

1Gb vs. 10Gb Ethernet: Which Is Right for Your AV Network? • Which gigabit Ethernet network should be the standard for AV over IP? Leading manufacturers of networked AV solutions told us what they think.

The What: Bose Professional released ControlSpace Designer 5.9.1, an update to its veteran solution to provide all the necessary tools and functions to configure audio signal processing and network operation of Bose’s digital signal processors and amplifiers. ControlSpace Remote 2.10 was also released with a number of improvements, including bug fixes. ControlSpace Remote provides wired or wireless control of networked Bose Professional system components. 

The What Else: ControlSpace Designer 5.9.1 includes numerous improvements to the design and operation of Bose Professional sound systems, including support for AES67 and Dante Domain Manager on all Dante-enabled hardware to improve interoperability and ease of management in enterprise networks. 

[The Integration Guide to Dante-Enabled AV]

Also included are enhancements to the system commissioning experience and updated compatibility with third-party devices; updated firmware to support these improvements is included with the software release.  ControlSpace Designer 5.9.1. also includes EQ support for newly introduced DesignMax pendant and AMM multipurpose loudspeakers. 

The ControlSpace Remote 2.10 update provides wired or wireless control of networked Bose Professional system components. ControlSpace Remote builder software is used by the system designer to create custom control panels that are sent to the ControlSpace Remote app for operation by end users. Using control panel templates from within Bose ControlSpace builder, designers are able to quickly create unique interfaces for control of Bose networked pro audio systems running on iOS and Android devices. 

The Bottom Line: Visit pro.bose.com to download ControlSpace Designer 5.9.1 now and watch for ControlSpace Remote 2.10 coming soon.

The What: Bose Professional has added four new pendant loudspeakers—the DM3P and DM5P loudspeakers, the DM6PE outdoor-rated loudspeaker, and the DM10P-SUB subwoofer—to its DesignMax loudspeaker range. 

[Bose Introduces AMM Multipurpose Loudspeaker Line]

The What Else: The DM3P, DM5P and DM6PE pendant loudspeakers all feature the Bose Dispersion Alignment system, providing a consistent listening experience throughout the room by matching the coverage of the woofer to the pattern of the tweeter.

With coaxial two-way drivers, the 30-watt DesignMax DM3P features a two-way 3.25-inch woofer and 0.75-inch coaxial tweeter mounted within the Bose Dispersion Alignment system. Delivering a frequency range of 75 Hz – 20 kHz.

The new 60-watt DesignMax DM5P is a coaxial two-way pendant loudspeaker with a 5.25-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter mounted within the Bose Dispersion Alignment system, delivering a frequency range of 65 Hz – 20 kHz.

The 125-watt DesignMax DM6PE is a coaxial two-way pendant loudspeaker and is IP55 outdoor-rated. It features a 6.5-inch woofer and 1.25-inch tweeter mounted within the Dispersion Alignment system and delivers a frequency range of 62 Hz – 20 kHz.

[The Latest in Outdoor AV Solutions]

Completing the new additions to the range, the DesignMax DM10P-SUB subwoofer adds bass for use in a wide variety of commercial installations. The 300-watt model features a 10-inch woofer with a 40 Hz – 125 Hz frequency range.

First introduced in 2019, the DesignMax family includes coaxial two-way loudspeakers and subwoofers with in-ceiling and surface-mount models available, plus high-SPL compression-driver options, compact models for tight spaces, and various IP55-rated outdoor options. All models deliver impressive performance with no DSP or EQ required. They can also be paired with select Bose DSPs and amplifiers to enable Bose loudspeaker EQ and SmartBass processing, expanding performance and response at any listening level.

With the addition of these four pendant models, system designers and installers can now choose from a total of 16 DesignMax products to curate complete, tailored solutions for background and foreground audio applications. Installation of every model is made easier with industry-standard accessories and Euroblock connectors; in-ceiling models include plenum-rated backcans, tile bridges, and front-access audio wiring to improve fitting and troubleshooting.

The Bottom Line: Engineered for open-ceiling installations, each unit is designed with sleek aesthetics and provides a recessed single-point suspension system, enabling hardware to be kept out of sight, and a service loop to be held and hidden for easy access in the future. Each loudspeaker is available in black or white and is paintable. The DM3P and DM5P are available to ship in most regions. DM6PE and DM10-SUB availability to follow.

The What: Bose Professional is expanding its loudspeaker offerings with the new AMM multipurpose loudspeaker line, comprised of two full-range loudspeakers—the AMM108 and AMM112—and a companion subwoofer, the AMS115.

The What Else: Both the AMM108 and AMM112 feature the new, proprietary Bose Beamwidth Matching Waveguide. This waveguide provides consistent frequency response, clarity, and projection across the coverage area. Located just behind the grille, the waveguide seals the acoustic volume of the woofer and features a unique vent pattern that controls low-frequency dispersion, aligning the low- and high-frequency beamwidths at crossover. The result is wide-band, symmetrical sound coverage for both performers and audiences.

[Bose Unveils New L1 Pro Portable Line Array Family]

Providing low-frequency extension down to 35Hz and 130dB peak output, the companion AMS115 subwoofer features a 15-inch neodymium transducer, lightweight enclosure, and integrated M20 threaded pole mount, making it well suited for use in a variety of applications. This enables system designers and installers to combine an AMM108 loudspeaker with the AMS115 for front-of-house applications or the AMM112 loudspeaker for fill applications; or pair the AMM112 loudspeaker with the ShowMatch SMS118 subwoofer for higher-output extended-bandwidth systems.

The Bottom Line: Featuring a coaxial two-way design, AMM loudspeakers are purpose-built to perform equally well in a variety of applications. They can be deployed as mains, monitors, fills, or delays in temporary setups or permanent installations, such as houses of worship, music venues, and auditoriums. Consistent voicing with the existing Bose AM array module line and Bose AMU utility loudspeaker line means system designers and installers can mix and match models from all three lines, saving time during system configuration.

The What: Bose Professional has partnered with Barco to offer a complete audiovisual meeting solution as the Bose Videobar VB1 All-in-One Conferencing Device can now be combined with any Barco ClickShare Conference device to get meetings up quickly and running smoothly.

The What Else: The Videobar VB1 is ClickShare Certified, ensuring interoperability with Barco technology. Barco leads in wireless technology, so pairing ClickShare Conference with the Videobar VB1 significantly reduces the need for wired components in conferencing spaces. This declutters work areas and simplifies the act of joining meetings to a single button.

[The Integration Guide to Conferencing & Collaboration]

“The philosophy of Bose Work is to provide the conferencing and collaboration solutions people need, regardless of where and how they work,” said Martin Bodley, director and global head, Bose Work at Bose. “Barco’s expertise in wireless conferencing solutions provides the capabilities needed for a full-room solution and complements the VB1’s capabilities. This alliance creates a solution that reduces wires, saves space and delivers a premium meeting experience with a simple button.”

The Bottom Line: For rooms with different configurations requiring additional mic pickup, yet also require the in-room technology to remain transparent, IT managers can add Barco ClickShare Conference to one of the Bose in-ceiling audio solutions. The innovative Bose ES1 system features the Bose EdgeMax in-ceiling loudspeaker, while the more conventional Bose DS4 system features four DesignMax DM2C-LP loudspeakers. Each solution is combined with the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphone, Bose ControlSpace EX-440C processor and a PowerSpace P2600A amplifier, and is fully certified for Barco ClickShare Conference.

With the COVID-19 pandemic increasing the amount of remote workers and learners, a solid pair of headphones is a must-have. And the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones (NCH) 700 UC are an ideal choice for unified communication needs.

Audio

I’ll admit I’ve had my eyes on the Bose NCH 700 UC headphones since InfoComm 2020. I watched a demonstration where one of their employees was in a busy airport (pre-COVID-19, obviously) using the headphones and you could hear all of the hustle and bustle around him. Then, he turned on the noise cancellation feature and the background noise disappeared completely. I was so impressed—and frankly was a bit skeptical—that I emailed their team to verify that the video was authentic. They said it was and I knew right then I had to test these headphones out myself. 

The NCH 700 UC features 11 levels of noise cancellation—from virtually silent like I heard in the airport demo to open and ambient so you can stay aware of your surroundings. We know work from home life isn’t perfect and calls are often interrupted—my dog likes to bark at the most inopportune moments and my neighbors are having construction work done on their units. Using the noise cancellation feature, my co-workers were completely oblivious to the chaos happening in and around my condo. And I could easily hear them as well with the headphone’s active equalization technology that provides rich, immersive audio.

Controls

Touch controls are all the rage in over the ear headphones and that’s what you’ll find with the Bose 700UC Noise Cancelling Headphones. To change the volume, you simply  swipe up and down on the right ear cup; from there, you can also play/pause with a simple tap, or fast-forward/rewind with a swipe forward or backward. You can also double-tap to decline a call or single tap to answer a call.

It’s a very responsive design and I only accidentally hung up on someone once—which is less often than I do with my regular phone so we’ll call that a win.

You can also customize a shortcut for the tap and hold action on the headphones to perform one of two functions: announce the battery level (this is the default setting) or to disable/enable the wake word for Amazon Alexa.

Design

The Bose 700UC Noise Cancelling Headphones arrived in a nondescript brown box, unlike others I’ve received with creative and colorful packaging. Once the box is opened, the headphones are there in a plain black case.  

While the packaging may have been unremarkable, you notice right away that these headphones are sleek and stylish. They're also a comfortable fit—the unit weights slightly under 9 oz. Compared to other, more bulky headphones I’ve been using for conference calls, this lightweight pair is a welcome relief.

The oval-shaped ear pads are quite comfortable; they are well cushioned with a close fit to keep sound contained, while, at the same time, are not too snug. 

The headband is easily adjustable and has a rather wide range. Personally, I sometimes have issues with headphones—even at their smallest setting—being a bit large on my head. But these fit well and also fit people with larger heads.

The battery life/charge time on these headphones could be better. The Bose NCH 700 UC headphones, according to the company, last up to 20 hours and take 2.5 hours for a full charge; I found this to be mostly accurate with regular use. There is also a quick charge feature where a 15-minute charge will give you about 3.5 hours of battery life, although it was slightly less than 3 hours for me.

The UCC Aspect

The Bose NCH 700 UC headphones are designed specifically for conferencing and come with a USB Link Bluetooth to provide a more reliable wireless connection. (Side note: if you own the Bose Headphones 700, you can purchase the dongle separately for $69.95 on the company’s website for a better conference call experience.)

The headphones are certified for use with both Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. I regularly used them on Google Meets, our company’s meeting platform of choice, and had little problems; the only noticeable issue was that my colleagues occasionally said I sounded “tin-y”, but that was quickly resolved when I changed the noise cancellation level.

Another very handy feature: the Bose Headphones 700 UC uses multipoint Bluetooth technology to connect to two devices at the same time so I was able to connect to both my computer and my phone simultaneously. As expected, you can only hear audio or communications from one source at time, but I had no issues toggling between two devices.

Verdict

I spent a few weeks testing out the Bose 700UC Noise Cancelling Headphones. From hour-long Zoom calls to jamming to the latest Taylor Swift album to regular phone calls, these headphones delivered. No matter what the situation, the audio quality was amazing and they’re still comfortable after several hours of wear—these headphones are worth the investment.

This year, the AV/IT industry has witnessed agility and innovation like never before. Existing technologies are being leveraged and manufacturers have developed new products and solutions to help facilitate a healthy return to corporate and college campuses, hospitality, and more.

Over the coming months, as the workforce returns to the office and more students return to the classroom, AV/IT managers are deploying no-touch, or touchless technologies to automate everything from opening a door to launching everything needed for a meeting. We reached out to manufacturers to learn about the solutions they’re working on for this new, touch-free world.

1 Beyond

As a manufacturer of automated camera solutions, we have been hearing from customers for a while that they want a room that “just works.” Teachers and CEOs who walk into a room for a meeting do not want to worry about the technology. IT managers expect low-maintenance and low-support requirements with more rooms outfitted for videoconferencing.

With social distancing and hygiene concerns, the need for automated, “touch-free” rooms has only increased, and this includes larger multi-use and divisible conference room spaces. Thankfully, recent technology advances are making this possible for audio, video, content sharing, and control. These “hands-free” automated rooms will benefit users for years to come—even after the COVID crisis is behind us. Remote work and hybrid meetings are here to stay.

22Miles

In the COVID-19 era, there are many new challenges in the return to normal. Today’s kiosks offer a plethora of features: automatic voice control prompts to reduce physical touch on the device, access to communications via QR codes, on a smartphones, and facial recognition and multi-user tracking for employee and guest check ins.

Other capabilities include temperature checks via built-in thermal scanning technology, emergency alerts and updated news on facility policies, and instructions for safely navigating a facility to adhere to social distancing. Additional interactive wayfinding throughout a facility can guide navigation around a building, regulating available spaces and pre-approved routes to reduce wandering and support effective social distancing.

AtlasIED

Reducing manual contact with people and technology is priority number one in the return to normal life during COVID-19. AtlasIED’s new Atmopshere lineup was designed to reduce physical contact with technology that controls a business’s or school’s public address, life safety and security, and audio systems. For instance, a QR code accessible through Atmosphere’s digital signal processor grants authorized users access to certain audio settings directly from a personal mobile device.

Leveraging this hands-off approach is Atmosphere’s ambient noise compensation technology. Built into the DSP are multi-patented algorithms, which enable it to continually learn and adapt to changes in the environment, such as noisy hallways when students transition between classrooms and lively lunch hours in the break room at businesses.

Atlona

Ease of use has become the guiding principle in AV and control systems, but the concept of “safe” has grown increasingly essential, leading to an approach that favors automation. Imagine entering a meeting space, presenting material, and leaving the room without touching anything but a personal laptop or mobile device. Atlona switchers—including the AT-OME-MS52W and AT-UHD-SW-510W—incorporate automatic display control, wireless presentation, automatic input selection, and occupancy sensor triggering to make this is a reality.

On the control side, Atlona’s Velocity System offers QR Code BYOD Control for environments that require manual interaction. Velocity generates a QR code that can be displayed on the touchpanel GUI or printed and placed inside the room. Users scan the code with their BYOD device to take full control of the AV system.

Avocor

At Avocor, we’ve been closely monitoring CDC guidance as the world continues to learn about COVID-19, and the data that we’re seeing is that the virus isn’t often spread by touch like people initially thought. Gesture or voice control can be awkward and difficult to get used to; it can just feel unnatural.

It’s more important to find solutions that allow you to have a more seamless meeting experience that feels familiar—especially as we navigate significant changes to the workplace. Teams working in-person don’t have to physically touch a display with their finger to have a successful meeting experience. Because of their low cost, companies can invest in stylus pens in bulk so that teams can have their own dedicated tool, for example. And if you do choose to use touch control, our displays work seamlessly with latex gloves, and we’re also collaborating with companies that have anti-bacterial cleaning solutions, such as Austere Clean & Protect. 

BenQ

For years, BenQ has recognized the value and flexibility that touchless technology provides, and we have developed solutions that let the users and participants choose how they interact with them. 

