EAW Spatial Owner's manual



SpatialEqualization–ABetterWaytoTuneSoundSystems

5/11/2017

Introduction

ThisdocumentdescribesSpatialEqualization,anewfeatureforEAWAdaptiveSystems.SpatialEqualization

requiresEAWResolution2.3.0.123andAnnafirmware1.0.18.0orAnyafirmware1.0.44.1orhigher.Spatial

EqualizationisavailableonlyonAnnaandAnyaandthroughtheuseofEAWResolutionsoftwareforprediction,

controlandmonitoring.

Spatial

EqualizationallowsAdaptiveSystemsuserstosimplyselectapartoftheaudiencewhereatonalchangeis

desiredandapplythetargetEQ.AdaptiveSystemsthendeterminethechangesnecessarytoimplementitanddo

soinrealtime.Forthefirsttime,userscantrulyEQtheroom

insteadofthesoundsystem.

TheCaseforSpatialEQ:

ABetterWaythan‘TurningKnobs’

Itisalmostalwaysthecasethatonceasystemisinstalled(temporarilyorpermanently)inavenue,adjustments

mustbemadetoequalizationincertainpartsoftheaudiencerelativetoothers.Thisisnecessarytocompensate

forphenomenonsuchaslow‐frequencybuildupduetotheproximityofthe

soundsystemtonearbysurfaces,local

resonances(i.e.underabalcony),atmosphericairlossoverdistanceandotherphenomena.Itisafactoflifeinthe

worldofthesystemengineerordesignerandtheprocessof‘tuning’asystemcanbeverytime‐consuming,in

largepartbecause

itisnotsimplyaquestionofwhattoadjust,butalsohowtoadjustit.Itisoftenthe“how”that

takesthemosttime.

Itisgenerallynotachallengetoestablishwhere,inagivenvenue,afrequencyresponseanomalyexists.This

evaluationisoftenbysimplywalking

thevenueorbyusingameasurementsystemandmovingacalibrated

microphonearound.However,evenaftertheuseridentifiestheadjustmenttheywanttomake,traditional

mechanically‐articulatedlinearraysystemsofferlimitedoptionstomakethoseadjustments.Itisnecessaryfor

systemengineerstodeterminewhatpartof

thesystemiscontributingmosttothatarea,attempttoisolateit

(whichmayormaynotbepossibledependingonsplay,frequencyandamplification),makeadjustmentsandthen

determine:

a) Whethertheadjustmentshavebeeneffectiveinthetargetedareaand

b) Iftheadjustmentshavehadnegativeeffectselsewhere.



c) If(b)isfoundtobetrue,whatfurtheradjustmentscanbemadetoreducenegativeeffects.

Additionally,withmechanically‐articulatedlinearraysystemsthe‘spatialresolution’ofthesystemisverycoarse.

Eachmodulecoversalargesectionofaudience,andsoeveniftheoperatorisable

tocontroleacharraymodule

individually,theaffectedareaislarge.



EvenacompactAdaptivearrayincludesnearly50high‐frequencycells,allowingforverypreciseaimingacross

avenue.Eachcellthereforeaddressesaverysmallareaofthevenue,allowingveryprecisecontrol:



Whereaswithatraditionalmechanically‐articulatedlinearray,onlyasmallernumberofcells(equalto

the

quantityofarraymodules)mustbedistributedacrosstheentireseatingcross‐section.Thearrayaddressedby

eachcell,therefore,isverylarge:



Anotherproblemwiththisapproachisthat,becauseatraditionalarrayhasrelativelyfewcells,theadjustmentto

eachmoduleislarge,andsothedifference

inprocessingfromonemoduletoanotherislarge(onemodulemay

havenoequalizationadjustment,whereasthenexthastheadjustment.Thereisno‘in‐between’state).This

opensup‘seams’asthelistenermovesfromthecoverageofonemoduletothatofthenextinthearraybecause



oftheamplitudeandphasedifferencesasthelistenertransitionsfromtheareaservedbyonemoduleversus

another,asshownbelow:



Overall,applyingdifferentprocessingtodifferentpartsofatraditionallinearraywillalwaystradefavorable

resultsinsomeplacesandunfavorableresultsinothers.

