RGB Communications has added ClearOne’s Beamforming Microphone Array to its distribution portfolio. Featuring adaptive steering and next-generation acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) technology, the product replaces up to 10 traditional microphones and has twice the pickup range.
“RGB believes ClearOne’s Beamforming Microphone Array is unique,” said Gordon Innocent, RGB’s chairman. “There really is no other product in the marketplace which matches its features, functionality and price performance.”
The ClearOne Beamforming Microphone Array contains 24 microphone elements, creating multiple audio beams for “crystal-clear” audio sampling.
“Other microphone arrays… simply combine multiple microphones into one product without any processing or steering functionality,” said Innocent. “Plus, they are all for personal use and what’s crucial about ClearOne’s solution is that it is beamforming and has been designed and developed exclusively for the professional AV market.”
ClearOne’s DSP technology powers the adaptive steering of the array to focus the mic elements on the person talking. Combined with ClearOne’s next-generation AEC and noise cancellation technology, this results in what RGB calls “a new level of audio conferencing clarity”.
A flexible ceiling-mount option eliminates the need to ceiling mount multiple microphones and overcomes the height, distance and angle restraints of traditional conferencing microphones – as well as making for a faster, simpler install with less wiring.
The array is wired back to the ClearOne DSP via a single Cat5 cable, and power is provided by a separate Power over Ethernet (PoE) connection.
The product works with ClearOne’s Converge Pro 840T, 880, 880T and 880TA DSPs, and up to three can be daisychained with one Converge Pro. For the largest conferencing environments, up to 16 Beamforming Microphone Arrays can be used with multiple Converge Pro units.
“Not only does it complement our existing range of ClearOne audio solutions, but it turns every conferencing environment across all sectors that currently uses traditional microphones, into a potential new business opportunity for our channel partners,” said Innocent.