Our touchless capabilities encompass voice-activated control and proximity sensors that automatically adjust the screen for blue light and glare in our interactive flat panels (IFPs). Also integrated into our IFPs is our InstaShare software, which allows anyone to join in, share, and interact with content on screen safely from anywhere using their Chromebook, laptop, or personal device. But organizations shouldn’t have to upgrade their displays or projectors to benefit from in-room wireless screen mirroring. Our InstaShow is a completely app-free, secure wireless presentation system that creates a contact-less collaboration experience without network access or expensive infrastructure or hardware investments.

beyerdynamic

At beyerdynamic, we’re seeing more interest in products like our ceiling array and table-top microphones. Our MPR 210 and RM 30 microphones with Revoluto technology ensure great voice quality throughout the room and a perfect touchless environment tool when group meetings are necessary. 

We’re also seeing more innovative uses of products like the Phonum Bluetooth wireless speakerphone. Miami University came up with a remote learning solution: using Phonum on a mic stand with an iPad to broadcast classes to students. The Unite intercom bundles were released a few months ago to help live broadcasters, like houses of worship, better manage their productions while keeping distancing protocols in place. The bundles are feature rich and easy to navigate, with user-friendly manuals.

Biamp

As some employees cautiously migrate back into traditional offices, the desire for touchless technology in shared spaces has grown tremendously. In response, Biamp is pushing innovation to help reduce points of contact between users and devices.

Our recently launched Modena family of Wireless Presentation Systems enables users to access a space’s AV equipment and share content with colleagues, in the room or remotely, directly from their device or via their preferred UC system. With Modena Hub or Modena Hub+, every laptop, tablet, or mobile device can both share screens with a display and receive content, enabling attendees to collaborate without the need to touch or pass devices. Modena Server, a multi-room wireless presentation device, further extends this capability into common areas or other non-traditional meeting spaces.

Bose

We’re all looking at how we can best utilize and develop technology for increased collaboration and better experiences. AI’s ability to improve noise cancelation—and even learn which surrounding noise to suppress—means you won’t need to ride the mute button or constantly increase or decrease the volume because of the surrounding noise. We’re also going to see AI used with video products as a way to provide more comprehensive telemetry on how the room or space is being used, to ensure safe distancing, for example. 

Apps that control AV devices will become more commonplace, as they safeguard users from needing to touch multiple devices. This gives users the ease and freedom to control AV equipment; the NCH 700 UC is a perfect example, as it uses the Bose Music app for adjusting controls (in addition to touch commands on the earcup) and providing software updates automatically. 

Chief

The onset of COVID-19 has led the digital signage industry to recognize major shifts, such as the move to touchless interaction through QR code implementation, haptic technologies, and mobile app integration. Legrand|AV supports a myriad of these new or accelerated trends.

Chief’s Impact Kiosk and Fusion Cart products fit the needs of experiential design, while meeting the new operational demands stemming from COVID-19. As a continued response to our partners in this changing market, Chief is excited to add our Tablet Series mounts, which expand our robust product offerings for safe spaces. This new category features tabletop and floor-standing mounts, as well as accessories to support column and VESA tablets with integrated temperature sensors, printers, and Q&A screens.

Christie

Creating a touchless space is especially important now, and for many public spaces, it will be a necessity. Christie offers Pandoras Box AirScan, which combines with Pandoras Box Widget Designer to transform digital content—whether it’s presented on a LED or LCD video wall or projected onto a wall or screen—into a touch-free, interactive experience.

Pandoras Box AirScan is an IR laser-based solution that creates a motion-controlled user interface with up to 24 interaction points for displays up to 30 feet in size. It features a built-in motion stabilizer for high-speed processing and damping of the sensor motion data. AirScan is installed in front of a display and then connected to a PC with Widget Designer, where settings can be adjusted and customized to the application. AirScan is well suited for public spaces like museums, entertainment venues, and theatres looking to transform displays from touch to touchless.

Crestron

Touchless controls weren’t a new innovation as a result of the pandemic. Wireless collaboration and remote control of conferencing have increasingly been deployed in meeting spaces, lecture halls, and boardrooms for ease of presentation and collaboration. Now, touchless solutions have become more important for the return to work to support distancing and to reduce common control touchpoints. 

Crestron developed new control experiences for touchless controls that will support the return to work, including the Crestron ONE app and the new 70 Series Touch Screens. Employees and guests can safely and reliably control the AV, communications, lighting, automation, and other experiences in the Crestron system with the Crestron ONE app on their personal device. When users approach a 70 Series Touch Screen mounted on the wall or situated on a table, the proximity sensor wakes the screen to show the QR code to connect to the system wirelessly.

Extron

Now more than ever, the subject of AV automation is becoming a major talking point within organizations of all sizes. Touchless room control can be accomplished by scanning a QR code on an Extron TouchLink Pro touchpanel with your personal device. Simply point your camera at the QR code displayed on the touchpanel and you’ll automatically be taken to the Extron Control for Web interface, which provides the same flexibility of control. Extron also offers several mobile apps to help automate AV system functions, and provides easy room AV control from the palm of your hand. All our apps are free on Google Play or the App Store. 

In spaces with an Extron HD CTL 100 Workspace Controller and an OCS 100C Occupancy Sensor, organizations can benefit from automated display control based on motion detection, minimizing button presses while helping individuals remain productive.

HuddleCamHD

To protect personnel from unnecessary exposure, studios are being built with multiple IP-connected PTZ cameras that can be remotely controlled by a single operator. No longer are multiple skilled camera operators forced to share a small, "high-touch" space; instead, all unnecessary interaction is removed. 

One camera operator is too many for most meeting and lecture capture applications, though. PTZOptics’ sister company HuddleCamHD uses AI tools to automate camera operation—allowing teachers and meeting participants to interact naturally. The HuddleCamHD HuddleView uses face and motion detection to automatically frame shots so that virtual meetings feel personal and inclusive. The SimplTrack2 uses autotracking to allow educators to teach as they do best: at the front of their classrooms.

Intel

Although a pandemic was not the driver behind development of the Intel Unite solution, the collaboration platform was born with a host of features that make it well suited to a contactless world. Its wireless connectivity means there are no shared dongles or cables. Wireless connectivity also facilitates social distancing, since meeting participants no longer need to be within reach of a cable. With the platform’s remote capabilities, either through Protected Guest Access or a UC such as Webex, they don’t even need to be in the same room. The Intel Unite software is also open platform, which allows participants to use their own device to share content.

Kramer

At Kramer, we recognize the challenge that so many organizations are facing to ensure business continuity during COVID-19. That is why we have developed an innovative new contact monitoring technology: Corona Tags, small, battery-powered trackers for recording interactions that don’t adhere to the CDC or NIH social distancing guidelines. They track anonymously and securely—protecting individual privacy while recording valuable information to help enterprises and institutions continue to operate safely during the pandemic with minimal down time. Kramer’s Corona Tags are designed for easy rapid deployment and meet the most stringent privacy requirements of GDPR.

Kramer’s VIA family of wireless and/or wired presentation and collaboration solutions also feature touchless connectivity, BYOD, BYOM, and remote management. Kramer Control features touchless automation, remote access, and remote troubleshooting.

LG

As businesses around the country reopen amid the ongoing pandemic, we here at LG Business Solutions USA have expanded our suite of Health Protocol Solutions. In partnership with other technology leaders, we’re offering an array of new options—including touchless interactive digital signage displays, wellness kiosks, occupancy management systems, and more. These solutions combine LG’s displays with the industry’s top sensors and software to help businesses and public venues address the specific needs of the current touchless environment. 

I think we’ll continue to see this rapid rise in gesture and voice control in the post-COVID era. Gesture and voice technology were already emerging as viable alternatives to touchscreens even before COVID struck. Now, having gone through a global pandemic, it may be awhile before consumers are comfortable interacting with frequently touched displays.

Logitech

As companies begin to think about how to bring their employees back into the office, Logitech is helping to keep employees safe and secure by partnering with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to create contactless experiences in meeting rooms leveraging their voice assistant technologies. 

For our customers that use Amazon, our Logitech Solutions for Zoom Rooms with Alexa for Business allows employees to begin, end, and schedule meetings simply with their voice. Google customers can say “Hey Google” on Logitech Solutions for Google Meet to help them with all their conference needs and minimize contact, while Microsoft users are able to ask Cortana with Logitech Room Solutions for Microsoft Teams.

Mersive

Mersive Solstice has always offered touchless collaboration, content sharing, control, and markup for meeting and learning spaces. However, in 2020, Mersive launched three major new product initiatives that further enhance Mersive’s ability to support the hybrid workplace: Solstice Conference enhances collaboration among onsite and remote participants through touchless videoconferencing; Solstice Active Learning enables video routing for confidence monitors in large spaces where participants need to spread out; and Solstice Cloud allows organizations to monitor and manage the return to work through remote deployment analytics, alerts, and management capabilities. 

As we move into 2021, Mersive is focusing on the next iteration of capabilities that will support safe and healthy workplace collaboration—including smart new features built around room occupancy, monitoring of scheduled versus ad-hoc meetings, and more. 

OnQ

There’s no doubt the pandemic catalyzed massive adoption of low-touch and touchless solutions. To use retail as an example, people are looking for ways to shop safely, while stores are eager to find new ways to increase customer engagement without physical interaction. 

OnQ’s Converge Control lets shoppers scan a QR code on their phones to take control of an in-store digital display. What retailers especially love about this solution is that it doesn't require an app, and customers don’t need to connect to the store’s Wi-Fi network. What’s more, customers can purchase on the spot using their phones and have products shipped to their homes.

Peerless-AV

With an increased importance set on best ways to stay safe in the pandemic, Peerless-AV introduced new solutions for public health preparedness and viral transmission prevention with an Occupancy Control Kiosk, three variations of Temperature Sensing Digital Signage Kiosks, as well as Temperature Sensor Tabletop and Floor Stand Mounts. These solutions allow companies and businesses to follow guidelines in real time. 

The Temperature Sensing items offer self-service, non-contact temperature screening via a tablet; Occupancy Control regulates foot traffic at each point of entry and detects if a visitor is wearing a mask, while also displaying dynamic digital messaging, such as rules, instructions, wait times, promotions, and other information. 

Samsung

Businesses have had to shift quickly to outfit their spaces to ensure safety. One product designed to facilitate this is the Automatic Digital Hand Sanitizing station, equipped with MagicInfo and built-in IR motion-sensor. The kiosk dispenses sanitizing gel or foam and delivers safety information via the display screen that consumers need to follow while inside the building. Additionally, we have seen the Samsung Pro TV integrated into education and hospitality spaces to assist with messaging, wayfinding, and social-distancing protocols. 

Sennheiser

Remote meetings are no longer optional, but have quickly become a given. Travel limitations and social distancing recommendations have resulted in reduced room capacities at companies, so there will always be someone participating remotely, and that requires the right collaboration equipment. Moreover, there is a substantial demand for equipping more rooms with remote conferencing technology. 

Besides the obvious need for more supportive collaboration products, the increased sensitivity and awareness toward hygiene matters will continue. Users have become sensitive to interacting with shared devices, and so touchless workflows are on the rise. 

For reasons of simplicity and convenience, touchless audio was a focus for Sennheiser pre-COVID and will continue to be something that we explore long after COVID is behind us. We are happy to be able to offer a suite of products that meet touchless demands now and in future. 

Sharp

Sharp has been offering touchless solutions for years—making this year’s adjustment easier. Sharp worked with Amazon Alexa to create MFP Voice, a feature that has become essential to office safety. This voice activation feature offers a touchless solution by allowing users to print, copy, scan, and fax, simply by speaking the desired commands. 

Sharp has also developed Synappx Go, an app that can be installed on your smartphone and used to control your MFP’s scanning, copying, and printing needs. This means users touch their personal device and not a shared device.

Shure

The pandemic has altered audio capturing plans for a number of industries, and Shure’s array microphones—which are traditionally thought of for conference rooms or classrooms—have found success in providing quality audio in other professional applications. 

Where tabletop, lavalier, and handheld microphones are no longer feasible, Shure offers options of overhead-mounted array microphones with steerable coverage technology to provide broadcast-quality audio. The MXA910 array microphone, the MXA310 tabletop microphone, and the new MXA710 linear array microphones are the leading products in this category. MXA products have been used for several broadcast applications, including being mounted inconspicuously for reality TV shows and to capture interview audio in radio and TV studios.

ViewSonic

As it became clear that the pandemic was going to be a long-term issue, ViewSonic shifted product offerings to provide partners with ways to keep their businesses moving. With the continued need for wayfinding, communication, and safety, ViewSonic introduced health kiosks that hold a hand sanitizer dispenser (optional), a media player, and a 24- or 27-inch monitor that can be used to welcome customers or provide information as people enter a business. These displays come with integrated software that allows users to communicate wirelessly.

ViewSonic has been working with its factories and partners to ensure they have the resources to keep their business moving forward.

WolfVision

We’re seeing tremendous interest in our range of Cynap all-in-one AV appliances. This is especially true in education, corporate, and judicial environments, where people are looking to minimize the amount of interaction they are forced to have with shared surfaces. Overall, our Cynap solutions have proven to be an ideal way to swiftly implement safe working and learning environments because they provide all the functionality needed in the modern meeting space in a single appliance. This includes wireless presentation, HDMI connectivity, source selection, web conferencing (i.e. Zoom, MS Teams, BlueJeans, et cetera), and room control.

Yamaha

Earlier this year, Yamaha introduced ADECIA, a family of communication products for enterprise or meeting spaces. ADECIA provides all the components and automatic technologies to reduce set up time, costs, and complexities.

It introduces the RM-CG multi-beamforming ceiling microphone and RM-CR audio processor, and includes Yamaha's long-trusted PoE switches and VXL Series line array speakers. By utilizing four dynamic beams that continuously track voices and adaptive Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Human Voice Activity Detection technology, the ceiling microphone creates an audio experience that sounds as good as personal tabletop microphones. The solution auto-detects installed components, auto-configures the devices, and auto-optimizes audio performance so that components never have to be adjusted after the initial setup, even in reconfigurable rooms. 

Remember when we were all so excited for a wonderful new decade to begin with the year 2020? (Insert audible laugh here.) And then COVID-19 changed everything. The world came to a stop—businesses closed down (some for good), schools were shuttered, and introverts rejoiced as staying home made you a hero.

But the future is looking brighter for 2021, which pedants will happily tell you is actually the start of the decade, not 2020. The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have hit the market, and we can now see glimmers of light at the end of the stay-at-home tunnel.

This year has made me realize how precious our time together is, and so my business resolution for 2021 is to make more memories with the AV community and cherish the times we’re able to spend together, rather than rushing home to check my unread emails or worrying about my lack of sleep at a tradeshow.

I asked a handful of AV professionals to share their resolutions with me. I hope they will spark some thoughts about your own goals for 2021. Here’s what they had to say...

Nuna Becic, Markets, Global Integrated Systems Marketing, Shure

Our focus in 2021 will be continuing to help customers through evolving needs. With the pandemic restricting trade shows, business travel, and people in offices, we are all embarking on a new era in virtual meetings. Our job is to help customers keep their employees more engaged and productive. Now, more than ever, organizations of all types need to be agile and efficient for their stakeholders no matter where they meet: the office, a meeting room, at home, or on the road.