Seam

between

zones



TheProcesswithSpatialEQ:SelectAudienceArea,SpecifyDesiredChange,Done.

TheintroductionofSpatialEqualizationdrasticallysimplifiestheprocessthatusersundergotomakeadjustments

totheirsystem.Userssimplyselectacolumncoveringtheportionofaudiencetheywishtoapplytheadjustment

to,specifya‘start’and‘end’tothezone,andapplyaparametricequalizationfilter.Resolutionwill,

basedonthe

user’sinput,determinewhatpartofthearrayisservingtheindicatedzoneandapplyfilteringinsuchawaythat

onlythatzoneisaffected.

Resolutionwill,basedonthearray’scoverageandaudiencegeometry,alsoautomaticallyindicatetheareathat

willactuallybeaffectedby

theirchange,inrealtime.Thishelpsusersquicklyunderstandthesmallestzonethey

canaffectbasedonthevenuegeometry,arraysizeandallocation.

Below,thetraditionalandnewprocessesarecompared:

Step TraditionalSystem AdaptiveSystemwithSpatialEQ

1 Installsystem. Installsystem.

2

Surveyvenue(byearorwith

measurementtool).Identifyproblem

areas.

Surveyvenue(byearorwith

measurementtool).Identifyproblem

areas.

3

Determinewhatpartofsoundsystem

servesproblemareas.

Notnecessary.

4

Basedonsystemdesign,isolatepartof

systemservingproblemarea.

Notnecessary.

5

Makeadjustmenttopartofthesystem

servingproblemarea.

Selectareaandmakeadjustment.

6

Re‐surveyvenuetoidentifyifproblem

iscorrected,orifnewproblemsexist.

Notnecessary.

7

Ifcorrectionhascausednewproblems,

gobacktostep3andmakefurther

adjustments.

Notnecessary.

8 Usesystem. Usesystem.



UsingSpatialEQ,theusercanboth:

a) Achieveamuchbetterresultthanwouldbepossiblywithatraditionalsystem

b) Accomplishthisgoalmuchmorequicklythanwouldotherwisebepossible.



HowtoUseSpatialEqualization

TheSpatialEQwindowfunctionslikeanormalequalizerwindow,exceptthattheusercanspecifytheboundsof

theareatheywishtoaffect.“Start”and“Stop”functionjustlikecoverage,inthattheyspecifytheaudienceareas

bytheirx‐axisvalue(movingtowardsorawayfromthearray).

Theusercanalsousethe‘Zoverride’functionto

limittheaffectedareabasedontheirzvalue(height)inthevenue;thiscanbeusefulinselectingabalconyorfloor

belowabalconythatarethesamehorizontaldistanceawayfromthearea.



Oncetheareahas

beenspecifiedandthefilter,gainandbandwidthentered,theusercanviewtheresultant

affectedareaintheVenueview.Thetargetareaisindicatedasasolidline,whiletheanticipatedaffectedareais

indicatedbyadashedline.

Thedifferencebetweenthetargetareaandtheexpanded

areaisdeterminedbythearraysize,desired

equalizationfrequency,andallocationofarrayresourceswithinthevenue.ThisisvisibleinboththeSideView

andFreeView.Thisfeedbackstepiscrucialinhelpingtheusertodecidewhatequalizationtoapply.UsingSpatial

EQhowever,thechangeis

notonlymoreprecisewithrespecttoaffectedarea,buttheusercanalsoidentifythe

totalaffectedareainadvanceofmakingthechange.Thissavesthetime‐consumingstepsofre‐measuring,

makingfurtheradjustments,etc.aswouldberequiredforatraditionallinearray.

