Open Forum

 View Only
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Recommendations for Directional Speakers

  • 1.  Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 20 days ago

    Hello all,

    I am looking for recommendations and practical insights on directional or highly focused speakers used successfully in gallery settings.

    I would appreciate hearing about:

    • Specific products or manufacturers you have used
    • Situations where directional audio worked well in exhibitions
    • Key considerations when selecting speakers (sound bleed, clarity, mounting, durability, system integration)
    • Features that have provided the most long term flexibility (ease of content changes, zoning, scalability)
    • Any challenges or limitations encountered

    Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.


    Mark



    ------------------------------
    Mark Osterman
    Assistant Director for Digital Experiences
    The Wolfsonian–FIU
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 19 days ago

    Mark,

    The College Park Aviation Museum has just bought a small, AS-168iX from Holosonics (and I mean just bought, we received it this week). This is our first directional speaker, and it's been easy to test and set up. We requested it have a motion sensor trigger and a micro SD card, to pre-load the audio. The exhibit it's for won't open for another month, so we don't yet have anything to share re. how it sounds in its final space or its durability. It was affordable, with the mount, motion sensor, and microSD slot, it was less than $1,300. They shipped a demo speaker and you can buy a previously demoed speaker for a 15% discount.

    The other directional speakers we looked into were

    1. Audfly - https://www.audflyspeaker.com/products/
    2. Dakota Audio https://dakotaaudio.com/products/
    3. Brown Innovations - https://www.browninnovations.com/sonicbeam-directional-speaker

    Hope it helps and good luck,

    Luke Perez



    ------------------------------
    Luke Perez
    Curator of Collections
    Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
    College Park MD
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 19 days ago

    Hello Mark, 

    I had the pleasure of managing a great sound installation for the Peabody Essex Museum's Asian Export Art permanent collection installation. It was done in partnership with Jason Reinier of Earprint and is still on view.  This blog post sums it up pretty well and includes some technical information, but Jason is the guy to speak to about the latest and greatest technology options. 

    Cheers, 

    Jim



    ------------------------------
    Jim Olson
    Co-Founder and Principal, The Experience Alchemists
    Natick MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 18 days ago

    Holosonics have a very narrow footprint and narrow bandwidth. Okay for voice delivery to a single visitor. Typically I would recommend footprint decals on the floor to tell visitors exactly where to stand. Even a foot left or right changes the quality of the sound, which is not great to begin with. I do not recommend for music, or anything where the music is important, or even for baritone voices as they have no low end. This is typical of directional speakers since lower frequencies are not directional.

    I prefer Dakota speakers for narrow beam directional. Still highly focused but a larger footprint with controls for beam width and slightly better fidelity. Can serve two people side-by-side. 

    Brown Innovations has an array of directions solutions from domes (highly focused) to narrow focus. Domes can provide stereo at higher bandwidths (music). I prefer  narrow focus speakers  with careful volume control rather than highly focused "beams" like Holosonic and Dakota. Beams serve a purpose, but jumping immediately to highly focused speakers ignores many more important factors. Physical acoustic control (spacing, barriers, absorption, proper volume control) should be the first concern. Some controlled spill is important to "energizing" a space so it does not feel like a cathedral. While you may want an art gallery to be silent as a tomb, most museums benefit from the "what's that over there" effect. If you do want the cathedral effect, I recommend hand-held audio and/or headphones.

    Recently we swapped out holosonics in a design for JBL Control 67Hc speakers which are narrow beam pendant speakers. The client wanted pools of sound, not visitor isolation. We considered Dakotas but decided that even these were overkill. The JBLs are designed for high ceilings but can be used for close listening and will provide enough control in our environment to mitigate spill from one exhibit to another without sacrificing fidelity.



    ------------------------------
    Tod Hopkins
    Museum Media Specialist
    443-472-5978
    tod@hoptod.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 18 days ago
      |   view attached




    Attachment(s)

    html
    sound-focusing-speakers[1].html   213 KB 1 version
    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 15 days ago

    Mark,

    You might want to check out this conversation from a couple months ago with a rather different set of answers to a slightly different question.

    Same topic was discussed a few years ago, too. I get asked about directional speakers a lot, so I save these threads.

    Cheers!

    Jason



    ------------------------------
    Jason Jay Stevens
    Exhibit Designer/Principal
    Flutter & Wow Museum Projects
    Ann Arbor MI
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 14 days ago

    Thanks for the links to other discussions Jason!



    ------------------------------
    Matthew Isble
    Exhibit Designer & Founder of MuseumTrade.org
    misble@crockerartmuseum.org
    Crocker Art Museum
    Sacramento CA
    misble@crockerartmuseum.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 13 days ago

    Hi Mark, 

    We use Holosonics (AS-24iX) directional speakers. 



    ------------------------------
    Tracy MacMath
    Digital Design Manager
    Yale University
    NEW HAVEN CT
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 12 days ago

    We've found directional speakers to be to thin/tinny in a lot of our installations. Has anyone found a good way to counter act this? Special mix or extra hardware? 

    -Wing



    ------------------------------
    Wing Fong
    Director of Experience Design
    The Henry Ford
    Dearborn MI
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 12 days ago
    Yes, highly focused speakers are thin and tinny. They have no low end. The low end cut is part of the design. No amount of equalization can make a speaker produce sounds it's not designed to produce. There are differences between brands and styles. You can look at individual specs for their low end reach. And some even have a switch for "voice" and "music" which puts back a bit of low end, but not much.

    There is physics behind this. Low frequencies are less directional.This is why stereo systems only use one sub woofer and you can put it pretty much anywhere. The lower the frequency the less directional the sound. As focused speakers reach lower, they have a wider feel because the lower frequencies spread more. I prefer this, which is why the Holosonics are my least favorite with their extremely "tight" beam, and therefor lack of low end. 

    Cheers,
                   tod








    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Recommendations for Directional Speakers

    Posted 11 days ago

    Thank you to those of you that chimed in. I found these comments very helpful.

    Best

    Mark 



    ------------------------------
    Mark Osterman
    Assistant Director of Digital Experiences
    The Wolfsonian–FIU
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


Related Content