Garth Lobban, Director of Marketing, Atlona

We have two core 2021 business goals at Atlona: To build innovative AV products that speak to IT managers, and help people return to work and school safely with touchless collaboration and control solutions. The common thread to both simplify and evolve how people use and benefit from AV technology.

Bernice Cramer, Director of Global Marketing, Bose Professional

After a year full of challenges and surprises that tested creativity and endurance, my 2021 resolutions will be focusing on two important areas: An emphasis on listening to customers describe challenges and needs, especially now as they navigate how to evolve to a hybrid workplace and regather socially and spiritually. Just as important is our employees—helping them find balance for their health and happiness so they can continue navigating successfully while helping colleagues and customers alike.

Gladys Marrroquin, Audiovisual Consultant, Newcomb & Boyd

With COVID-19 catalyzing the need for flexible technology standards, I believe it would be wise to bolster our relationships with manufacturers who have been able to tackle current needs gracefully. It is important to keep in touch and reconnect with our local reps so they can help to keep us updated on each of their unique approaches, and keep those knowledge nuggets in mind when discussing needs with clients.

Nick Belcore, Executive Vice President, Peerless-AV

Heading into 2021, Peerless-AV will continue to focus on our core value of respect for people. We resolve to continue to find new ways to fully support our employees, customers, and partners in their professional endeavors as the world around us evolves. We will take full ownership, and drive impact first virtually, then in person as safety and circumstances permit. By furthering our investment in technology, we will enhance communication, safety, and ensure a cleaner, more resilient, and informed future for everyone.

Gina Sansivero, VP of Marketing and Corporate Communications, AtlasIED

I will work to ensure that 2021 will be a year of continuity and amplification at AtlasIED—our team will magnify what we have started in 2020. We will continue to reinforce our commitment to quality, to our dealer channel, to our industry, and to our employees. AtlasIED has a renewed brand identity and momentum in the industry, and we will continue to fuel that momentum through product development, support, engagement, training, and expansion. 2021 will be an exciting year, and I am resolute in continuing to build on our energy.

Chris Neto Market Development Manager - Experience and Engagement, Starin

2020 was a year of impactful change. For many, the challenge of shifting from office employee to a remote worker was a big enough change itself. In 2020, both AV companies and their employees tested their agility and resiliency in face of adversity. For years, AV sold and installed video conference systems, but many never turned on their cameras. Work culture as we know it has been changed. For 2021, my  resolution is to continue to deliver a higher level of “presence”. Can I deliver a better value to our customers by using collaboration tools? I think so. This will be my personal goal, to perfect that balance between in-person and digital presence. 

Kylie Holm, Director of Marketing, Neurilink

My 2021 business resolution is to continue crafting an outstanding customer experience. The customer experience is always at the forefront of our conversations at Neurilink—as it should be. Our vision isn’t to be the biggest, it’s to be the number one customer choice integrator in the Northwest.

We’re continually trying to find the right mix of flexibility and alignment with our proven process to create the best experience we can. 2021 will provide even more opportunity for us to dive deep into refining the customer experience as organizations rely more heavily on technologies that help employees connect and collaborate.

Joe Dunbar, Midwest Sales Manager, Sennheiser

In 2021, I will stay committed to my continued education.  Like many of us, I was in a position where I could use some of my time to get new certifications and attend a variety of educational and informational seminars or trainings.  Unfortunately though, I allowed a few of 2020’s curveballs to get in the way of (finally) taking my CTS, which I am on track to finish in Q1.

I promise that I will stay committed to supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives and using my voice and power to support equality in the workplace and in my community. I’m listening and I'm learning.

Kim Brown, Senior Director of Marketing, Planar

In 2021, flexibility will be key. We remain committed to offering our customers innovative display solutions that provide unparalleled visual performance, but also understand that their needs will vary during these unprecedented times. Despite the uncertainties next year will bring, the industry will continue to demand superior products, service, and support. From maintaining day-to-day business operations to executing one-of-a-kind installations, we’ll be here. We’re listening and ready to adapt to help make our customers’ visions a reality. 

Vanessa Jensen, Senior Specialist, Market Development, Shure

2021 will be about adaptability. Shure will focus on helping customers remain open to change and evolve with the ever-changing business climate. It is clear that the work-from-home trend will continue into 2021, and we will continue to support our customers remotely so they can offer the best virtual meeting spaces possible. Technology will play an even bigger important role in the post-COVID world, enabling new, socially distant working practices. Providing high-quality end to end audio solutions that feature unmatched ease of deployment and more consistent experience will be more essential than ever.

Luke Jordan, Owner, Electro Acoustics

My goal this year is to take on the odds with my team—stickin' together like flour and water to make that slow dough! We worked for everything we have and we're going to stick up for each other—like brothers from another mother, kind of like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. 

No matter the industry, when looking for ways to operate safely during the pandemic, flexibility is key. Whether it’s a restaurant adapting to outdoor dining by bringing its background audio system out to the sidewalk, a house of worship accommodating its socially distanced congregation in an overflow space, or a bar hosting stand-up comedy in its backyard, having the flexibility to modify plans or pivot to new methods is more important than it’s ever been.

For contractors, that might mean considering portable P.A.s in situations where they’d only specified installed solutions previously. Thankfully, manufacturers have beefed up their approach to portable systems, so contractors can specify one without sacrificing sound quality. 

“We can see ways to move something that typically was installed into something that wasn’t even thought of as a solution years ago,” said Craig Lambrecht, director for portable P.A.s at Harman.

[The Integration Guide to AV in a Post-COVID-19 World]

So the timing isn’t all bad, he said, when you consider features that have improved in recent years. Take battery life, for instance—even as speaker sizes have decreased, the runtime users can expect has increased significantly. 

“A lot of portable P.A. systems were even originally designed to be very flexible and moved around very easily—and it’s even easier now, as we have more and more solutions with improved battery life, so you can take your system completely off the grid if you want,” said Lambrecht. “You can have a nice P.A. system that’s pro quality and fills a gap as we try to figure out this new world we’re in.”

Harman recently released the JBL EON ONE Compact portable P.A. system, which checks both size and battery boxes: it weighs just under 18 pounds and features a swappable, rechargeable battery that can last up to 12 hours. As well, it includes a four-channel mixer loaded with dbx and Lexicon-inspired effects including 4-band EQ, reverb, chorus, and delay. Bluetooth connectivity makes it easy to stream audio from mobile devices or link up to four speakers via the JBL Compact Control app. 

“It’s a jack-of-all-trades,” Lambrecht said. “We put a lot of time into thinking about how this product fits for hospitality, into houses of worship, into corporate, education, government. It gives pro output, but it also gives you a bunch of features for whatever you want to run into it.”

[The Integration Guide to Houses of Worship]

Though social distancing has meant smaller crowd sizes, a system isn’t selected based on the number of people in a room; it’s the size of the space that counts, so those farthest from the source still get clear vocals. While ensuring even coverage, one complaint such spaces have struggled with is noise control, said David Fuller, senior director, product management – live sound at QSC. “Many live venues, bars, and clubs are located in areas of high residential or commercial density and must comply with local code or city noise ordinances,” he explained. “The main offender is the low-frequency energy from subwoofers, which is typically omnidirectional in nature and more easily transmitted between neighboring spaces.”

QSC’s KS Series cardioid subwoofers corral that low-frequency energy, “keeping bass in its place.” “The cardioid radiation pattern is designed to keep LF energy off the stage and from leaking back into stage mics,” Fuller said. “However, in many other foreground music applications, cardioid technology can also direct LF energy away from neighboring boundaries.”

To achieve this, he explained, a single KS212C could be the answer for a plug-and-play solution. In situations where excessive sound in specific areas is undesirable, the low-frequency cardioid radiation of the KS212C can be useful. Powered by a 3,600-watt Class D amplifier and featuring dual 12-inch excursion drivers each arranged in a 6th order bandpass chamber, the cardioid subwoofer produces 15 dB more output at the front of the cabinet than at the rear. It features aluminum handles and four rear-mounted casters for ease of transport, while two M20 sockets accept a 35mm loudspeaker pole in either horizontal or vertical orientation.

Another recent improvement comes thanks to portable P.A.s’ larger-bodied cousins. Technology has increasingly been imported from higher-end products targeted to more demanding environments. This means you’re less likely to have to sacrifice sound for size and flexibility.

“Technology that is proven at the highest end of the industry, it’ll be adapted to something you might buy for a few hundred dollars,” said Andrew Cho, senior product manager for portable speakers at Bosch, pointing to more sophisticated DSP modules that are making their way into their portable products. “We’re always making incremental engineering advancements through our touring sound and our commercial portfolio, and those trickle down into portable.”

The Electro-Voice PXM-12MP from Bosch is one such example. A dedicated portable loudspeaker system that provides convenient, powerful monitoring and playback functionality, its DSP offers four EQ presets, high and low shelving, parametric midrange EQs, adjustable low-cut filters, a tunable feedback notch filter, and recallable user settings. An integrated pole mount at the front allows for additional applications, and with a dedicated subwoofer and the adjustable subwoofer matching LPFs of the PXM-12MP, a full 3-way system can be configured to create a compact main P.A.

“In terms of its form factor, it looks like a stage wedge,” Cho said, “but it has points on it. If you want to put it up, get it off the ground and install it, you can. Flexibility is key.”

Flexibility—and, unsurprisingly, portability—are ultimately what end users who are in the market for portable P.A.s are looking for.

“End users really care most about portability, but then it still has to have good performance, it still has to have the right feature set,” said Craig Jackson, product manager for portable P.A. at Bose. “But if you have great performance and a great feature set, but it weighs 100 pounds and isn’t portable, then it can’t be useful.”

That’s where he says the Bose S1 Pro comes in. “It’s our smallest P.A. system, but it’s got a balance of portability to performance,” he explained. “It plays louder and goes lower than you would expect it to, given the size of the product.”

The S1 clocks in at 13 inches high, 9.5 inches wide, and 11.2 inches deep, and it weighs about 16 pounds, yet it produces horizontal coverage comparable to that of Bose’s larger L1 portable line array systems. It features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can provide up to 11 hours of play time, plus an onboard 3-channel mixer with independent ToneMatch, reverb, and EQ controls on two channels, and a dedicated channel for either wired or wireless music sources. Wireless Bluetooth streaming is available through one-touch pairing, and multiple positions are supported by Auto EQ to ensure everything sounds great, regardless of placement orientation.

Looking ahead, it appears that sophisticated audio technologies will continue to trickle down into portable products—possibly even faster than before. General changes to design technology play an important role in that process and will continue to influence the rate at which product innovations enter the portable P.A. market.

“Improvements in the speed of industrial design lets us be much more nimble and get feedback from a greater set of users,” said Harman’s Lambrecht. “Now we can prototype something, get it in the hands of users in all of our markets, and we have the ability to get more feedback and incorporate it back into the product.”

New features inspired by direct user experience might increase the number of situations where specifying portable P.A.s make sense. And when it comes down to it, portable P.A.s’ lower price points are just as important—particularly during a period where budgets might be tightening.

“A lot of businesses are seeing budget restraints, but fortunately, portable P.A. fits the budget while still providing professional audio quality,” concluded Bosch’s Cho. “We’re seeing a lot more contractors take a look at that price point and start thinking about installing portable P.A.s in certain applications that could also be used for mobile applications, where they might have to go outdoors, so it makes sense to take a look at the portable range.”  

AV Technology is hosting a free webinar on the Bose + Sennheiser Touchless Audio Solution on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 11:00 a.m. ET. 

Industry veteran and regular AV Technology contributor Cindy Davis will host the event, which will discuss how Bose and Sennheiser have collaborated on a forward-thinking audio collaboration solution. Attendees will learn about the Bose ES1 and DS4 Ceiling Audio Solutions, complete conferencing systems designed for fully integrated meeting spaces and classrooms. The ES1 and DS4 systems combine the premium performance of the Bose in-ceiling loudspeakers and the automatic beamforming Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphone—along with a Bose amplifier and DSP—to deliver a seamless experience that empowers productivity.

Featured speakers include Chris Phillips, technical applications engineer, Sennheiser; Erik Beyer, business development manager, Sennheiser; and Paxson Laird, manager of sales engineering at Bose. 

“In 2020 and beyond, touchless has become a benchmark by which conferencing systems are being measured,” said Cindy Davis, contributing editor to AV Technology. “Now set the bar higher, and bring together the engineers behind two of the industry’s most highly respected audio brands and you’ve got a touchless audio solution that is a complete conferencing system for fully integrated meeting spaces and classrooms. I am thrilled to be moderating a discussion with Paxson Laird, Erik Beyer, and Chris Phillips, and to share their expertise on the future of touchless audio.”

To learn more and register, visit bit.ly/TouchlessAudio.

The staff at Systems Contractor News has chosen the most impactful pro AV products of 2020. 

1 Beyond Automate VX System

1 Beyond’s Automate VX solution shows the active speaker with seamless automated camera switching between a presenter and an audience or people around a large boardroom table. Up to 10 cameras, including 1 Beyond NDI and tracking cameras, can be placed anywhere to create a more immersive experience for remote participants in hybrid meetings and classes. It integrates with popular DSPs, a wide array of microphone types, and hardware and software conferencing codecs.

