Feeling that its facility in Nuremberg, Germany, was no longer offering the environment or technical capabilities to handle applications such as automotive testing, Dolby has added a mixing lab and a critical listening lab to its new development and testing facility with Genelec the loudspeakers of choice.
The new Nuremberg facility has been built with software development and testing in an Agile scrum environment as its priority. This will see the space used for device testing for head units and loudspeaker set-ups in cars, as well as TVs, soundbars, set-top boxes, AVRs and wireless smart speakers. Additionally, the space will host scrum teams working on prototypes in dedicated project rooms as the company continues to grow its product offering.
Dolby wanted a room-in-room set-up for acoustic isolation, working with acoustic consultant Radoslaw Arkadiusz Ciszewski from Müller-BBM Building Solutions in Berlin, who developed the detailed design of the labs while also working closely with the landlord’s architects and the professionals on site.
‘During the planning phase, it was very challenging to align all the different trades such as dry wall construction, lighting, power and air conditioning/ventilation, especially as we needed a noiseless environment which required a very low air speed for the ventilation system,’ says Sr. Director Automotive Dolby and MD of Dolby Germany, Andreas Ehret. ‘This typically requires large ventilation pipes, so we had to go through a lot of different approaches during planning. During the construction phase the biggest challenge was to ‘train’ the different professionals. These professionals had to take care of a lot of very important details, such as fixing the dry wall construction to the concrete floor with special materials.’
While the physical construction presented challenges, specifying the monitoring system was a much simpler process. Dolby Content Relations Manager and sound expert David Ziegler handled the monitor selection and room fit out, supported by Georg Biberger from Thomann in Burgebrach who handled the entire A/V installation. The Dolby Lab Team from Wroclaw handled final measurements and calibration.
‘We had a very good acoustic consultant during the planning and execution phases,’ Ehret says. ‘And there is a good relationship between Dolby and Genelec which helped with the monitor selection.’
When it came to use of the two labs, flexibility was key. ‘The typical loudspeaker layouts for our use cases are 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2 and 7.1.4 for both the mix lab and the critical listening lab,’ Ehret says. ‘As a result, we have installed a 9.1.6 Smart Active Monitoring system in both rooms, such that we can switch easily. There is a dedicated processor for each room, and we’re using it to control the routing, switching formats and tuning.’
In the mix lab this layout takes the form of 8351s as LCR with 8341s for the surround and height channels, assisted by dual 7370 subwoofers. In the critical listening lab, 19 8341s handle all of the channels apart from the low end, which is taken care of by 7370 subs. Dolby used Genelec GLM software to calibrate each room, which integrates with the DSP hardware within each individual monitor and subwoofer – allowing control of frequency response, playback level and distance delay.
‘The Genelec monitors are easy to use and offer great sound quality,’ says Ehret. ‘With the new labs, we have a very high-quality environment to listen to and create Dolby Atmos content. It also gives us the opportunity to contribute to listening tests for standardisation bodies.
‘We are already working on new developments for our audio and video technologies. This will help us to increase our contribution to Dolby’s overall business success.’
More: www.genelec.com
