Overview

The Optimizer is designed to improve the audio monitoring in music, post-production and broadcast control rooms. It helps sound engineers to:

By taking the room out of the acoustic equation, the Optimizer greatly improves the accuracy and consistency of your monitoring system. When your room is under control, you can trust the monitors, focus on your mix, and ultimately achieve higher quality mixes that translate well from one room to another.

Applications

The Optimizer improves the sound quality of a wide variety of sound systems:

• Broadcast control rooms:

every radio and TV station moving from stereo to 5.1 experiences great difficulties with room acoustics and loudspeaker placement. A good room in stereo is often a problem room in 5.1. In such rooms the Optimizer can help to make each loudspeaker's behaviour more similar to each other, and achieve proper working conditions for the engineers. > More info: Broadcast customers

• Outside Broadcast vehicles:

due to its small dimensions, achieving consistent monitoring in an OB Truck is a true challenge. In such difficult acoustic conditions the Optimizer often provides spectacular results in terms of tonal balance and soundstage, and dramatically reduces ear fatigue. > More info: OB customers

• Film studios (New):

with its Target Curves functionality the Optimizer 2.0 easily meets the X-Curve of the SMPTE and ISO standards. Thanks to the improved phase response, sound designers can work more accurately on dialogs, effects and atmospheres. The bottom line is improved room-to-room translation throughout every post-production stage, from premixing to screening. > More info: Film customers

• Music studios:

music engineers demand highly accurate monitoring in order to work with subtlety on effects, EQs and dynamics. The Optimizer can take their audio monitoring to the next level by improving the phase response of every speaker, which results in a deeper and wider stereo image with more focused phantom sources. > More info: Music customers

• Research & Education institutions:

with its strong processing power, its open architecture, and its ability to manage up to 24 channels, the Optimizer meets the requirements of cutting-edge audio research facilities. Furthermore, in music and sound engineering schools, it is a great tool to introduce students to room equalization. > More info: Research & Education customers

Please see our Customers Highlights to learn more about who is using the Optimizer.

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Features

The Optimizer is a full-featured room correction, equalization and loudspeaker management system. Automated and manual approaches are combined to help the sound system designer solve the highly complex equation that involves level and time alignment, loudspeaker placement and room equalization.

1) Level and Time Alignment

Based on its own acoustic measurements, the Optimizer can automatically align the relative levels of every loudspeaker, as well as apply delays to time-align the system. > More info: Alignment screenshots

2) Room Correction (automated equalization)

The Optimizer uses state-of-the art time-frequency algorithms to analyze the room measurements and uses specific methods to compensate for room modes, first reflections and late reverberation. All the subtlety of the Optimizer resides in knowing which defects can't be corrected without creating additional problems.

• Improved Phase Response: the Optimizer corrects the frequency response of the speakers, both in amplitude and phase. This means that the Optimizer not only corrects the tonal balance to obtain a neutral timbre for every speaker, it also works in the time domain to achieve a high resolution stereophonic image with well-focused phantom sources.

• Target Curves (New): the Optimizer automatically defines the filters that will achieve the required frequency response defined by a target curve. This is particularly useful in Film Studios in order to comply with the X-Curve SMPTE and ISO standards. Phase and Group Delay targets can also be defined, making the Optimizer a unique tool for sound system designers.

• Fine-tuning options (New): because the human ear will always be smarter than an algorithm, the Optimizer provides over 12 different parameters, such as the maximum boost, to customize the behaviour of the room correction algorithms. This opens many possibilities for fine-tuning the sound according to your listening tests.

• More info: how does digital room correction work?

• More info: amplitude and phase response before/after optimization:
  • in a Broadcast control room
  • in a Film mixing stage

3) Manual Equalization

The Optimizer offers a comprehensive set of tools to fine-tune the results of the automated correction. This is usually done by using a real time analyzer while sending pink noise into each loudspeaker.

Two different tools are offered:

• State-of-the-art FIR EQ: based on Finite Impulse Response filters, the Optimizer's FIR EQ allows for accurate equalization without introducing additional phase problems.

• 1/3-octave EQ: 31 band Graphic Equalizers are also provided in order to support established methodologies and standards.

4) Active Crossovers (New)

The Optimizer 2.0 features 2-way, 3-way and 4-way active crossovers. With this new functionality, the Optimizer is a one-stop loudspeaker management solution for world-class studios.

• Easy setup: preset templates are provided for typical mixing stage configurations.

• One machine is enough: with up to 16 channels with the AES interface, or up to 24 channels with the MADI interface, one single unit can manage large configurations, such as tri-amped 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 setups.

• More info: screenshot of the Active Crossovers user interface

5) Loudspeaker Positions Remapping

Thanks to its measurement probe with 4 capsules, the Optimizer can determine in 3D the real positions of the loudspeakers. On the other hand, the Optimizer knows the reference positions defined by the standard of the target system, for example ITU-775. The Optimizer can then compute the remapping matrix that must be applied to the input signal to create the same acoustic field that would be obtained if the speakers where positioned correctly.

• More info: how does loudspeaker remapping work?

Technical Specifications - Excerpt

• Level, time, and frequency response alignment
• State-of-the-art time-frequency acoustical analysis
• Uses IIR and FIR filters
• Speaker configurations : stereo, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 and 22.2
• 2-way, 3-way and 4-way active crossovers (New),
• Mono and Stereo Bass management
• Up to 24 channels at 48kHz, and 12 channels at 96 kHz
• 176.4 and 192kHz supported for stereo setups (up to 3 channels)
• 64-bit floating point processing
• Analog and Digital (AES, MADI or ADAT) audio interfaces
• Word clock In & Out via BNC connectors
• Calibration duration: 30 seconds per channel
• Current configuration can be stored to 30 user presets
• Fully remote controllable through networked computer
• Available on 2U, 3U and 4U 19” rackmounts
• Warranty: 2 years
• Options:
  • integrated touchscreen,
  • external touchscreenn
  • remote control via IR,
  • remote control via GPI,
  • remote control via KVM extender

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More Information

Learn more about the Optimizer:

• Customer Highlights: who is using the Optimizer and what they are saying.

• In the Press: articles and reviews of the Optimizer in pro audio magazines.

• How it works: explains some of the key features of the Optimizer.

• Screenshots: illustrates the Optimizer's user interface.

• Product Brochure: Optimizer_Pro_EN_V8web.pdf (367.9 kB)

• Request a Demo from a distribution partner near you.

External Links:

• Articles about room equalization:
  • Michael Gerzon's Article on Digital Room Equalization
• Bob McCarthy's article "Equalizing the Room"

• Sound reproduction standards and recommendations:
  • EBU Tech 3276-E, AES TD 1001.1.01-10, ITU R-775-1,
  • SMPTE 202M and ISO 2969 (curve X), SMPTE 222M,
  • Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing Recommendations for Surround Sound Production,
  • Yamaha Multichannel Monitoring Tutorial Booklet

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