Analog Way Midra 4K Series Presentation Switchers

Midra 4K is a new range of 4K60 multilayer video mixers and seamless presentation switchers ideally tailored to medium-sized fixed installations and live environments. The Midra 4K switchers feature ten inputs, two outputs, and a dedicated multiviewer to monitor the screens and all connected sources. They offer versatile 4K connectivity, ultra-low-latency 4K60 10-bit 4:4:4 image processing, genlock synchronization, true seamless switching, edge-blending capabilities, audio processing, HDR support, and HDCP 2.2 compatibility.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/analog-way-unveils-new-midra-4k-series-presentation-switchers

AtlasIED Atmosphere

Touchless control, automation, and artificial intelligence offer AV integrators and end users an intuitive way to deliver audio to restaurants, bars, hotels, school campuses, houses of worship, and other commercial environments. The Atmosphere system is modular, scalable, and customizable, giving integrators a solution for a wide variety of applications. But what really sets Atmosphere apart among digital audio systems is the innovative technology built into its digital signal processors, graphical user interfaces, programming software, and controls, as well as its breadth of interoperable products. The Atmosphere platform doesn’t require dayslong training to program and deploy, and it offers users a simple, modern system interface that takes minutes to learn.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/atlasied-launches-new-atmosphere-platform-to-simplify-the-installation-customization-and-utilization-of-digital-audio-systems

Barco ClickShare Conference

ClickShare Conference’s wireless conferencing revolutionizes the workplace experience, delivering powerful remote communication with easy-to-use wireless collaboration to any meeting space. Start a meeting from your device using your preferred conference tool and ClickShare Conference automatically connects wirelessly to room cameras, speakerphones, and sound bars for an immersive meeting experience. In less than seven seconds, users can conference, collaborate, and click with Barco’s secure, connected, and cloud-managed solution.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC are Certified for Microsoft Teams, compatible with Zoom, and work with Google Meet, so no matter what your favorite UC provider is, you’re equipped to collaborate with confidence anywhere. An adaptive microphone system isolates your voice. Instantly adjustable noise cancellation lets you personalize what you hear from your surrounding environment. And the included Bose USB Link Bluetooth module provides a reliable wireless connection—all so you can work better, wherever.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/bose-noise-cancelling-headphones-700-uc-now-available

Crestron 4-Series

From installations as small as a single room to those spanning an enterprise, Crestron 4-Series control systems enable organizations to intelligently and efficiently unify and control the growing number of devices and building systems on the network. With 15x faster processing, up to 4x more memory, and meeting the most robust security standards in the industry, the 4-Series gives organizations greater power and flexibility than ever before to intelligently integrate and manage disparate networked technologies on one secure platform.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/crestron-launches-next-gen-4-series-control-systems

d&b audiotechnik KSLi System

The new d&b audiotechnik KSLi loudspeaker system delivers a complete installation package for the most comprehensive range of high-performance installations and applications. The system features the KSLi8 and KSLi12 loudspeakers, combined with KSLi-SUB/KSLi-GSUB subwoofers, plus a complete catalog of system-specific accessories and customization options. KSLi is acoustically identical to the mobile KSL system and delivers the same remarkable performance characteristics: full-range broadband directivity control, extended low-frequency response, and enhanced high-frequency resolution.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/dandb-audiotechnik-introduces-installation-specific-ksli-system-at-infocomm-2020

Extron IPCP Pro xi Series

As AV systems grow in size and complexity, control systems must meet every demand with fast, dependable performance. At the core of these control systems, Extron’s new IPCP Pro xi Series control processors deliver some of the most powerful and versatile performance standards to date. With up to four times more memory and significantly enhanced processing power for increased deployment speeds and improved runtime functionality, this series is designed to excel in even the most demanding AV applications.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/extron-debuts-its-most-powerful-control-processors

G&D North America RemoteAccess-CPU

G&D North America’s latest KVM product, RemoteAccess-CPU, lets operators integrate virtual machines into KVM installations to create hybrid infrastructures. The new modules establish a connection between matrix systems and computers or virtual machines, which can be remotely accessed via network protocols (RDP, VNC, and SSH). The RemoteAccess-CPU supports video resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz (or 3840 x 2160 @ 30 Hz), as well as USB HID and embedded audio. After appropriate configuration, users can access any number of virtual sources and computers directly via KVM matrix system—uniformly and exactly as producers would access computers under their desk.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/gandd-north-america-launches-remoteaccess-cpu

Kramer VIA GO²

VIA GO² gives iOS, Android, Chromebook, PC, and Mac users instant wireless connectivity with 4K advanced presentation capabilities. The product features content streaming with crystal-clear mirrored images and precise video playback and includes iOS, Windows, and Android mirroring. VIA GO² is compact (7 x 7 cm) and flexible to install, with both built-in Wi-Fi and LAN connectivity. It includes industry-leading 1,024-bit encryption for secure use on the internal network.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/kramer-introduces-via-go-wireless-presentation-device

LG 55-inch Transparent OLED Touch Display

LG’s Transparent OLED Touch (model 55EW5TF) is a 55-inch digital signage display that uses projected capacitive (P-Cap) film technology for a highly responsive, accurate touch experience that allows significantly greater transparency than conventional transparent LCD displays. The technology provides a user experience that is as close as possible to interacting with bright, colorful content in mid-air. These displays are customizable and expandable. They can stand alone, or combine to create a giant transparent touch video wall.

Matrox D-Series Graphics Cards

Purpose-built to power high-density video walls, Matrox D-Series single-slot, quad-4K graphics cards can be combined to drive up to 16 synchronized 4K displays. In concert with an array of software and developer tools for custom control and application development, D-Series is designed to be the ideal tool for today’s most demanding commercial and critical 24/7 video wall applications.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/matrox-d1450-graphics-card-for-high-density-output-video-walls-now-shipping

Meyer Sound Spacemap Go

Spacemap Go is a spatial sound design and mixing tool that leverages the processing power of the Meyer Sound GALAXY Network Platform in an intuitive iPad app. The Spacemap Go iPadOS app provides a flexible, easy-to-use touchpad interface for Spacemap multichannel panning using one or more connected iPads. With thousands of processors worldwide, GALAXY with Spacemap Go has the widest reach of any system for spatial sound design and mixing.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/meyer-sound-previews-new-spatial-sound-tool-with-spacemap-go-at-ise-2020

Netgear M4250 Switches

Built from the ground up for 1G AV over IP, the new AV Line of M4250 switches combines years of networking experience with best practices from leading AV professionals to elevate your AV-over-IP deployments. A new AV-centric user interface enables speedy configuration changes, while the sleek front panel with rear-facing ports looks great in a rack. Models with PoE+ and Ultra 90 PoE++ allow powering of AV endpoints and more. The AV Line is built with NETGEAR IGMP Plus for true out-of-the-box functionality.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/netgear-debuts-new-line-of-switches-for-avoip-market

Nureva HDL200 Audio Conferencing System

Nureva’s HDL200 audio conferencing system provides the optimal audio environment for dispersed groups. With refined aesthetics and 4,096 virtual microphones providing true full-room coverage, the HDL200 system is purpose-built for any space up to 18’ x 18’, and it installs easily almost anywhere—on a wall, floor stand, or display. The system calibrates automatically and continuously so the room is always “ready to go” for every meeting style—even if the furniture moves.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/nureva-to-debut-new-hdl200-system-at-ise-2020

Peerless-AV 65-inch Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Display

Featuring a fully sealed, IP66 rated design and a patented Dynamic Thermal Transfer System, Peerless-AV’s 65-inch Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Display is built to withstand the harsh outdoors. With features including an operating temperature range of -31°F to 140°F and an optically bonded cover glass for excellent picture quality even in direct sunlight, this digital signage or entertainment solution enhances the viewing experience in any season.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/peerless-av-debuts-new-65-inch-xtreme-high-bright-outdoor-display

QSC Q-SYS Core 8 Flex

The Q-SYS Core 8 Flex audio, video and control processor from QSC extends the applications of the Q-SYS Ecosystem into a wider range of smaller installations with lower channel capacity and targeted processing requirements. The Q-SYS Core 8 Flex offers eight flex analog channels, eight GPIO, two RS-232, plus network AV&C processing. It features USB integration with all major web conferencing applications, eight channels of AEC, and a full-featured control engine for third-party device integration.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/qsc-announces-new-q-sys-core-processors

RGB Spectrum XtendPoint

XtendPoint KVM-over-IP extenders allow operators to share control of remote systems across a room or worldwide enterprise. Secure communication and control are provided for either point-to-point extension or networked operation over standard gigabit Ethernet. XtendPoint’s KlickSimple navigation enables operators to seamlessly control multiple remote computers simultaneously. Integration with RGB Spectrum’s video wall processors allows simultaneous video sharing to both desktops and video walls, making XtendPoint an ideal solution for control rooms.

Shure Intellimix Room

IntelliMix Room is the first audio processing software for Windows 10 PCs that is fully optimized for use with Shure’s networked system microphones. This secured software-based DSP aims to help integrators make the most of their time, requiring minimal customer setup or additional special hardware. Providing up to 16 channels of audio processing, IntelliMix Room deploys the same algorithms as Shure’s P300 IntelliMix Audio Conferencing Processor but is installed on the same in-room PC as the conferencing soft codec. 

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/shure-announces-intellimix-room-audio-processing-software-at-ise-2020

Sony VPL-GTZ380 Laser Projector

Sony’s VPL-GTZ380 is a native 4K (4096 x 2160), 10,000-lumen SXRD projector. The model combines outstanding contrast, brightness, high dynamic range, and resolution, with a wide color gamut to offer an exceptional visual experience in any distance and lighting condition, making it ideal for a wide range of corporate, entertainment, and simulation applications. At 112 pounds, the flagship projector incorporates cutting-edge technology into a small form factor that provides installation flexibility and quiet operation.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/sony-unveils-flagship-4k-professional-sxrd-laser-projector

WolfVision Cynap Pure Pro

The Cynap Pure Pro wireless presentation and collaboration system provides app-free, dongle-free, BYOD wireless screen mirroring and a suite of easy-to-use collaboration tools ideal for use in touchless meeting rooms and hybrid learning and working environments. Built-in support for Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and whiteboard and annotation tools are just a few of the key features that enable this “all-in-one,” multifunctional appliance to help solve many of the challenges of the post-COVID-19 world.

Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/wolfvision-to-launch-wireless-presentation-system-at-ise-2019

There’s no question that the ways people come together to worship have changed dramatically this year. That has also meant a lot of changes to the way services sound—and what they may sound like in the future.

“COVID-19 has pushed everybody to understand that a lot of their congregation base, even in the future, has found ways to make home church, and church home,” said Joshua Maichele, application engineer, install and house of worship specialist, USA and Canada, at L-Acoustics.

The various ways that houses of worship (HoW) may handle this new frontier—from procuring new audio and video gear, to repurposing existing church gear, to providing more streaming-focused support and training—may seem at first like a daunting challenge to those who provide audio services, but as Jeff Hawley, marketing maestro at Allen & Heath, noted, it might be an opportunity for those who are considering the deeper issues at hand.

“The main concern I’m hearing on the integrator and consultant side has to do with how to best tackle this sudden shift in requirements from in-person services to streamed and on-demand video production,” he said. “The root concern, though, is likely some variant of ‘Can we continue to provide a sense of community and real connection in all formats and flavors to the congregation?’”

For systems contractors, determining how to provide assistance in creating a welcoming space, both physically and virtually, may be a part of the workflow for the foreseeable future, Maichele said. “I think web streaming services is not just an option anymore, which means your P.A. selection is very important. Maybe that colored sound you like in your room doesn’t translate well to streaming, and you have to figure out how to deal with that.”

[The Integration Guide to Houses of Worship]

Tres Cozad, systems engineering manager at Yamaha Corp. of America, agreed. “Streaming is here to stay. There is no doubt about that. This means systems contractors need to be thinking about network bandwidth and ways to prioritize streaming on Sundays. Well before the building is constructed or modified, church production teams and integrators need to be more cognizant of the quality of audio and video production for the ‘at-home’ viewer experience. Contractors have to remember that the experience needs to be just as engaging on a 5-inch phone screen as it is inside the room.”

One complicating factor for making the virtual experience match the live one is budget—although finding funding to update audio systems is not a new challenge for many houses of worship. However, as Hawley pointed out, protocols like Audinate’s Dante may provide more evident benefits these days.

“In scenarios where church budgets don’t allow for major new purchases, it may be possible to shuffle audio gear around and repurpose a secondary console that was previously used for monitor mixing or the youth worship space and rejigger it for tailoring the broadcast mix,” Hawley said. “With a well-designed Dante network, these sorts of system tweaks can be easily made in the system software configuration.”

Expanding Audio

Another challenge that goes beyond the pandemic-related ones currently facing houses of worship? L-Acoustics’ Maichele noted the trend of expansion, pointing to the issues that arise when, say, a megachurch expands to a multi-campus model that features smaller satellite spaces.

Providing the right sonic fit for particular spaces is also the goal of new augmented arrays from d&b audiotechnik. The A-Series is built for spaces in need of a Goldilocks solution. As Marc Lopez, vice president of marketing Americas at d&b audiotechnik, noted, “They serve as the best balance when a point source is too little for a space and a line array is too much.”

“The A-Series models are low-profile enclosures that help preserve sightlines in venues with lower trim heights while still delivering high SPL,” he continued. “They are designed for variable dispersion through modularity and adjustable angles. They solve the mid-band coupling issue found in traditional constant-curvature or arrayable point sources and feature virtually no audible seam between cabinets.”

Adjusting to the New Normal

A new issue that Yamaha’s Cozad sees for the future for houses of worship will be to ensure their congregants feel comfortable coming back to what may have previously been packed indoor spaces.

“The main challenge will be getting the congregations to be comfortable in large gatherings again,” Cozad said. “Most will need to begin transitioning other parts of the church into comfortable overflow spaces.”

Scroll through the gallery below for house of worship audio products.

To that end, he noted, there’s a benefit to having an existing networked audio system like Dante, which can allow staff to make that sort of transition quickly. “With Yamaha DZR-D powered speakers with Dante, all they need is a wired network connection to their Dante network and an outlet,” he said. “A café or lobby can quickly be turned into that much-needed second venue.”

Until congregations begin returning to services in numbers like they were before COVID-19, acoustic conditions in now-emptier spaces will certainly be an important consideration.

“Who knows how long before we go back to having a church service where every seat is filled,” L-Acoustics’ Maichele said. “When you strip it down, when everybody is distanced or there are so few people in the room, it’s really hard to find the same feel. How do we make it feel the same, so the emotion is still there?”

Dealing with challenging acoustical issues is not new for those working in houses of worship. Pierre Germain, Meyer Sound’s Constellation design manager, says he often hears from audio pros about spaces that “are either too reverberant for speech intelligibility or too acoustically dry for choral singing, congregational singing, or organ music.” He noted that Constellation, their acoustic system, addresses these concerns.

“By adding acoustic treatment to the space (as specified by an acoustic consultant), the room reverberation can be reduced to a level that is suitable for speech and some amplification,” he said. “Then Constellation can be installed to increase the reverberation to various lengths to sound like a larger church or cathedral and make it suitable for singing and organ music.”

With fewer people occupying spaces, and with those people spread further apart, there are more exposed surfaces from which audio can reflect, reducing intelligibility and increasing noise. “The rise in empty seats increases the number of hard surfaces in the room—and removes a lot of the sound dampening benefits with larger groups—which can create an echo chamber effect that distorts the audio, introduces artifacts and reduces the overall quality,” said Adam Shulman, market category lead for installed sound at Bose Professional.

[How Audio Helps Houses of Worship Regather with Confidence]

The solution is not necessarily to increase the audio volume, he said. “In an effort to bring parishioners back together while they remain physically apart, churches might be tempted to add more speakers and raise audio levels to compensate for these problems, but that only exacerbates the acoustic issues. Instead of spending money on additional equipment, the focus should be on implementing changes and making adjustments that can make a difference.”

In examining the space and considering how it might be filled differently in the future than it was before, one option is to install a system that can adapt to evolving needs.

“From the source side of the equation, selecting the right loudspeaker allows you to cover the meeting space efficiently and effectively,” Shulman said. “If portability is a requirement, the Bose F1 flexible array loudspeaker system provides high output and full bandwidth while also allowing adjustments to the coverage for different audience geometries.”

Planning for all these possibilities—for better streaming of services now and in the future, for the differences in acoustics for a potentially smaller congregation initially—are all important today. But it’s equally important to remember why people gather for services in the first place.

“Worship is about sharing experiences together,” said Lopez. “While we are currently limited in our ability to be together, the desire to share music and spirituality will bring us together once it is safe to do so, and the expectation for an impactful and engaging in-person experience will still be a high priority.”

