THE ULTIMATE SOUND HEARD BUT NOT SEEN

The JBL Architectural line of premium loudspeakers represents the best-in-class architectural audio, comprising an extensive range of in-ceiling, in-wall and invisible speakers for a multitude of cinema and multiroom audio applications. Designed to blend in so that music stands out, the JBL Architectural ranges deliver JBL's sensational signature sound quality for all your custominstall needs

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L-Acoustics brings benefits of line source array technology to luxury residential-friendly L-Acoustics Creations models. Both the Syva and new Soka models bring L-Acoustics’ line source heritage to a sleek, plug-and-play loudspeaker design, using colinear source array.

In the flagship Syva, this configuration incorporates six medium-frequency and three high-frequency speakers in a J-shaped progressive curvature format, allowing installers to create professional grade audio in residential and smaller commercial venues. The cabinet is just 144mm wide, 209mm deep and 1,300mm tall, and is available in a range of RAL custom colours, making for incredibly discreet installation.

As well as being favoured by residential installers, Syva has found favour with integrators working on corporate events, fashion and trade shows, as well as for sound reinforcement in amphitheatres and performing arts centres. The small cabinet, exceptional high SPL and wide dispersion characterises the collinear source array to make this type of loudspeaker an attractive option for houses of worship as well as intimate settings such as home cinemas or lounge bars.

The Soka is smaller still, at 99mm wide and deep, and just over 1m tall, and is suitable for onwall or in-wall mounting. The driver configuration incorporates nine 3.5in MF drivers and three 1in HF diaphragms in a colinear configuration that uses the same constructive interference physics of a line array. That delivers the same benefits in terms of high SPL, extended range and wide horizontal / narrow vertical dispersion, making it ideal for a range of commercial and premium residential installations.

Coaxial loudspeaker technology is another concept that was first designed for professional audio, but has found favour in commercial and domestic environments thanks to its unique acoustics benefits. The technology was first developed for recording studios, enabling sound from HF and low frequency drivers to come cohesively from the same point source. Setting the HF driver at the centre of the bass cone affords performance benefits including a wider field of listening and a symmetrical radial pattern of dispersion. Coaxial loudspeakers are also popular in stage monitors as they give the musicians a wider, more even sound field thanks to the single source characteristic.

Another advantage of the coaxial driver is the reduced baffle size, allowing designers to reduce the overall real estate of the loudspeaker. Coaxial driver loudspeakers such as L-Acoustics X4i can be incredibly compact but deliver exceptional SPL and clarity. Despite being just 116mm wide, 109mm tall and just 99mm deep, the X4i can deliver up to 110dB maximum SPL across 65Hz to 20kHz. It is also IP55 weatherproof and available in a range of RAL colours, making it a real ‘do-it-all’ speaker for commercial and residential installs.

This exceptional size-to-performance ratio neatly addresses some of the prevailing trends in the CI and commercial audio sector, including outdoor AV, multi-zone audio and discrete, décor-sympathetic installation.

Both end clients and consumer-facing businesses are looking for loudspeakers that are high-performance, discreet, rugged and waterproof. The emphasis on durability and weather resistance has led these clients to seek out professional audio systems that have a proven track record in intense outdoor use such as on cruise ships and outdoor amphitheatres. The ‘variable’ UK weather will not pose a problem for these workhorse audio systems.

Multi-zone audio systems that enable synchronised audio playback across different zones, inside and outside the same venue or home, are also continuing their popularity. Yet getting loudspeakers originally conceived and tuned to be used in an enclosed space to sound powerful, and engaging in an open space is a significant engineering challenge.

The miniaturisation of loudspeakers is also on the rise, allowing for sleeker, more compact designs that blend into décor or venue architecture. That adds yet another challenging demand in creating loudspeakers powerful enough to fill larger areas with sound using ever smaller and discrete cabinet designs. That is exceptionally challenging using traditional transducers and traditional cabinet design, where driver displacement and enclosure volume play a significant role in speaker sensitivity across the audio spectrum.

Immersive sound, clear and intelligible audio and well-distributed sound coverage are where hospitality businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors and attract more customers. The professional audio environment has been addressing those demands for decades, making pro-audio technologies a natural fit for these projects.

The audio benefits of line array loudspeakers across industry-leading SPL per size, unparalleled consistency over the audience area, and improved rejection everywhere else, can deliver truly immersive sound throughout the venue. Similarly, the benefits of coaxial loudspeaker technology have been incorporated in many recording studios and stage sets where compact cabinets, coherent point-source sound and wide, radial dispersion are required.

Those line array and coaxial technology benefits are very often the defining requirements of smaller commercial venues and large residential installations too. Shrinking full-size line array technology into a smaller colinear array loudspeaker design brings many of the benefits of a full-size line array into a more domestically friendly package, and utilising coaxial drivers in a small enclosure offers huge benefits to installers looking to incorporate great sound in aesthetically-lead venues.

The concept of using professional-audio derived loudspeaker technologies in luxury residential and commercial audio continues to gain popularity with high-end integrators. For an exceptional example of integrator Homeplay using colinear source and coaxial driver loudspeakers to create a high SPL multi-channel residential sound system, check out the article on The Cotswold House in Essential Install’s spring 2023 Outdoor AV supplement, that comes with this issue.