Instantly recognisable for its television cameras, Ikegami Tsushinki is a manufacturer of high-quality professional broadcast equipment that can trace its roots back as far as 1946. The Japanese company introduced the world’s first portable hand-held TV camera, which debuted in the US in 1962 when CBS used it to document the launch of NASA’s Aurora 7 crewed space flight. In 2022 the company, which is actively working on next-generation broadcasting standards with IP workflows, is marking its 75th anniversary with a comprehensive renovation of its offices in Tokyo, including a sophisticated new seminar room equipped with Smart IP loudspeakers from Genelec.
With the broadcasting world experiencing dramatic change with the advent of internet broadcasting and IP transmission, Ikegami is pursuing its development along these lines to accompany traditional terrestrial broadcast techniques – and the choice of Genelec Smart IP loudspeakers for the new seminar room underlines their commitment to developing IP workflows.
Previously, Ikegami lacked large rooms to hold company events: ‘We used to rent nearby public facilities for training sessions or other corporate events,’ recalls Akiko Kurazumi, Manager of the General Affairs Group. ‘When the pandemic hit, we were obliged to move things online, but the idea was raised of having our own facility for the future. The timing was perfect as it coincided with the office renovations, so we built a new seminar room.’
During the design process, Ikegami consulted long-standing business colleague Tetsushi Hirai of TXA Planning who offered a proposal based on the theme of ‘staying focused on the seminar’.
‘I make it a rule to design sound systems that place intelligible audio exactly where it should be, so that audiences and participants can concentrate on the content and get the most from their experience,’ she says. ‘Ikegami’s seminar room is no exception.’
The design was developed entirely from an attendee perspective – the rectangular room is configured with six discrete audio zones and designed such that the speaker’s voice can be heard clearly from anywhere in the room with no interference between zones.
‘The room features a number of physical pillars, so we installed a total of six 4430 loudspeakers in a LCR configuration for the front half of the room and the same for the back half, to deliver audio to each of the six zones,’ Hirai-san says. ‘The loudspeakers are angled radially towards the centre of each zone. The large display panels are also an important part of the experience, so the system has been configured in such a way that sound appears to be coming from the display where appropriate, which is placed close to the speaker for a realistic experience. We defined the centre 4430 above the screens as the virtual sound source and calculated the time alignment for each loudspeaker position using 3D modelling software. Amazingly, once the time alignment was set, the sound output was so good, I didn’t even need to calibrate the loudspeakers – they sounded fantastic straight out of the box.’
‘When I listen to these loudspeakers, the clarity is astonishing,’ he continues. ‘Their excellent linear characteristics – that I actually measured for myself – meant that I didn’t have to calibrate them afterwards. System design is much easier as a result.’
The other motivation for using a Smart IP solution was that the technology is a perfect fit for a hi-tech, forward-thinking company like Ikegami.
‘Ikegami is paving the way with the adoption of standards and technologies like ST 2110 which enables audio, video and control data transport, and is also developing MoIP (Media-over-IP), which incorporates remote control capabilities. Genelec’s Smart IP platform that delivers audio, power and control via a single network cable fits right into that scenario and is a future-proof solution that will be able to adapt to new generation innovations.’
Kurazumi-san is thrilled with the result: ‘When I first heard the system, I was impressed by how comfortable it was to listen to. We had a seminar session the other day, and I realised that it sounded the same wherever I moved around the room. We could focus on the content, even though it was about rather complex management matters. On top of that, we felt less tired after attending for a long hour. This seminar room has only just opened, but we are already planning on using this space for a variety of purposes. It will be an excellent showcase for us at every level.’
More: www.genelec.com