Synnex Corp. has announced a strategic agreement with Bose Professional to offer its suite of Bose Work solutions. The agreement makes Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC available to IT resellers and AV integrators through Synnex. Customers also have access to Bose Work videobars, loudspeakers, amplifiers, and processors.

“This agreement brings a new, exceptionally engineered product line from an industry-leading brand to our customer base at a time when it is most needed,” said TJ Trojan, senior vice president, product management, North America, Synnex Corp. “Combining Bose Work solutions with Synnex' UCC’s expertise and dedicated support, we can enable our partners to more seamlessly provide best-of-class collaborative solutions for remote working, remote learning, call center, return to office, and hybrid work models in this rapidly growing solution segment.”

“Working with Synnex enables Bose to provide reliable solutions to a wider range of customers as the way people work and collaborate continues to quickly evolve,” said Morten Jorgensen, director of global sales and perations for Bose Professional. “We are proud to align with a trusted partner like Synnex and look forward to their IT channel and UC expertise.”

To learn more about Bose Work through SYNNEX Corporation, email boseteam@synnex.com. 

The What: Bose Professional has unveiled the L1 Pro portable line array, the next-generation of its slender PA system technology. The first major overhaul to the line since Bose introduced the L1 17 years ago, the new L1 Pro systems aim to usher in a new era of on-the-go audio for a wide array of applications. 

The What Else: The new line consists of three systems—the L1 Pro8, the L1 Pro16, and L1 Pro32 with its choice of two subwoofers—all offering 180-degree horizontal coverage along with high clarity and tonal balance. A RaceTrack woofer design integrated into the L1 Pro8, L1 Pro16, and the Bose Sub1 and Sub2 modular subwoofers provides extended base response and less bulk, making the subwoofers easier to transport, carry, and fit onstage. Built-in multi-channel mixers offer EQ, reverb, and phantom power, while Bluetooth streaming capabilities and access to the complete library of ToneMatch custom EQ presets allows performers to play with recording-studio tonal quality.

Related: Bose on AV in the Post-COVID World

The Bose L1 Pro portable systems are complimented by the L1 Mix app, placing wireless control in the hands of users for on-the-fly tweaks. Performers can adjust mixer settings via phone or tablet from the stage, or even walk the room, hear how the mix sounds, and fine-tune on the go. Volume and tone settings can be changed in the app as well, with users able to watch the LED encoder move to match—the mixer and app are always in sync, in real-time. 

• The L1 Pro8 is the most portable model, weighing in at 38.9 pounds (17.7 kilograms). Well suited for shows in small venues such as coffee shops and cafes, the slim design allows performers to benefit from setup simplicity and clarity. The C-shaped line array features eight articulated 2-inch neodymium drivers, and180-degree horizontal coverage with wide vertical dispersion allows audiences to hear clearly whether seated or standing, and even off to the extreme sides in small to medium venues. The integrated 7-by-13-inch subwoofer features a high-excursion RaceTrack driver, which is engineered to rival the performance of a conventional 12-inch woofer with a smaller footprint.
• The L1 Pro16 balances power and portability, offering a streamlined system with high output and extended low frequency. Weighing 53.7 pounds (24.4 kilograms), it is well suited for DJs, singer-songwriters, and small groups performing in small-to-medium sized venues like clubs and bars, with users benefitting from portable system that offers extra room in a vehicle and on stage, alongside expanded bandwidth. Its J-shaped line array features 16 articulated 2-inch neodymium drivers, and 180-degree horizontal coverage, tight vertical control on top, and wide dispersion on the bottom covers audiences whether set up on the floor, an elevated stage, and even off to the extreme sides in medium-to-large venues. Its integrated 10-by-18-inch subwoofer features a high-excursion neodymium RaceTrack driver to provide the performance of a conventional 15-inch woofer. 
• The L1 Pro32 is the most advanced L1 portable line array, weighing 28.8 pounds (13.0 kilograms). The Sub1 and Sub2 modular subwoofers weigh 35.5 pounds (16.1 kilograms) and 51.7 pounds (23.4 kilograms) respectively, meaning even this top-of-the-line model is powerful and portable. With high clarity and output, the L1 Pro32 gives DJs, singer-songwriters, and bands a top-quality portable PA system with powerful bass for medium-to-large-sized venues and events such as weddings and festivals. Its straight line array features 32 articulated 2-inch neodymium drivers, and 180-degree horizontal coverage with the most focused vertical coverage pattern and highest SPL over distance in an L1—providing intricate sonic detail, clarity, and consistency, even off to the extreme sides in larger venues. It combines with the Bose Sub1 or Sub2 powered bass module via a single cable, and SubMatch connectivity is included for both power and audio. Users have the option to stack two Sub1 or Sub2 subwoofers for even more bass, or unleash Cardioid Mode for focused, directional performance that negates rear-firing bass energy, steering the bass out front, and reducing feedback.

Each L1 Pro system features a built-in mixer, allowing creators to connect various instruments, microphones, and other sources with ease. Two combo XLR-1/4-inch phantom-powered inputs, 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch (3.5 millimeter) aux inputs are included. Illuminated rotary encoders provide instant access to volume, tone, and reverb settings per channel. There is even the option to add in additional instruments and other audio sources via a dedicated ToneMatch port—one cable provides both power and digital audio between the system and an optional Bose T4S or T8S mixer (sold separately).

“The new L1 Pro family gives users an ideal balance of performance and control on stage and portability everywhere else,” said Craig Jackson, portable PA category manager for Bose Professional. “We took what our customers loved about the original L1 systems and focused on making improvements in almost every dimension. The L1 Pro family delivers more output and bass extension than ever before and doesn’t compromise on portability. We’ve expanded the I/O and integrated ToneMatch technology allowing users to quickly optimize the sound of their instruments and microphones. And with our new L1 Mix app complete control of all mixing functionality is available from your mobile device. We are excited bring the L1 Pro family to market and can’t wait for our customers to experience them.” 

The Bottom Line: These three new portable PA systems are designed to deliver the flexibility for a wide variety of styles and audiences, and provide a solution for creators reintroducing live music and sound experiences into venues and online platforms. The ultra-portable L1 Pro8 is best suited for intimate spaces; the more powerful L1 Pro16 performs in small-to-medium spaces; and the peak-performance L1 Pro32 is a top-level portable system for entertaining large audiences.

The L1 Pro portable line array systems will be available starting October 2020.

The global health crisis has introduced a number of challenges as we navigate how to move forward with work, school, and attending services each week. Integrators and system designers are on the front lines, helping to make this transition smooth and successful for their customers. Finding the right solution has proved particularly challenging for church leaders, however, who are tasked with bringing parishioners together across a variety of locations, whether they are worshipping in person or attending virtually from home.

We are in a transitional period in which some sermons are given outdoors, some inside with a limited number of socially distanced people, and an increasing number are delivered online to parishioners attending streaming services. Now more than ever, houses of worship need technology partners with the expertise to guide them toward solutions that are situationally adaptable, while delivering consistent sound quality and reliability.

[The Integration Guide to Houses of Worship]

As regathering increases, church leaders need to maintain a focus on audio quality for those “in attendance,” whether outside the church, inside it, or online. These different scenarios have created unique challenges—and opportunities—for AV professionals, who need to guide church leaders when considering how both spaces and AV equipment will be used differently, helping them to define suitable and flexible solutions. As church leaders figure out how to serve, connect, and inspire their members, it’s key for industry experts to help guide them to create successful online and in-person worship services.

Making an Empty Room Sound Great

With smaller congregations more spread out and rooms at lower occupancy, church leaders need an expert resource to help them understand the impact and their options with respect to the two factors they can control: where sound is directed and what happens to it when it gets there. 

As AV professionals, we know that not all room spaces behave the same acoustically—rooms that are wide but not deep need a wide coverage pattern, and ceiling height is also an important factor. Designers and installers can explain how both the space and the objects and materials in the space will alter how sound behaves in it. This can be examined objectively through acoustic modeling tools like EASE, CATT-Acoustic, Odeon, and others that enable integrators to design and install the best solution based on room geometry, worship program material, budget, and other considerations.

Current social distancing guidelines mean that a pre-pandemic 400-seat church could reach capacity at just 75 occupants today. This can be challenging both for church leaders, who are used to seeing full pews, and for those responsible for the church’s audio system. AV professionals can walk through how each room is set up—including its shape, structure, and the materials used—providing context as audio is remapped and specific equipment and acoustical treatments are recommended.

Focus on Audio First, Then Video

It is easy for church leaders to become overwhelmed when making the move to streaming weekly services. And while video quality is certainly important, audio delivers significantly more value to congregants who are eager to connect with the spoken word. It may be tempting for churches to stream in the highest resolution possible, but they need to understand this may cause playback issues and degrade the audio quality on the receiving end, so choosing 1080p (over UHD 4K) combined with compression will deliver the service to more individuals—regardless of their bandwidth. Members may be willing to forgive a video stream that is closer to standard definition than high definition, but if the audio is poor, it won’t matter. The service won’t come through and church members won’t be able to experience a true connection to their community

To ensure attendees connect with the messages being shared, worship spaces need to have access to technology that delivers consistent, high-quality audio, regardless of whether it’s a church’s installed sound system or a portable P.A. set up in the church’s parking lot or nearby green space. Integrators who partner with manufacturers who offer a breadth of audio systems across applications gain the confidence of providing a consistent level of quality, ease-of-use and system flexibility regardless of the form factor or location, from portable to installed P.A.s and even wearable devices such as headphones—which are often overlooked. This consistency enables technical teams to make these shifts in worship location and style without having to reinvent the wheel each time.

Delivering a Dynamic Experience

As houses of worship open back up, congregations will expect the audio experience to be clear and consistent, no matter where they worship. Some will be eager for an in-person service, whether in a socially distanced church, a park, or the parking lot outside. Others who can’t be there physically or who are hesitant to attend in the current climate will continue to join from home.

By partnering with manufacturers who offer a variety of audio equipment, integrators can ensure their solutions and advice to houses of worship address a variety of audio challenges in these changing environments, ultimately delivering a dynamic, high-quality sound to their congregations each time. This ultimately puts the system designer and integrator in an ideal partnership position, helping to guide houses of worship as they navigate these transformations while delivering what is needed for each situation.

The following are the latest conferencing headsets from leading audio brands that are designed to provide the highest-quality sound for the future of teamwork.

As we continue the gradual shift back to normalcy, there’s one thing that isn’t changing. For many, work-from-home arrangements are becoming permanent, at least for part of the week. 

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Audio in the New Era of UC

For AV pros, that means one thing: amateur hour is over. If this is how we’re going to work, we’ve got to do it right. And the first step to ensuring videoconferences with dispersed teams are successful is by mandating the use of headsets, a trend that’s building steam around the world: according to a recent study from Frost & Sullivan, the global professional headset market is on pace to reach $2.94 billion by 2026, up from $1.41 billion in 2019.

Audio-Technica ATH-G1/G1WL

Originally designed to bring studio-quality sound to the gaming world, the Audio-Technica ATH-G1 (wired) and ATH-G1WL (wireless) headsets work exceptionally well for conferencing, too. Both of these closed-back headsets feature large-diameter 45mm drivers for premium sound quality, plus a flexible and detachable boom microphone with highly directional pickup for clear communication. 

The 2.0m (6.6-foot) cable on the ATH-G1 includes a simple volume control and locking mic mute for one-hand operation, while the ATH-G1WL has its mute, volume, mic monitor, and surround sound controls built into the rim of the earcup for easy access. The ATH-G1WL operates in the 2.4GHz range for dependable, lag-free wireless performance, and provides a day’s worth of conferencing power with up to 15 hours of continuous use on a full charge. Strong and lightweight, with breathable headband pad and earpads, the ATH-G1 and ATH-G1WL headsets are built to last and provide comfort through even the longest conferencing sessions.

AKG HSC15

The HSC15 high-level conference headset is AKG’s latest headset in the field of conferencing, pairing high-quality audio with advanced security technology. Its lightweight design and ability to optimally adjust to any head size allow for hours of use. After the conference, wiping with a simple hygienic tissue will prepare the unit for the next user, without the need to exchange expensive foam cushions. The steel bow is made of stainless spring steel to keep its shape for the entire lifetime while it is also flexible enough to achieve different wearing positions. The microphone is built on a slimline omnidirectional condenser capsule, reproducing excellent sound quality, even when the microphone is not positioned perfectly. 

The HSC15 is well suited for the work of professional interpreters. It features two pieces of 3.5mm jack connectors, which are common in most interpreter desks and also allow the use with a PC/laptop. The cable is very soft and TPU covered in order to reduce structure-borne noise.

beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC

Beyerdynamic’s Lagoon ANC Traveller and Explorer headphones are designed to transform wireless audio with a combination of high-quality sound and noise cancellation technology matched with MOSAYC sound personalization. This produces a new listening experience with the ability to create an individualized hearing profile in the MIY app. 

Beyerdynamic utilizes digital active noise cancelling with hybrid technology to eliminate exterior sounds. Level-one ANC is sufficient for environments like the office. Level two provides noise suppression in louder surroundings such as an airplane. In Bluetooth mode, the audio codec being used (aptX, aptX Low Latency, AAC, or SBC) is communicated via voice prompt when you start audio playback for the first time after switching on. Battery life lasts up to 45 hours without ANC or 24.5 hours with it. The Lagoon ANC headphones will pause media playback when they are removed to save energy. Lagoon sports a light guide system for battery level and Bluetooth connection, touchpad control, and hands-free microphone round out the features.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC are Certified for Microsoft Teams, compatible with Zoom, and work with Google Meet, enabling confident collaboration from anywhere. Utilizing proprietary adaptive microphone technology, the 700 UC focuses on your voice while actively rejecting noise around you—reducing audio fatigue and providing voice clarity. 

With 11 levels of adjustable noise cancellation, you can isolate what you hear from your surroundings or transition to full transparency to let your surroundings in, as if you weren’t wearing headphones at all. This level of personalization is critical in today’s remote work climate but will be equally as valuable in the office. More importantly, the technology makes it possible to carve out concentration “space” in busy locations. And with the included Bose USB Link Bluetooth module, you’ll have a reliable connection to your preferred UC platform throughout your workday. 

EPOS ADAPT 660

The EPOS ADAPT 660 headset is designed to maximize workers’ focus and productivity from anywhere. The headset utilizes EPOS AI for clear calls, adaptive ANC for enhanced listening, and a UC-optimized microphone enhanced with machine learning for improved pickup.

Adaptive ANC helps you regain concentration by monitoring your working environment and adjusts noise reduction accordingly—even reducing wind noise when outdoors. Get straight into collaborative work via a dedicated button that launches Microsoft Teams on your PC via the included dongle. Stay organized with Alexa voice assistant and connect simultaneously to mobile and PC. Whether revitalizing your open office, working on the go, or enjoying a relaxed commute with stereo sound, ADAPT 600 boosts efficiency and improves wellbeing, an essential audio tool for today’s mobile workforce.

Jabra Evolve2 85

Jabra Evolve2 85 headsets are engineered to facilitate focused work with noise isolation, clear call quality, and long battery life. Featuring digital hybrid ANC and physical noise isolation, the Evolve 2 85 cancels 54 percent more of the noise around you, according to the company.

