Open Forum

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Hi Paul
Directional audio is not an exact science, so there are many elements to consider: content, space design, proximity to other audio, ambient noise, and desired fidelity to name a few.

The three major suppliers that I have used or at least demo'd are: Brown Innovations, Dakota Audio, and Holosonics. Each has its own method and all are much more expensive than conventional audio. 

The domes have the best fidelity.  The sound bars are good for close proximity at a low volume, and the flat panels are the most aesthetic, but lack full range fidelity/frequencies.  All have some amount of bleed-over outside of the 'focused' target area.  Each company has several options to choose from. 

That's pretty general, but is an overall assessment of current tech. 

Best, 
Alan

------------------------------
AlanEidson
Interpretive Filmmaker/Interactive Designer
alan@eidsonstudios.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Alan, Thank you for the list! We try to ditch all audio in the gallery, but sometimes you have to because of an artist's intent. I'll give these vendors a look.

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

Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2021 09:18 AM
From: Alan Eidson
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi Paul
Directional audio is not an exact science, so there are many elements to consider: content, space design, proximity to other audio, ambient noise, and desired fidelity to name a few.

The three major suppliers that I have used or at least demo'd are: Brown Innovations, Dakota Audio, and Holosonics. Each has its own method and all are much more expensive than conventional audio. 

The domes have the best fidelity.  The sound bars are good for close proximity at a low volume, and the flat panels are the most aesthetic, but lack full range fidelity/frequencies.  All have some amount of bleed-over outside of the 'focused' target area.  Each company has several options to choose from. 

That's pretty general, but is an overall assessment of current tech. 

Best,
Alan

------------------------------
AlanEidson
Interpretive Filmmaker/Interactive Designer
alan@eidsonstudios.com

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Hi Paul, 
For what it's worth we have tried to ditch audio in the galleries where we can. We primarily use QR codes or guide-by-cell service that delivers directly to people's devices. NOW, here's the tricky part - to train security officers to ask people to NOT use their speaker on their phone and ask them to hold it up to their ear instead. It's working for the most part.

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

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

On the more affordable end (still expensive) of quality directional sound solutions, I've been happy with Panphonics. I'm not sure about every company, but Panphonics will send you demo hardware for the cost of shipping. Considering the cost of these products, I definitely recommend requesting demos before you buy. I ended up with the 2'x2' Sound Shower with built-in amp from Panphonics. It's attractive and really isolates the sound in my opinion. I have grown to prefer buying directional speakers with built-in amps whenever the application allows for it. I have the speaker hanging from the ceiling, about 8-9ft from the floor. That results in an active listening area of about 3-4 ft diameter circle, which is a pretty specific application. If you want a larger listening area for someone standing or sitting in place, I'd try a demo of the 4' or 6' speakers. Another commenter is right about the fidelity though–the sound is pretty flat and kinda tinny.

------------------------------
Tom Howes
Exhibits Technician
Kalamazoo Valley Museum
Kalamazoo MI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Hi Paul,

The Museum of Making Music very recently completed a large renovation that included the installation of directional sound bars from Brown Innovations throughout our galleries. Echoing Alan's input, the sound bars are great for lower volume levels at close proximity. In our case, we have the sound bars mounted below touchscreens at each display. This places the speakers at somewhere between one and three feet away from most visitors' ears, with a great deal of the sound being directed straight into their bodies. This address a few issues:

1. The dispersion patterns on these sound bars is not what you'd expect based on how other speakers behave. Rather that projecting more or less in a cone shape out from the drivers, it's more like a donut that extends to the front, back, top, and bottom. We had tried mounting the bars on the ceiling, but the donut dispersion ended up casting sound all over the galleries. Using the visitors as baffles, in effect, cut down quite a bit on bleed.
2. The sweet spot for these speakers is within a few feet, and aligns with the exact center of the bar. If the visitor is even just outside that sweet spot, intelligibility starts to fall off. For music, this can have a significant impact. Since we can expect that visitors will stand at or near the center of the touchscreen as they use it, we have pretty good luck with this.
3. Keeping the volume levels low is critical. These things are designed to play within a few dB over ambient. After all, they rely heavily on psychoacoustic trickery to make the effect really work! I'm not sure about other manufacturers, but Brown provides software to tweak the settings on the amplifier to really dial this in: how many dB over ambient, output floor and ceiling, how quickly they respond to changes in ambient levels (e.g. how quickly should the amp adjust if a talkative school group walks in right as the audio starts playing?), etc. It's slightly tedious but the right settings make a huge difference.

To Tom's point, DEFINITELY request a demo unit beforehand. We tried a couple of units from another manufacturer that were completely wrong for our application before arriving where we did.

I'd be more than happy to offer any additional information about our experiences, if that's of value!

Jonathan

------------------------------
Jonathan Piper PhD
Manager of Artifacts and Exhibitions
Museum of Making Music
Carlsbad CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Thanks for all of these great responses! I really appreciate everyone's thoughtful suggestions.

Cheers,
Paul

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-06-2021 11:19 AM
From: Jonathan Piper
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi Paul,

The Museum of Making Music very recently completed a large renovation that included the installation of directional sound bars from Brown Innovations throughout our galleries. Echoing Alan's input, the sound bars are great for lower volume levels at close proximity. In our case, we have the sound bars mounted below touchscreens at each display. This places the speakers at somewhere between one and three feet away from most visitors' ears, with a great deal of the sound being directed straight into their bodies. This address a few issues:

1. The dispersion patterns on these sound bars is not what you'd expect based on how other speakers behave. Rather that projecting more or less in a cone shape out from the drivers, it's more like a donut that extends to the front, back, top, and bottom. We had tried mounting the bars on the ceiling, but the donut dispersion ended up casting sound all over the galleries. Using the visitors as baffles, in effect, cut down quite a bit on bleed.
2. The sweet spot for these speakers is within a few feet, and aligns with the exact center of the bar. If the visitor is even just outside that sweet spot, intelligibility starts to fall off. For music, this can have a significant impact. Since we can expect that visitors will stand at or near the center of the touchscreen as they use it, we have pretty good luck with this.
3. Keeping the volume levels low is critical. These things are designed to play within a few dB over ambient. After all, they rely heavily on psychoacoustic trickery to make the effect really work! I'm not sure about other manufacturers, but Brown provides software to tweak the settings on the amplifier to really dial this in: how many dB over ambient, output floor and ceiling, how quickly they respond to changes in ambient levels (e.g. how quickly should the amp adjust if a talkative school group walks in right as the audio starts playing?), etc. It's slightly tedious but the right settings make a huge difference.

To Tom's point, DEFINITELY request a demo unit beforehand. We tried a couple of units from another manufacturer that were completely wrong for our application before arriving where we did.

I'd be more than happy to offer any additional information about our experiences, if that's of value!

Jonathan

------------------------------
Jonathan Piper PhD
Manager of Artifacts and Exhibitions
Museum of Making Music
Carlsbad CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2021 09:04 AM
From: Paul Fuller
Subject: Directional speaker recommendations

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some directional speakers that will isolate sound to a specific area in an exhibit. We haven't had amazing success with this in the past, but it's been a few years and we'd love to try it again. Do you have any speakers or strategies that you've used to great effect that minimize sound spillage (that's totally the right term)?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Paul Fuller
Assistant Curator
Maine Maritime Museum
Bath ME
------------------------------