A pioneer of loudspeaker technical data, Community Professional has opened a new indoor test facility.

Designed by Charlie Hughes of Excelsior Audio and operated by Senior Measurement Technician, Hadi Sumoro, the new facility makes it possible to control temperature and humidity, as well as eliminating outdoor wind problems and interference from outside noise sources. This allows Community engineers to accurately measure complex loudspeaker data and to gather polar data in 1° resolution. Measurements are automated with an ELF robotic rotator system controlled by Easera software.

The new facility follows a long tradition of loudspeaker measurements at Community. The first test facility was a 32-ft-high tower built in 1975 on a southeast Pennsylvania hilltop, which provided measurements that closely corresponded to anechoic chamber standards and established Community as an early leader in providing accurate loudspeaker specifications. In 1981, the company built a semi-anechoic room in its factory to manually collect spherical propagation data of loudspeakers using Time Delay Spectrometry (TDS) technology developed by Richard Heyser and Gerald Stanley. In 1994, Community built a new outdoor test facility extending from the third floor of its factory building in Chester. At 40 feet above the ground and with a microphone to loudspeaker distance of 39 feet, this system is still used today and uses TDS software to collect far-field and free-space data and to minimise outdoor noise and reflections. The outdoor test system provides the ability to measure low-frequency loudspeakers in near-free-space conditions.

‘Community’s outdoor measurement systems were an important resource for our TAG [Technical Applications Group] group as we worked with systems designers and end-users,’ says Community Director of Technical Services, Dave Howden. ‘Now, this new indoor facility provides phase data and other new information for systems designers and will help Community’s engineering team design the next generation of great loudspeakers.’

More: www.communitypro.com