Evolve2 85 is UC-certified and available in a Microsoft Teams-certified variant for easy operation for remote workers. With 10 microphones and an enhanced digital chipset three times more powerful than its predecessor, Evolve2 85 filters out 97 percent more background conversation noise. For work in open-floorplan offices, the Evolve2 85 features an improved busylight. Now more prominent, the light enables coworkers to see from every angle that you’re engaged in critical work and need to be left alone. 

Logitech Zone Wired

Logitech's Zone Wired is a lightweight headset designed for all-day use and business certified for Microsoft Teams. Its headband features a silicone head cushion and memory-foam ear pads that provide a comfortable fit, no matter how long your workday lasts. 

This headset is designed with premium 40mm audio drivers for optimal calls or music listening and comes with an in-line controller for quickly muting, playing, or pausing audio. Its noise-canceling dual-mic technology eliminates any surrounding noise while isolating your voice, so you can clearly hear and be heard by your co-workers regardless of where you might be working. Zone Wired also includes a tangle-free cable, USB Type-A or Type-C connectivity, and is compatible with most platforms and operating systems including Zoom, Cisco Jabber, BlueJeans, and GoToMeeting.

Shure Aonic 50

Engineered from decades of stage and studio experience, Shure’s AONIC 50 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones deliver premium listening and conferencing experience with comfort and durability.

Featuring adjustable active noise cancellation, the AONIC 50 allows users to dial in their desired level of isolation, facilitating better concentration. They can also be switched to Environment Mode, permitting the listener to hear the ambient noise around them. The headset provides reliable connectivity and a range of up to 30 feet using Bluetooth 5 technology, and can pair with two devices simultaneously. The AONIC 50 provides up to 20 hours of battery life for long days of conferencing, and comes in a choice of black or brown finish.

Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless

Sennheiser’s PXC 550-II Wireless headset is designed to provide a simple, customizable experience for conferencing. It features a Voice Assistant button for one-touch access to voice assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa. Sennheiser’s free Smart Control app also makes it possible to tailor the sound for better personalization.

With up to 20 hours of battery life with headphones connected via Bluetooth and ANC switched on, and up to 30 hours when using ANC and a wired connection, the PXC 550-II Wireless can handle even the longest succession of meetings. The padded synthetic leather headband and lightweight materials such as the brushed black stainless steel used on the robust hinges and sliders prevent fatigue when wearing and also help make the PXC 550-II Wireless more portable, letting you take your work anywhere. 

Sony WH-1000XM4

Sony’s WH-1000XM4 intelligent noise canceling headphones feature high-quality sound with ample capability for personalization. Their high-level noise cancelation technology enables you to hear with clarity, no matter your environment. The headphones feature additional microphones that assist in isolating sound while talking on the phone, resulting in improved phone call quality and the reduction of even more high- and mid-frequency sounds.

Using Edge-AI, DSEE Extreme more accurately rebuilds audio lost during digital compression for a full-fidelity experience, making music listening more enjoyable. The WH-1000XM4’s features include up to 30 hours of battery life with quick charging capabilities, an enhanced Smart Listening feature set, and hands-free conversation with speak-to-chat. For convenience, the WH-1000XM4 can be paired with two Bluetooth devices at the same time. So, when a call comes in, the headphones know which device is ringing and connect to the right one automatically.

Nothing is worse than wasting precious moments of your meeting time getting your conference room technology to work, especially when you have to wait for the IT manager to show up to work out the issues. Conference room tech may not be made to dazzle, but if it’s good, your attendees will take notice—even if the technology is designed for them not to.

If you haven’t evaluated your conferencing microphone solution recently, you’re almost certainly not getting the best sound possible out of these vital meeting spaces.

Due in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, recent months have seen a flurry of innovations in conferencing mic technology from well known innovators like Bose and Sennheiser, including new pickup technologies and comprehensive sound control that make sure your meeting focus stays where it should.

Benefits of Conferencing Microphones

With adjustable lobes and audio tracking technology, new systems can adjust automatically to whoever is speaking at any given time, giving meeting attendees the ability to freely inhabit a space and making audio dead spots a thing of the past. Technology providers are not only putting their focus into the physical microphone but retargeting their product portfolios into all-in-one conferencing solutions, ensuring your audio quality and technology capabilities are exactly where you need them to be.

Seamless integration is the name of the game when it comes to recent advances in conferencing microphone design. Gone are the days when meeting attendees would need to crowd around a single microphone just to be heard. Now, microphones can be placed on the ceiling or the walls, or even built into the table itself to complement your overall conference room aesthetic.

Ceiling-Mounted Conferencing Microphones

Ceiling-mounted microphones are camouflaged in the conference room by the fact that meeting attendees rarely look up. Besides fostering a clean look, they eliminate cable clutter on the table.

Ceiling microphones may be installed flush to the ceiling or may hang down in a pendant style. Audio-Technica’s ES954 Hanging Ceiling Microphone Array, for example, may be used singly or in multiples to capture every person speaking in a room, with the total number of channels restricted only by the capacity of the mixer or DSP device controlling the system.

Related: Conferencing Survey Highlights Importance of Good Audio

Biamp’s Parlé microphones come in pendant (hanging), tabletop and ceiling configurations. The Parlé TCM-XA is an AVB low-profile ceiling microphone and PoE+ amplifier for use in Biamp’s Tesira systems. Each microphone includes Beamtracking technology with four 90-degree zones, providing full 360-degree coverage of the meeting space. The pendant version, called Parlé TCM-1 Pendant, includes Beamtracking and three 120-degree zones, providing 360-degree coverage of the space.

AVB in the Parlé microphone description stands for Audio Video Bridging, an open networking protocol for AV applications such as microphones and loudspeakers. AVB and Dante are very common enabling technologies for digital audio networks, but Dante is a proprietary technology developed by Audinate.

Another feature to look for in a conferencing microphone is Power over Ethernet (PoE), which makes integration of the ceiling mic very easy. PoE is a standard for delivering power to devices over Ethernet cable instead of requiring a separate power supply and outlet.

The kind of ceiling in the room is a factor to consider in choosing your conferencing mic. The Audix M3WHM tri-element installed sound ceiling microphone is constructed for hard mount ceiling installations without drop tile ceilings, while Vaddio’s CeilingMIC microphone’s design allows for custom ceiling drop cable length to support drop tile ceilings and open ceiling environments.

Related: Acoustics and the Modern Meeting Room

ClearOne’s Beamforming Microphone Array 2 features beamforming and adaptive steering technology which automatically keeps the beams focused on the speaker, no matter where they are. As well, it offers acoustic echo cancellation and noise cancellations for crystal-clear audio.

Shure’s MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone with IntelliMix is a solid solution that aids transparent meeting intelligibility. Participants are often oblivious to its presence in a meeting, meaning they are clearer and more natural when speaking. The eight steerable lobes provide tight, directional audio pickup. 

Most technology providers offer a variety of sizes and models to ensure they offer a solution appropriate for every size and type of meeting space. The Beamforming option from ClearOne, for example, includes three mounting options—ceiling, wall and table—to suit most meeting room applications.

Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Ceiling 2 also offers beamforming technology to focus on the speaker and adapt to the acoustic condition of the room. Like many conferencing microphone products being developed today, it features support for Dante digital network connections, as well as analog options. Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Ceiling 2 may be flush-mounted into standard false ceilings, suspended above the conference room table if the ceiling is very high, or mounted directly on the ceiling.

Features to Look For

Beyond the flexibility that allows speakers to move freely around a meeting space, organizations are looking for user-friendly systems that are easy to install and require limited technical assistance. Many new products on the market also allow IT managers to remotely manage the system, allowing them to assist with multiple meetings taking place simultaneously throughout the company.

Related: Sound Reinforcement Remedies

Organizations are also looking for intuitive systems that automatically locate excess noise and echoes and balance them out in the broadcast. This process also helps to balance sound quality between the presenter and audience, ensuring that any side conversations don’t distract from the overall presentation.

With many teams separated throughout the country because of COVID-19 restrictions, meeting platforms like Zoom, GotoMeeting, and Microsoft Teams are being used more than ever. Conferencing audio systems are built to accommodate these platforms, keeping teams connected no matter their location and making sure the remote experience is just as good as the one in the room.

Can You Manage and Install Conferencing Mics Yourself?

If you have a limited IT team, there is no need to fret with conferencing mics. Ease of use is often at the forefront of the development process. These systems often offer guided prompts or have limited the number of steps, thereby simplifying installation. Many have also looked for ways to streamline the process, including limiting the number of cables required for connection.

With many systems using automatic updates and audio tracking, only minimal interaction is necessary between the user and the system for everything to work seamlessly. The key for most technology providers is developing something so intuitive that the user couldn’t possibly have concerns or issues. If they do, it’s easy to have an IT manager control the system remotely, limiting the amount of time they need to go room to room addressing constant tech issues. 

Related: Hot Mics – The Latest in Conferencing Audio Capture

Conferencing Mics at a Glance

1. Shure MicroFlex Advance Array Microphones

Best "not aware it's there" microphone solution  

Looking for technology that will blend seamlessly into your environment and make you forget you installed it? Shure Microflex Advance Array Microphones may be the option for you—the company says it pairs innovative design with superior capabilities and allows you to not compromise aesthetics for audio. 

With ceiling, linear, and table options available for integration, these microphones use Steerable Coverage for dynamic audio capturing and pairs with Shure’s Designer System Configuration Software and SystemOn Audio Asset Management Software, allowing your team to focus on the presentation on hand and not the technology. The MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone with IntelliMix has up to eight adjustable lobes that use Autofocus Technology to adjust the positioning of the lobes in real time, allowing users to freely move within the space and not worry about issues with audio capture.

The MXA910 also features numerous mounting options to make sure that any ceiling type, including hard ceiling, VESA pole mount, or wire rope suspension, does not hold you back from integrating this superior technology.

Related: New Microphone and App Designs Connect Attendees at Conferences and Events

2. Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2

Best option for flexibility

The Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 integrates patented automatic dynamic beamforming technology to help adapt to any meeting room environment without having to reconfigure the entire system. This technology not only allows for flexible usage within the space but easy collaboration with remote participants as well. 

Using Sennheiser Control Cockpit software, users have the ability to monitor and control the microphone through a web interface that can be accessed through any device within the network. This allows IT managers the freedom to deal with any issues or help control meetings remotely. The microphone can also be connected via analog or digital Dante audio outputs for usage within any conference system. The system can also be used by outside presenters, allowing them to present hands-free and focus on engagement with their audience. 

The system offers three installation variants, including flush-mounted, suspended, and ceiling-mounted, allowing for a variety of options for every type of meeting space. Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) allows for easy integration and open media control protocol (API) makes it easy for your team to make individualized adjustments whenever needed.

3. Yamaha Adecia Enterprise Audio System

Best for ease of installation and configuration

The Yamaha Adecia Enterprise Audio System is a great option for those organizations looking for a comprehensive package that provides intuitive technologies that overcome major challenges surrounding integration and room acoustics, allowing for reduced setup time, costs, and other integration-based challenges. The system automatically detects new components and configures new devices, limiting the number of hours your tech support team will need to devote maintaining and updating the device. 

It also auto-optimizes audio performance, picking-up reverberation and echoes to ensure clear audio sound quality. Multi-beam tracking technology ensures that your team can still enjoy vibrant conversations with multiple participants without having to worry about your lobe settings. With no fixed lobes, the conference space can be rearranged to a variety of configurations without worrying that dead spots will be created in the new setup. Organizations will also be able to install and set-up on their own using a three-step guided configuration process. Due to the multi-beam tracking, there is no need for preprogramming lobes and all of the components utilize a one network cable connection, limiting the confusion created by multiple wire configurations. With open API capabilities, the system can easily integrate with other Yamaha or third-party products.

4. Bose ES1 Ceiling Audio Solution

Best integrated solution

Combining the performance of the Bose Edge Max in-ceiling loudspeaker and the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphone, the Bose ES1 Ceiling Audio System is a premium solution for fully integrated meeting rooms. The system also uses a Bose amplifier and DSP to provide your team with a seamless experience that allows for a quick and easy deployment in a variety of different spaces. 

With fewer devices on walls or tabletops and echo-cancelling technology, users have the freedom to spread out throughout the room without worrying about not being able to be heard or the ability to participate fully in the meeting, allowing teams to focus on working together to move projects forward and focus on creating the next big idea for your company. 

The system also has the ability to integrate popular unified communications platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Hangouts Meet, to make sure any meeting type can be streamed through the system. Through the combination of globally respected brands that you know and trust with reference configurations reducing the overall installation time, organizations can trust that this solution will be one they can rely on for years to come, according to the company.

5. Nureva Microphone Mist

Best full-room coverage

Helping remote meeting attendees feel like they’re in the room where it happens, Nureva Microphone Mist technology utilizes virtual microphones to be able to improve sound pick-up in a variety of settings, allowing participants to stay distanced and not worry about overall sound quality. When two or more physical microphones work together on targeting sound in a particular zone, this creates a virtual microphone or individual pickup point. 

Nureva Microphone Mist technology, which holds four patents, listens in on the full network of virtual microphones and optimizes them individually to create a seamless listening experience. The system has the ability for active zone control which allows the user to define a particular pickup zone and balance the audio between the presenter and audience. Intelligent sound targeting also identifies unwanted background noise and eliminates it from being picked-up during the meeting. 

The system has the ability grow with your company and is available in three different models: HDL 200 (small spaces), HDL 300 (mid-size spaces), and Dual HDL300 (large spaces). Continuous firmware updates and easy DIY installation allow for IT managers to streamline everything internally within no ongoing tech support inquiries and visits.

6. Audix Dante AES67 Integrated Microphone System

Best plug-and-play integration

Audix’s Dante AES67 Integrated Microphone System includes a Dante AES67 interface (two- or four-input), as well as a choice of flush-mount (M70WD) or hanging (M55WD, M3W, M3G) ceiling microphones, or a combination of the two.

Either interface (DN4 and DN43) acts as the centerpiece of a microphone system that transmits over Ethernet networks. The interface provides microphone functions including on-off contact closure and LED status indicators for meeting rooms, convention centers, educational facilities, and houses of worship through a single Cat 5/7 cable with RJ45 connections at both interface and microphone. This simple configuration eliminates wiring errors, accelerates installation, and reduces cost. And the gain structures of all Audix RJ45-equipped analog microphones are optimized for their intended placement, providing quality audio at the DSP.

The two-input DN43 interface features one port for the Audix M3W or M3G tri-element microphone and one port for Audix RJ45-equipped single-element microphones. The four-input DN4 interface features four ports for Audix RJ45-equipped single-element microphones.

The What: Bose Professional's Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC are now shipping in the U.S. and Latin America, and will also be available in Asia and Europe in September and October respectively. 

The What Else: The NCH 700 UC features an adaptive eight-microphone proprietary system—with four of the mics dedicated to isolating the user’s voice, so they sound natural and clear—while the array actively hunts down and rejects noise so only the important details are heard. The 11 levels of noise cancellation let users personalize what is heard from the surrounding environment, from virtual silence to open and ambient. 

