THE SOUND OF THINGS TO COME

Andy Oattes, UK & Ireland Sales Director, Fine Sounds UK and Roberto Gamba of speaker maker Sonus Faber discuss loudspeaker development - present and future.

Andy Oattes (AO): As far as I understand, the basic principles of loudspeaker acoustic design haven’t changed in a very long time. The objective is to create the desired speaker by implementing the very best acoustic design methodology and by using mechanical design tools, engineering, and manufacturing processes to remove the negative effects of unwarranted dispersion and vibration and to ensure that sound reaches the ear, with minimal distortion and maximum resolution and accuracy. It’s an iterative process. (That’s probably way too simplistic, but you get the idea, it a complicated thing).

On the face of it, it appears that loudspeakers are easy to design and a low barrier to entry (think about the sheer number of speaker brands on the market), but it’s very hard to make a great speaker! There are many design choices along the way, with both positive and negative effects and ultimately the end-product depends on a myriad of factors, led generally by the design philosophy of the brand and the price point and application of the speaker.

What has changed, however, is the plethora of materials now available for use, the advance in design software and design process, incredible improvements in engineering and fabrication. And the ever-growing demands of the consumer. These are good things. All very good things, that inevitably provide the consumer with a kaleidoscopic choice of options.

Lying at the heart of any choice, should be, in my humble opinion, the pursuit of the best music or movie performance possible for the budget! The question then becomes, ‘what do I really want from a loudspeaker’, and there is the answer to one of the main growth areas in the integration space: performance. The other main growth area is customisation or personalisation.

DEALING WITH PERFORMANCE FIRST

The advent of streaming brought the age of commoditisation to CI. The priority was on ease of control and stability. From an integrator’s perspective; designing-out failure was a real focus so as to ensure happy clients

Capturing the feeling of a musical instrument has never been easy

Become an approved Sonos Become an approved Sonos Installed Solutions partner Installed Solutions partner

Sonos is one of The World’s Leading Sound experience brands. We invented multiroom wireless audio, made it sound amazing, and changed the way people Sonos is one of The World’s Leading Sound experience brands. We invented listen at home. Known for premium sound, ease of use, thoughtful design, multiroom wireless audio, made it sound amazing, and changed the way people and an open platform, we create products and experiences that make listening listen at home. Known for premium sound, ease of use, thoughtful design, simpler and more joyful. and an open platform, we create products and experiences that make listening simpler and more joyful. Sonos innovation powers better listening experiences, We want to continue to work with the Installer community and build on those successes in the future. Sonos innovation powers better listening experiences, We want to continue From Portable speakers, Home Cinema and Architectural systems, these all to work with the Installer community and build on those successes in the future. benefit when installed by an approved installer. From Portable speakers, Home Cinema and Architectural systems, these all benefit when installed by an approved installer.

Sonos Approved Installers win CEDIA Awards. Apply to become an approved Sonos Installer by emailingInstalled-Solutions-UK@sonos.com Sonos Approved Installers win CEDIA Awards. Apply to become an approved or visit www.sonos.com/dealer/dealer-onboardingSonos Installer by emailingInstalled-Solutions-UK@sonos.com or visit www.sonos.com/dealer/dealer-onboarding

and avoiding loss-making projects, so I totally get it. But the maturation of digital content, streaming and IP, together with evolutions in control and ‘play-direct’ options from content providers such as Tidal and Spotify and great options such as Roon. Once we move away from needing to engineer out points of failure caused by an immature technology, we can get back to performance as the key focus. And this is what is happening. Who would have thought a pandemic would act as the catalyst for consumers to reconnect with music and movies? But they have and they will continue to do so. That curiosity deserves a great demo and a great demo unlocks the potential of a great sounding and performing system. The net result of a rebalanced project with greater spend on audio and video, is happier customers with better systems!

ON THE SUBJECT OF CUSTOMISATION

We’re experiencing a greater desire from the consumer to see the speaker. Thinking about it, this makes sense, certainly in a stereo capacity. A move to better quality systems, will typically flow into freestanding speakers which will provide dramatically better performance. The same could be said about on-wall and soundbars. I’ve seen a growing number of suppliers looking at clever ways to RAL code finishes or create complete custom solutions where the client can personalise their purchase. If you think about the cinema environment, there are companies such at HTE at the higherend who provide a full acoustic and interior design for amazing cinemas, at the other end of the spectrum, options such as cinema build systems provide lovely solutions for a different price point and customer.

Today’s speakers need to adapt to different platforms, some new, some with longer pedigrees

THE PACE OF CHANGE

Roberto Gamba: It seems that the pace of change in the CI industry is increasing, but with this comes many technological and performance advantages. One such example is immersive audio; we’re at the very beginning of really understanding what this new paradigm in audio can provide us, but for the client, if they work with a great integrator, it’s going to be truly revelatory!

Focusing in on performance is key because we need to are trying to create as close as possible to a real, live experience in people’s homes, so we shouldn’t only say CI but for sure push towards ‘CI-FI’ (custom install fidelity), so we transfer the incredible performance aspects and understanding of reproduction in Hi-Fi inside the home theatre world and this will truly become a Private Cinema with the best ever experience!

In recent years, clients have built new spaces inside their homes and have discovered a lot of new opportunity to enjoy special moments with their family. This is a beautiful thing. Designing and building products that can fit all the application in this area is an enormous challenge because we can install inside houses, hotels, marine environment, but the requirements are not always the same. We need to take care about depth, easy installation, high resistance, low maintenance but maintaining a very high performance.

From the multi room environment to the heart of the experience, the private/immersive theatre that is a key place where the family can share time together. From my perspective the requirement are very clear, we don’t need to watch a movie but be actually be a part of the movie! To achieve this, we need an exceptional system that is engineered and designed to the highest performance standards: Focus, Envelopment and Dynamics. All individual aspects and components need to be state of the art and the concept coherent. For this reason coming from the High End allow to build product with an High quality.

Andy Oattes: Lastly, working with the very best integrators who are committed to providing the best performance is vital to the creation of the end users final system. Standards truly matter. Over-reach is a consequence of poor understanding, so a robust system of training and mentoring for new integrators is important. I feel that it is inevitable that more integrators will move to having demonstration rooms or perhaps even showrooms. This seems as obvious to me, as it was for Hi-FI dealers to have demo rooms, then stores. Clients will demand to see and hear what they’re investing in and this will work for all parties. Working together with CEDIA on their performance facts project, is a huge aspect on truly galvanising our understanding of what standards and buzzwords really mean.

Better transparency for the industry, removing nonsense marketing speak and allowing clients to really understand the purchase, to see and hear what is amazing, is key to the next leap towards truly outstanding systems.