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Phantom of the Messe

d&b audiotechnik created great interest at the recent Pro Light + Sound show in Frankfurt with a rather unusual and latent new product presented within yet another striking and colourful stand design. Featured at the front were the Q-Series Q1, Q7 and Q-SUB loudspeakers, arranged in various flown and ground stacked configurations. This was the first public appearance in Germany for the already highly acclaimed Q-Series, which was launched last September. Behind this display was an interactive area dedicated to the new D12 amplifier, which lies at the very heart of d&b's system approach.

The D12 is a two-channel power amplifier specifically designed for use with d&b loudspeakers; digital signal processing is incorporated, as are both analog and digital signal inputs. Loudspeaker specific controller functions for the d&b range are stored within the unit and implemented within the DSP, both channels have independent, user definable, 4-band parametric equalizers and signal delay capabilities. In line with the company's integrated system approach, the D12 amplifier was presented with the latest ROPE C remote control software. Running on a PC, ROPE C can easily monitor and control the features contained in both the D12 and E-PAC power amplifiers.

The unusual and latent product mentioned earlier, even by d&b standards, is rather surprising. The Cardioid Subwoofer Array (CSA) is a method to increase directivity at low frequencies, by merely turning the bottom or middle subwoofer in an array of three, or a multiple of three, to face backwards and selecting the CSA setting in the D12 amplifier to drive it. The latest software release for the D12 amplifier incorporates the CSA setting, which can be used with both the B2 and Q subwoofers.

d&b audiotechnik's marketing director, Simon Johnston commented: "I'm very excited about our complete change to DSP technology within our amplifiers and what this can offer our users. The manifestations within the D12 amplifier and the ROPE C software further extend our long established system approach by putting complete system control into the hands of our users. In some respects, with the Q-Series, it could be said we came to the party a little late, however, we had to consider what is expected of d&b. This is pretty simple; our markets expect complete solutions that are very flexible, both in the size and the type of application, quick to deploy and easy to use. Most importantly, there is an anticipation that our systems will sound good straight out of the box. We've been very encouraged by the acceptance of the Q-Series in the first months and, in particular, how geographically wide this has been."

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Phantom of the Messe

7th April 2004

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