[The Future of Conferencing Audio]

The included Bose USB Link Bluetooth module provides a reliable connection to both your computer and mobile phone simultaneously, enabling users to quickly jump on calls with either device.

The Bottom Line: Certified for Microsoft Teams and compatible with both Zoom and Google Meet, the NCH 700 UC equip users for collaboration in the workplace and beyond—whether in the office or remote and everywhere in between.

Workspaces are undergoing a complete transformation as businesses envision a post-pandemic future. With meeting rooms acting as the nerve center of many companies, understanding the shifting use and technical requirements of these spaces is essential. What does the future hold for audio conferencing ?

Scroll through the gallery below to see the latest conferencing audio solutions.

Touchless Audio

“It’s all about touchless audio,” said David Missall, technical application engineer manager at Sennheiser’s business communication division. “In today’s office environment, the question on every AV and IT professional’s mind is how to make meeting spaces, presentation rooms, and classroom technology as safe as possible. As hygiene is an important factor for all organizations in the wake of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to eliminate AV integrations with shared microphone and headphone technology.”

[Sennheiser on Audio's IP-Centric Future]

There are many options for corporate and education environments having to adapt to COVID-19 recommendations, such as Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphone array technology, whose beamforming technology makes it suitable for environments with social distancing.

“It eliminates the need for multiple microphones in a meeting, presentation, or classroom space by automatically tracking the person who is speaking at that moment. It is also certified for Microsoft Teams and is compatible with Zoom, enabling high-quality audio collaboration for increasingly remote workforces and classrooms,” added Missall.

While conferencing audio is impacted quite a bit by the space the audio has to operate in, Martin Bodley, director and global head of Bose Work, argues that how we work is becoming more important in choosing an audio solution than the particular work space. 

[Bose on AV in the Post-COVID World]

“Given the impact COVID-19 continues to have on how we work and collaborate, we’re going to see conference room use rolled out in a phased approach, depending on what state you are in. Now more than ever, people need products that will support the flexibility and diversity needed for the variety of work locations—whether in a remote locale or spread out in an office space,” he explained.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC were built with the future of work in mind. “This is the kind of transparent technology integrators will fold into the solutions they offer as it becomes increasingly integrated. For example, someone using the NCH 700 UC will have the choice of moving into a larger meeting room to participate on a video call via products like the Bose Videobar VB1 all-in-one conferencing device or stay where they are and join using their NCH 700 UC—whichever fits their needs at the moment,” continued Bodley.

Working to Capacity

As companies begin to welcome employees back into the office, conference rooms will be used differently. “We won’t see people filling conferencing spaces to capacity. Integrators will need to ensure their customers’ technology will work for employees who are physically spread out more within the same space. Beam-steering microphones, like those found in the Bose Videobar VB1, will have a greater advantage than mics with static lobes. The VB1 can actually track down people talking with its hunter beam, ensuring each participant can be heard clearly and is not lost in background noise,” said Bodley.

The same goes for loudspeakers. “To ensure that what is being said can be easily heard by all participants, directing sound efficiently and in the right direction will be key. The Bose Professional EdgeMax in-ceiling loudspeaker, for example, is ideal for the edges of a meeting space because it directs the sound toward the occupants, not against the walls. Using the Bose ES1 ceiling audio solution—which includes the EdgeMax loudspeaker, a Bose ControlSpace EX-440C conferencing DSP, a PowerSpace P2600A amp, and a Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 loudspeaker—ensures meeting participants are heard clearly, and the room is Microsoft Teams-certified out of the gate.”

Chris Merrick, director of global systems marketing at Shure, also anticipates changing requirements for conferencing audio. “Travel restrictions will likely continue, so face-to-face meetings may be replaced by online collaboration. Huddle rooms and conference rooms will be as popular as ever, with one or maybe a few people in the room due to social distancing. Quality audio capabilities and ease of use will be critical.”

[Shure Audio Ecosystem For Conferencing]

This means organizations will need to equip teams with the right products for home conferencing, and equip offices with gear that facilitates distancing and improves the experience for remote attendees—from earphones or headphones to USB mics and touchless array mics in conference rooms, according to Merrick.

“It is more important now than ever before that integrators are able to scale and customize audio pickup in conference rooms. With fewer people allowed in meeting rooms at one time, your audio must cover the room adequately to accommodate larger spaces, with a conference room ecosystem that gives you freedom to scale your audio and customize it based on the needs of each room,” added Stem Audio director of marketing Ryan Root.

Well Integrated

Audio networking will continue to have an impact on conferencing audio. “With audio over IP becoming a new standard, the associated capabilities will continue to far exceed USB audio solutions. Networkable audio gives you the ability to manage an entire organization remotely, identify problems before they occur, and push updates automatically to all devices. This way, your ecosystem is constantly strengthening and providing users with the best experience possible,” said Root.

After all, conferencing audio is an investment. “Technology changes quickly, and having a system that grows with the user and has a strong customer support system in place is extremely important,” added Merrick.

“Our engineers work closely with customers to understand evolving business needs and provide the right solutions. For example, Shure’s IntelliMix Room is a software-based DSP that no longer requires hardware, which frees up space in conference rooms. These systems can be set up with the touch of a button. Working with partners like Logitech helps us provide better-integrated solutions for customers. Another challenge for some businesses is cost. The good news for smaller businesses is that the technology is scalable. If you have one or two huddle rooms, you can outfit them with the same quality technology as major corporations. Many focus on video, but without quality audio, those meetings can’t really function. And the ability to have great audio for virtual meetings isn’t limited to large companies,” stated Merrick.

Keep It Simple

A recent survey conducted by Shure with Illuminas found that 81 percent of business professionals believe flawless audio would improve the quality of their virtual meetings, effectiveness, and overall user experience.

“For many businesses, if the key conduit to conduct business is obstructed, it can negatively impact the bottom line,” added Merrick.

Ultimately, simplicity is key when it comes to system design and integration. “Conference audio is expected to be as simple as possible now. As personal technology and devices are intuitive and seamless, the same experience is increasingly being expected of business solutions and classroom technology. Everything is driven by the end user, and they want plug-and-play products with a user-friendly interface and built-in automation,” said Missall.

Achieving simplicity with this level of audio is not as easy as it sounds. “The most common misconception is that it is easy to achieve good audio. A lot of the time, audio is an afterthought of an install. In reality, it is the most important factor and can make or break the user’s experience.”  

Bose Professional has announced its Bose Church Giveaway—beginning August 10 and running for 12 weeks—where church leaders can enter to win a weekly prize. Winners have a choice between a Bose S1 Pro multi-position portable PA or a pair of the new Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC. 

For a chance to win, entrants must be in a worship leadership role—such as pastor, worship leader, or church tech director—and respond to a weekly post in the Bose Professional promotion through their Facebook account. Responses need to include the tag #BoseChurchGiveaway. Additional information and full official rules are available on the Bose Church Giveaway webpage.

The Bose Church initiative provides the guidance, information, and products to aid church leaders in the know-how needed to engage their congregants through the power of sound. Approaching this community-oriented, educational endeavor in a new way, Bose Professional has integrated this knowledge resource with a chance to win equipment that helps church leaders connect with their congregation.

[Integration Guide to Houses of Worship 2020]

The foundation of the Bose Church initiative is based on the sharing of educational information and expertise through the recently launched Bose Church Podcast. Additional resources will be made available such as informative how-to and reference articles that will guide church leaders on topics such as how to assess their audio needs — now and in the future, finding a channel partner who understands their vision, and what to expect throughout the entire audio solution process from start to finish.

 For more information about the Bose Church Giveaway, visit PRO.BOSE.COM/BoseChurchGiveaway

At the 2020 AV/IT Summit, representatives from Bose, Dell, Kramer, Shure, and Sony predicted what the pro AV landscape will look like in one, three, and five years.

Watch the video below to learn more about the future of pro AV.

All of the 2020 AV/IT Summit content—including the exhibit hall—is available on demand for the next month. To learn more, visit avitsummit.com.

For more information, contact:

• Bose
• Dell
• Kramer
• Shure
• Sony

Right now, our industry finds itself in a unique situation, and never before has it held so much potential. Yes, there is no denying there’s a lot going on in the world, but at the intersection of all this activity, we’re seeing the next stage in the evolution of unified communications take root. 

At the very core of all this activity, we’re pressure testing just how flexible the technology is that we bring to markets like business, education, and healthcare. And with this, we’re helping to shape how people are learning, connecting, and doing business. We’re also seeing people approach situations with a greater sense of curiosity and a “let’s-try-it” willingness to experiment and find new ways to getting work done. 

It used to be that phone calls and email were the foundation of our work communication, leaving tech like videoconferencing to move along at a slower adoption rate as most organizations reserved it for specific spaces dedicated to the task. Now that people have spent the last several months adapting to new tools, the use of videoconferencing platforms has become as ubiquitous as phones and email. Increasingly, people are more comfortable jumping on a video call and consider it just as easy as picking up the phone—and it’s a lot quicker than email. 

Many have used FaceTime or similar apps to connect with friends and family from time to time in the past, but it’s the use of video in business—crossing that invisible boundary and giving a glimpse of our lives outside the office and professional settings—that many of us haven’t had the opportunity to embrace until now. And now that it’s happened, there’s no going back.

Want to hear more from Martin Bodley? Join him at the AV/IT Summit.

As we stand at this intersection, one of the greatest drivers changing the way we work is technology. With cameras on every device and unified communication providers continuing to refine their platforms, the introduction of tech like 5G and Starlink broadband will reinforce the flexibility companies are now embracing. In-room video enablement will continue to increase as we reenter the workplace, but we’ll also see more options to connect and collaborate through new form factors like kiosks and self-contained pods.

Whether you’re designing a solution that supports your company’s technology and your knowledge workers, or you’re ensuring your clients are investing in future-flexible solutions, it’s a balancing act to deliver what people want and what businesses need. In the end, it boils down to creating a variety of environments that enable people to stay focused, to connect, and to collaborate so they can work better, wherever. 

Martin Bodley is speaking at the 2020 AV/IT Summit on AV in a Post-COVID-19 World panel. 

Click here to register for free for the Aug. 6 event.

University of Connecticut recently upgraded its Harry A. Gampel Pavilion with a Bose Professional ShowMatch line array loudspeaker system. North Haven, CT-based firm HB Communications Inc. and Warwick, RI-based firm Ambient Sound Inc. collaborated with the UConn Athletic Department to deliver a solution that provided consistent coverage and voice intelligibility.

The Gampel Pavilion is the home venue for University of Connecticut (UConn) basketball. As the centerpiece of the UConn Sports Center, it is the largest on-campus arena in New England, serving both men’s and women’s championship basketball and women’s volleyball since 1990. The campus landmark totals more than 171,000 square feet in its main area, with a maximum capacity of over 10,000 spectators.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Campus Tech 

The Bose Professional audio solution consists of 48 ShowMatch loudspeakers, eight RoomMatch RMS218 subwoofers, and 26 PowerMatch PM8500N networked power amplifiers. The scale of the installation, in terms of both physical footprint and technical complexity, makes it among the largest Bose ShowMatch systems commissioned to date.

“It’s a Bose system head to toe,” said David Kaplan, assistant director of athletics at the University of Connecticut. “Our main goals were to enhance our game day experience for our fans as well as our student athletes. After demoing a number of systems, we felt that Bose ShowMatch provided us everything we were looking for.”

“We worked closely with Bose Professional to design the system,” said Tom Barrett, owner of Ambient Sound. “We knew that ShowMatch would be the right choice for the Gampel installation based on performance, weight, size, and other factors. Once it was installed, the coverage was even and it performed exactly as we expected. Bose has been fantastic to work with, and this system sounds great. The university is very happy—and that's what counts.”

Mario Pregoni, production manager and audio engineer at Ambient Sound, serves as the house engineer and overall operator for the system on game day activities. “We have the game announcer doing team intros, play calls, and PR reads, and video content supplied by sponsors,” Pregoni said. “Sometimes during TV breaks or time-outs, we have a game host on the court using wireless mics for fan contests and ceremonial events, or the DJ plays music to keep the crowd pumped. Whatever we throw at it, the ShowMatch system maintains the clarity we need for speech and delivers a good punch for music without much effort.”

“The experience of working with Bose Professional has been tremendous—they’ve helped us meet all the deadlines and have been very professional,” Kaplan said. “It’s been a really good experience, and the system sounds amazing. Our fans and student athletes are in for a real treat.”

The What: Bose Professional's Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC are now Certified for Microsoft Teams; this means Microsoft customers have the added assurance that the Bose NCH 700 UC provide the high-quality experience and compatibility they require for use with Teams. 

The What Else: With the NCH 700 UC, the adaptive microphone system helps users turn any space into a meeting place, isolating their voices so they sound clear and intelligible. The 11 levels of noise cancellation let users personalize what is heard from the surrounding environment—from virtual silence to open and ambient. The included Bose USB Link Bluetooth module provides a reliable wireless connection to quickly answer calls and easily switch between audio sources.

“We’re thrilled to deliver such a powerful, adaptive device that’s Certified for Microsoft Teams,” stated Martin Bodley, director and global head, Bose Work at Bose. “With Bose Work, we continue to deliver technology to support the way we work, where we work. The NCH 700 UC deliver the audio quality and connectivity so you can focus on what’s important.”

The Bottom Line: According to Bose, the NCH 700 UC equip users for better collaboration in the workplace and beyond, whether in a cubicle, open office, home office and everywhere in between. U.S. preorders for the NCH 700 UC will begin in July, followed by international preorders.

In our series of InfoComm Connected blogs, we're chatting with InfoComm 2020 exhibitors to see why you should virtually visit their booths—plus, you're getting a preview of their latest innovations.

Q&A with Martin Bodley, Director & Global Head Bose Work, Bose Professional.

Q: Why should attendees connect with you virtually?

MARTIN BODLEY: We are so excited about sharing Bose Work with InfoComm Connected attendees. Bose Work is our new business initiative aimed at delivering real impact on the way people communicate during their work lives. You can hear why Bose has chosen now to enter the market, what innovative technologies Bose is delivering to help you work wherever, plus see what new products are available, coming soon and on the radar. You’ll also discover who our partners are and how Bose is making audio/video collaboration better.

Q: What's the one product you're introducing that attendees should see and why?

MB: The Bose Videobar VB1 all-in-one USB conferencing device. This is a category-leading USB videobar containing a dynamic beamsteering microphone array, theater quality room-filling playback audio, 4K wide-angle camera and AI auto-framing, display driving HDMI out, single cable management, and real-time alerts. The Videobar VB1 delivers incredible performance in the slimmest, most elegant design ever produced.

To learn more, virtually visit Bose Professional at InfoComm 2020 Connected.

To read more InfoComm Connected stories, visit avnetwork.com/tag/infocomm.

The Fargodome, home of the North Dakota State Bison football team, recently received an audio system revamp after components in its installed equipment started failing with increasing frequency. Management initially called on AVI Systems to replace the amplifiers, which were beginning to have reliability issues, and numerous blown transducers in the P.A. system. The venue already had a relationship with the integrator, which had installed the existing audio system and maintains offices in the state as part of its nationwide network.

