The new product - the first fruit of the technology collaboration between the two companies that was announced last October - is a sound engineering tool which offers "far more than the sum of its parts", in the words of Lab.gruppen's Tim Chapman. A potent mix of existing and new technologies, it also supports a new audio networking standard which promises extreme low-latency Ethernet distribution.
The product is the PLM10000Q - the first in a series of Powered Loudspeaker Management systems - which combines the functions of crossover, delay, equalization, limiting and power amplification in one box, along with a host of new features.
The Dolby Lake Processor, the first live sound tool released by Dolby, was launched at PLASA last year, where it collected a PLASA Award for Innovation. Using proprietary technology, it offered a vastly improved degree of fine control (what Bruce Jackson, legendary sound engineer and director of Dolby's Live Sound Group likes to call "granularity") over the shape of the output curve. This allowed a new level of flexibility in the management of complex speaker systems - saving time in set-up and improving the sound of the system for the audience.
The PLM10000Q now combines this tool with amplification in a single hardware chassis (2U, 13kg), with an accompanying software controller, providing "a complete drive system for any type of loudspeaker".The PLM10000Q includes the benefits of Dolby's raised cosine equalisation, linear phase crossovers, LimiterMax protection (a comprehensive protection system combining a true-RMS limiter and an advanced peak limiter among its defences), Iso-Float ground isolation and parallel operation of the SmaartLive frequency measurement and analysis system.
The amplification element is the same advanced four-channel, high-power system introduced last year in Lab.gruppen's FP+ Series FP 10000Q, which packs 10kW into a 2U, 13kg chassis. It also includes Lab.gruppen's power-efficient Class TD output stage (or "tracking Class D" - in which the power supply tracks the audio signal at all frequencies, supplying the required rail voltage while also reserving additional headroom); regulated switch mode power supply (RSMPS) and power average limiting (PAL).
But that's not all: in addition to the above, the PLM10000Q includes a whole raft of new features and technologies. There's a comprehensive loudspeaker preset database based on the "LoadLibrary" of 'load fingerprint' information - a loudspeaker model's identity and characteristics; there's also LoadSmart load verification and SpeakerSafe continuous performance monitoring. Put simply, the system will compare the actual load with known 'fingerprints' to confirm what is connected, while LoadSmart will detect connection errors, as well as any marginal or defective drivers (shorts or damaged voice coils) and isolate them for maintenance. All this analysis takes just two seconds.
Other features include primary and secondary network connections; digital output attenuation in 0.25dB steps; digitally controlled amplifier system gain adjustable in 0.1dB steps from 20-44dB; and digitally implemented, zero-overshoot Inter Sample Voltage Protection Limiting (ISVPL - a new development of Lab.gruppen's proprietary Voltage Peak Limiter) which is adjustable in 0.1V steps from 18-150V.
Remote access of the units is via an intuitive GUI optimised for tablet PC. The Dolby Lake Controller (DLC) software has been tailored to provide full set-up and control of amplifier operations in addition to the Dolby Lake Processor functions; amplifier functions integrated into DLC include gain, attenuation, protection and performance indication, plus load matching, verification and monitoring. Connection options allow for integration into systems employing analogue, AES digital or Dante networked signal distribution