Zoneparameters

EQparameters



Oncetheuserhasselectedtheirzoneandenteredtheequalizationparameters,thechangewillbelive.Ifonline

withasystem,theequalizationwillbeappliedtotheoutputofthesystem.Noparameteruploadoradditional

calculationsarenecessary.Additionally,theeffectoftheSpatialEQonthe

audienceareaSPLandfrequency

responsewillberecalculatedanddisplayed.

Generally,highertrimheightsandlongerarrayswillresultingreaterprecisionandtheabilitytoapplySpatialEQ

tosmalleraudienceareas.Thesizeoftheaffectedareawilladjustautomaticallywhenthefrequencyofthefilteris

adjusted.Asonemightexpect,lowerfrequencyadjustmentswillaffectagreaterareaoftheaudience.Inall

cases,Resolutionwilldeterminetheidealparameteradjustmentstominimizetheaffectedareaoutsidethe

targetzone.



 

TargetZone

AffectedArea



FrequentlyAskedQuestionsaboutSpatialEqualization



WillSpatialEQaffectthecoverageofthearray?

No.Unlikethetraditionalapproachwherestandardparametricequalizationisappliedonlytospecificmodulesin

thearrayinatrial‐and‐errorfashion,SpatialEQanalyzesandappliesprocessingsuchthatthechangesbetween

cellsareverysmall.Additionally,thefilter

implementationusedtoapplySpatialEQwasselectedspecificallywith

considerationtophaselinearity.Thus,thecoveragepatternisunaffected.Itwouldnotbepossibletoaccomplish

thisinanyotherway.



HowlongdoesSpatialEQtaketocalculate?

Noacousticalmodelrecalculationisnecessary.Thus,thecalculationtakesonlysecondstocompleteandupload

tothearray(ifonlinewithasystem).



What’sthesmallestareaIcanaffect?

Thisdependsonthevenuegeometryandarraysize.Withmoremodules,theminimumareathatcanbeaffected

getssmallerbecausetheareathateachmodulecoversgets

smaller.Inallcases,Resolutionwillalwaysindicate

theexpectedaffectedareabasedontheuser’stargetzonestartandstop.Ataglance,userswillknowtheimpact

oftheadjustmenttheyaremakingwithoutneedingtore‐measureandverify.



Whydoesmyaffectedareachangewithfrequency?



Asafundamentallawofacoustics,wavelengthdictateseverything.Lowerfrequencies,withtheirlarger

wavelengths,makethesmallestareainwhichaSpatialEQchangeispossiblelargerthanhigherfrequencieswith

smallerassociatedwavelengths.Asarraylengthgrows,theaffectedareaforagivenzoneandfrequencywill

become

smaller.



WhatdocurrentAdaptivesystemownersneedtodotogetSpatialEQ?

FirstupgradeResolution.Afirmwareupdateisrequired,andthisisperformedthroughtheFirmwareManagerin

Resolution.Noadditionaldownloadsarenecessary.



OnwhatproductsisSpatialEQavailable?

SpatialEQisavailableonAnya

andAnna.



WhatistherangeoffrequenciesoverwhichSpatialEqualizationcanbeapplied?

SpatialEQfiltersareavailablefrom1kHzandhigher.Filtergainscanrangefrom+6to‐6dB,butitisexpected

thatinalmostallcases,therangeofadjustmentneededbyuserswillbemuchlessthan+/‐6dB.



CanIsegmentanarraymyselfandapplyequalization?Willitbethesame?

No!SpatialEQfiltersarenottraditionalEQfiltersandarenotappliedtraditionally.Manuallyapplying

equalizationtodifferentpartsofanAdaptivearraywilladverselyaffectthe

performanceofthearrayandwillnot



yieldthesameresults.



DoanyotherproductsonthemarketofferanythinglikeSpatialEQ?

No.ThistechnologyisuniquetoEAW,andtoAdaptiveSystems.Itisonlypossiblethroughthecombinationof

manydisciplines–includingsoftware,acoustics,mechanicalandelectronics–workingtogetherforthebest

possibleresult.



EAW Spatial Owner's manual

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