The Fargodome is indoor athletic stadium is owned and managed by the city of Fargo and built on the North Dakota State University (NDSU) campus. Covering approximately 466,000 square feet, the Fargodome seats 18,700 for football and can accommodate as many as 25,000 for arena concerts. The facility also hosts corporate events, trade shows, graduations, weddings and various sporting events. Its audio system had been in place since 2006.

“The improvements were driven by feedback from the fans at the football games and other events,” said Trent Slyter, area vice president at AVI’s office in Bismarck, ND. “The public seemed to have the opinion that the sound quality at the Fargodome needed improvement.”

[Stadium and Arena Sound]

AVI engineering supervisor John Van Stipdonk, who was tapped for his expertise with large sports and performance venues, soon encountered a problem. When he called the original loudspeaker manufacturer for replacement transducers, he learned that they only had 38 in the country and weren’t expecting to get more for six or eight months. He wondered, “What if we replaced the system?”

With the Fargodome’s busy event schedule demanding a quick turnaround and the first football game of the season only a few weeks away, AVI faced another hurdle. The system they ultimately picked would not only have to meet their technical specs, it would also have to be available on very short notice. “The only company that could guarantee it could get the right system to us in time was Bose Professional,” said Van Stipdonk.

It was the second time in just a few months that Bose was able to help him out in a time crunch, he reported. “When it comes to customer service and reliability, I tend to stay with the people who have taken care of me.”

Van Stipdonk submitted drawings of the venue to Bose Professional; the manufacturer quickly modeled the space and sent back the performance characteristics of the recommended Bose ArenaMatch outdoor loudspeaker system. The system comprises 15 AM20/100 (dispersion of 20° vertical by 100° horizontal), 67 AM40/80, and 16 AM10/60 speaker array modules. Nearly three dozen Bose PowerMatch PM8500N and PM4500N configurable power amplifiers with integrated networking drive the system, which also incorporates six Bose RoomMatch Dual-18 VLF-Subs.

“Because of the highly reflective nature of the performance venue, great care, thought, and planning went into producing a solution that would be clear, articulate, and smooth,” Slyter said. “When commissioning and tuning the system, care had to be taken so that all the various types of signals would be reproduced faithfully regardless of the source or location. The goal was even coverage throughout the facility.”

The previously installed rig was “configured in a way that was less streamlined. They had a few clusters and a delay rig spread throughout the venue,” said Van Stripdonk. “It’s now more centralized than it was, and after we installed it, the system actually performed better than the model predicted. We were pleasantly surprised by the coverage patterns and SPL. I didn’t get to hear the previous system because it wasn’t functioning, but the response from ownership is that intelligibility has increased immensely with the Bose system.”

“There were many challenges with the old system,” added Matt Costello, technical services manager and operator of the system at the Fargodome. “The audio quality is so much better with this system. No complaints so far—nothing but praise that it sounds better.”

[Lucas Oil Stadium Uses AV over IP for Powerful Digital Signage Upgrades]

Ever mindful of their client’s budget, AVI Systems retained as much as possible of the previously installed equipment and infrastructure, including the Allen & Heath dLive console and Cat 5 and fiber cabling. “We worked with the ownership to minimize cost and use what was still working in the building to save them money,” said Van Stipdonk.

A Dante network interface card in the existing processing system failed after the installation. As a result, “we’ve been slowly bypassing some of the old system, switching over and using the Dante feature inside the Bose PowerMatch amps,” added Van Stipdonk. “It’s actually becoming more and more reliable, day by day.”

No doubt that’s music to the client’s ears. “One of the selling points for the client was that the standard warranty for Bose Professional is five years. They don’t have a repair facility—they just ship you a new product,” he concluded. “That was another big factor in them choosing the Bose system. Knowing that they would be here to stand behind their product puts a lot of people’s minds at ease.”

Bose Professional has released its latest podcast episode, “Being the Church During the COVID-19 Emergency.” This episode hosts lead pastors Clint Nolder of Foundation Church in Newnan, GA, and Dr. Fayez Ayoub of North Florida Baptist Church in Tallahassee, FL; and the president of The NewGround Group, Don Allensworth. 

Together they explore how audio and technology within houses of worship can be adapted during the current health crisis and enable congregations to stay connected. The podcast is part of a series offered by Bose Professional in its ongoing efforts to provide educational information, voices of strength, and inspiration for the markets it serves.

[Tackling the Uncertainty: The AV Industry Faces COVID-19]

“As we realize the power we have in our technology, and that it can be used to connect us in new and creative ways, that’s when we begin to understand ‘gathering together’ does not have to be limited to the same room,” said Allensworth. “These are difficult, unparalleled times, and we need to take advantage of every opportunity to bring people together.”

The podcast is available as part of its Bose Church initiative and explores how professional audio and video technology supports the mission to communicate and stay connected, and discusses how church leaders can leverage technology to continue ministering to worshipers even during difficult times. Each guest provided insight on the role of technology in his own ongoing mission of guidance while addressing specific points on what to consider.

To listen to the Bose Church podcast, visit PRO.BOSE.COM/BoseChurchPodcast. 

To stay up to date with the impact of coronavirus on pro AV, subscribe to our enews. 

Emerging technologies are pushing their way into many verticals, with exciting results. Museums and exhibitions offer an exciting opportunity to use technology to create immersive experiences that resonate with audiences of all ages. At the Victoria: The T-Rex exhibition, which recently opened at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, production company IMG and its integrator partner, Design Electronics, launched a trio of technologies that are sure to draw visitors into this extinct world.

[Interactive Tech Tells Important Story at the Museum of Natural History]

“Our needs analysis always begins with developing a deep understanding our client’s vision for the experience,” said Khalil Williams, CEO of Design Electronics. “In this case, the primary goal was to use technology to transport visitors to a bygone era, so they could experience what the world was like when dinosaurs ruled the earth.” 

“We’re so excited to bring such a striking, unique example of a T-Rex to Phoenix,” chief curiosity officer Sari Custer said. “We are the first stop on Victoria’s premier tour, and people love to see dinosaurs.”

The skeleton, discovered near Faith, SD in 2013, measures 40 feet long by 12 feet high. According to Heinrich Mallison, lead paleontologist on the Victoria project, it’s the second most complete set of fossilized tyrannosaurus rex bones ever discovered. Science has shown that she was a sub-adult, aged 18-25 years at the time of death, and weighed 10.5 tons.

Making and Introduction

The journey begins in an intro theater with a 3-minute video providing insight into what Victoria’s life was like. The content sets the tone for entering into the dinosaur age. Design Electronics wanted to create this immersive experience with strong visuals and audio. The firm chose the Barco F70-4K8 projector for the visuals because the color processing presents crisp, bright imagery to tell the story of Victoria, her discovery, and what her world was like. This projector has also proven robust and durable for touring operations, as the team learned from past experience. 

The audio magic is created by a Bose Professional RoomMatch system providing even and visceral SPL throughout the theater, complete with softly thundering background steps and rustling that makes visitors look over their shoulders.

[High Tech Storytelling: Museums, Exhibits, and AV]

The entry door opens, and patrons are ushered into the main exhibition, where the centerpiece is Victoria herself. She’s a 66-million-year-old T-Rex skeleton, and thanks to modern science, we can reach back into the past to learn about how she lived, and even how and when she died. The additional sections of the exhibition all relate to Victoria and her environment, enabling visitors of all ages to experience the age of the dinosaurs as never before. 

Mapping Out Time

Exhibition creators wanted visitors to travel back to the dinosaur age and get a sense of what it was like to live in that time. A round surface was fabricated by Ravenswood Studio to replicate the terrain on which Victoria might have roamed. A volcano is one imposing feature, and there are valleys, thick undergrowth, and hills undulating over the landscape. 

From high above, Design Electronics mounted and edge-blended two Barco G-series projectors that map onto the fabricated surface a timelapse of the landscape. Various dinosaurs enter the scene, the volcano builds up steam, and then erupts in a flurry of light and sound. Design Electronics chief technology officer Felice Taddeo was responsible for this area of the exhibition. The team is particularly excited that is the first use case in a museum setting for the value-engineered Barco G-series.

[5 Ways 5G Could Impact Museums]

“Projection mapping is a technology vehicle that draws you into the scene,” Taddeo said. “Seeing what life might have been like for these dinosaurs is mesmerizing. I’ve seen visitors of all ages stand at this part of the exhibition and watch it all the way through many times over. Some even move around it to see it from various angles.”

Making a Dinosaur

Three interactive holograms with bespoke software by NGX Interactive give patrons the opportunity to create their own dinosaur by selecting various attributes. Once they have built their creature, they cast images into a dynamic video landscape to see it in action.

Three stations allow multiple members of a single family or group to create dinosaurs at the same time, making the experience even more engaging. As patrons build their dinosaur, it’s displayed in an encased acrylic cube. When finalized, it’s launched into the virtual landscape, so that its creator can watch their dinosaur interact with the world around it.

[National Gallery X Explores the Future of Museum Tech]

Tunneling Through Time

Nothing is more immersive than being fully surrounded by props, lights, and sounds. The final portion of the exhibition, guiding the way to the gift shop and exit, is a tunnel diorama that resembles a lush forest. This experience was taken to the next level with virtual lighting and projection-mapped lizards, bugs, birds, and other creepy-crawly things that scamper around as a video montage tells the story of birth through to the moment of extinction.

Medialon Showmaster LE is the control platform for the diorama. Guests experience 61 different audio tracks played from a Medialon Mas Pro Dante, seamlessly mixed and delivered to the Bose speakers with Dante. Bose amplifiers supply the power, and the mood is enhanced with customized video and lighting. Combined, the technology leaves guests with a lasting impression.

[King Tut Exhibition Immerses Visitors With AV]

At the end of the diorama, a combination of bass shakers, lighting cues, and overhead video envelopes guests in an environment the dinosaurs must have felt in their final moments. Visitors then pass through a video gallery where they hear and see highlights from the paleontologists involved in the excavation. The key players talk about what makes Victoria unique and special.

Harnessing Potential

Museums present one of the most compelling use cases for the innovative deployment emerging technologies. Instead of a branded message, museums are focused on telling a story, capturing a moment in time, and taking guests to a new level of immersive experience. Technology facilitates that experience.

As new, more versatile products enter the marketplace, the opportunity for ever-more flexible video surfaces for both projection and LED technology are sure to set the scene for ever greater things ahead.

The What: Bose Professional has introduced the Bose Videobar VB1, an all-in-one USB conferencing device that brings premium audio and video to meeting areas—from huddle spaces to medium-sized rooms—and allows users to be clearly seen and fully understood on video conference calls. 

The What Else: The six beam-steering microphones actively focus on voices in the room and reject noise. The Bose-proprietary transducers reproduce accurate, room-filling audio from multimedia presentations, play Bluetooth audio, and ensure voices sound natural and clear. The 4K ultra-HD camera with autoframing delivers crystal-clear video, so remote participants can see presenters, whiteboards, and other in-room objects.

The single-cable USB connectivity means there’s no need for separate audio and video cables at the table, reducing clutter. The Bose Videobar VB1 can be mounted to suit the space using the included table stand or wall-mount kit, or with an optional VESA mounting accessory. All mounting options allow for tilt capability to keep the team centered in the video image.

The Bottom Line: The Bose Videobar VB1 connects to existing network infrastructure, seamlessly integrating with popular third-party cloud services including Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts Meet, Zoom, and more. Remote management and configuration capabilities make it simple to deploy and manage from anywhere, whether a single unit or up to one thousand installed in conference rooms across the globe, according to the company.

The  Bose Videobar VB1 can be seen at ISE 2020 on Stand 7-C200.

To read more ISE 2020 news, visit avnetwork.com/tag/ise.

With nearly two dozen locations, plus ATMs in even more spots, in May 2019 Bank Iowa opened a new corporate headquarters in West Des Moines, IA. The new facility accommodates training, meetings, and administrative offices for departments such as accounting and internet banking, and offers such workspace perks as art from the owners' extensive collection and desks operated with a mobile app.

To design and install up-to-date AV systems that would support its current needs and provide for future expansion, the bank brought in Iowa Audio Video (IAV) of neighboring Clive, IA. Drawing on the experience of countless previous designs, IAV owner James Harle specified digital signal processors from Symetrix to route audio and control the facility's systems. "They wanted us to meet AV needs for two training rooms, a boardroom, huddle space TVs throughout the building, and sound masking for the whole facility," said IAV operations manager Mike Holmberg, who managed the install and programmed and commissioned the system.

The large training room and the board room are managed by a Symetrix Radius AEC processor. The training room is equipped with six Audio-Technica ES933 hanging ceiling mics, taking advantage of Radius AEC's dedicated wideband acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) processing, zero-latency direct outputs, and discrete references per AEC channel. In the boardroom, two Shure MXA310 table array microphones send up to five channels of audio each over a Dante network to the Symetrix DSP.

The Radius AEC's basic audio duties are supplemented by facility control tasks normally performed by a wall-mounted control panel. Rather than executing triggers and commands, the RTI KX7 touch panel passes them to the Radius AEC for execution. "We've paired the RTI controllers with Symetrix processors many times," Holmberg said. "It's very simple to get them to work together, and everything went smoothly."

A Symetrix Radius NX 12x8 DSP with 12 analog inputs and eight analog outputs controls the small training room system. This system has two Audio-Technica ES933 hanging ceiling mics and an Audio-Technica belt-pack wireless mic for hands-free presentations. A belt-pack wireless mic from the large training room also feeds to this Radius NX 12x8. The two Symetrix DSPs are linked via Dante, enabling the NX 12x8 to share the Radius AEC's acoustic echo cancellation for the wireless systems.

The training rooms and boardroom are set up for Skype or other videoconferencing, and their respective Symetrix processors are tied together for cooperative applications. The boardroom and each of the training rooms are set up as separate zones in the DSPs. The huddle space TVs receive control signals from the Symetrix units, but not audio, so they do not need to be assigned to audio zones. Audio outputs from the Symetrix processors run in the analog domain to Crown amplifiers, which drive Bose FreeSpace speakers.

Video is distributed though the spaces using Just Add Power products, so all video travels as HD-over-Ethernet. As with the audio, RTI controllers provide users with a visual interface, but the Symetrix processors do all of the stream management. "It's nice, with the Symetrix, to have a product that I can deploy and have it just do everything for me,” Holmberg said.

Rather than hide away all of its shiny new AV and IT equipment, Bank Iowa decided instead to feature it. "The building is more or less designed around the IT rack and room, which is kind of a showpiece," Holmberg said. "It's glass-enclosed and situated right in the middle of the main area. Bank Iowa brought in a muralist to paint a mural on one of the back walls, which is made of drywall, not glass, and the racks are backlit with blue LEDs, so they glow."

IAV turned time and again to Symetrix to anchor their systems for reasons that go beyond the products' broad functionality. "We probably have several hundred Symetrix units installed," Holmberg said. "The reason we use Symetrix is that it's stable, the audio quality is very good, and the service from tech support, when we need it, has been great. I love working in the Symetrix Composer software, and with so many Symetrix units in the field, the fact the products are so stable makes them one less thing for us to worry about on a bigger project."