The AX2010A is a new powered line array element that combines superior sound quality with easiness and flexibility in a simple system with a very convenient priceto-performance ratio. The AX2010A has been designed both for rental live sound applications and for fixed installations and has been engineered for the simplest use possible but without sacrificing anything in sound quality and performance.
TRANSDUCERS
The high frequency range is reproduced by two low-distortion compression drivers, equipped with very light-weight diaphragms. Two transmission line waveforming waveguides have been used to load the HF drivers, in order to provide a detailed and natural sound and to achieve a long-distance HF projecting capacity. The two 10” woofers employed in the reproduction of the mid-bass range are equipped with very light-weight cones. The lightness of the diaphragm is furthermore improved by the use of aluminum voice coil instead of conventional copper. This ensure a fast reproduction of the mid range and of mid-bass musical passages, improving also the thermal capacity of the voice coil and, consequently, controlling the overall power compression. The two 10” woofers are back loaded by a short hybrid transmission line that minimizes the effect of the box resonances and eliminates the “boxy” mid-bass sound commonly obtained from regular bassreflex enclosures.
SYSTEM CONCEPT AND SONIC PERFORMANCES
The AX2010A offers a simple but innovative design in line array elements. The simple concept of the WTW symmetrical design is implemented in an effective way in order to minimize the effects of potential beaming phenomena around the crossover frequency. In order to minimize these effects, many different details have been carefully engineered, the first of them being the choice of the HF driver units. The special light-weight diaphragm used in these drivers features a very low mechanical resonance, thus allowing a relatively low crossover frequency point that is placed in the 900Hz range. Moreover, the orientation of the two woofers allows to minimize the interference effect between them, while the use of a mechanical-acoustic polyurethane filter represents a further help in minimizing the midrange beaming. The crossover filter approach is based on a “Constant Power” technique. Thanks to a particular phase combination between the two ways around the crossover frequency, this approach is able to provide a very stable horizontal coverage and a very stable off-axys sound image, also minimizing unwanted effects around the crossover frequency. The further application of phase linearization techniques, combined to constant power crossover, yield a linear phase response and a coherent time response. This allows for a natural perception of acoustic instruments and voices and for an improved depth of the sound image.
SIGNAL PROCESSING
The system processing is based on the CORE DSP platform, which has been designed by the PROEL R&D Laboratories using one of the most advanced SHARC DSP for audio application. It features 40bit, 96kHz floating point resolution and high quality 24bit AD/DA converters, for a perfect signal integrity, a dynamic range in excess of 110dB and a superior sonic performance. Thanks to its massive processing power, the CORE platform is capable of providing the most sophisticated algorithms for speaker processing, together with remote control and networking capability. The PRONET control software, working on a solid and reliable CANBUS based network protocol, provides an intuitive interface for the remote control of the whole system, with the possibility of eqing, delaying, increasing the protections and monitoring the status of the amplifier.
POWER AMPLIFIERS
The AX2010A is powered by DA SERIES digital power modules, a new generation of CLASS D power amplifier with digitally-controlled SMPS. The innovative technology used for these amplifiers (including also the use of a variable switching frequency) offers performances at the top of the range, such as a superior sound definition at any audio frequency, very high dynamics also for low level signals and very low distortion even at the maximum power The superior sound quality can be compared with top-of-the-range AB-class analog systems, while the DA modules feature a higher dynamics, very compact size and light weight and efficiency above 90%. The DA module employed for powering the AX2010A deliver in an ultra-compact package a maximum power of 2000W.