Road Tests

Lectrosonics, long a staple of the broadcast, film and theater industries, has introduced the SSM (Super Slight Micro) UHF beltpack transmitter. To say this thing is small is an understatement. It measures 2.52 by 1.48 by 0.57 inches and weighs only 2.3 ounces. And even referring to this a beltpack transmitter is somewhat of a misnomer, as it could easily be placed in hats, costumes or a performer’s wig. It’s the ideal solution in many film and theater applications — essentially, wherever you need to conceal that you are wearing a transmitter.

KLANG Technologies is small, up-and-coming company located in Aachen, Germany. I’ve spent the last month with its flagship product, the KLANG:fabrik, which is described on its website as “3D In-Ear Monitoring.” My first exposure to KLANG actually came by way of one of my students, who showed me the Fabrik online. At the time, I checked out KLANG’s website and watched one of their videos. I have to admit that when I first heard the term “3D In-Ear Monitoring,” it struck me as a clever marketing phrase, and I quickly dismissed the Fabrik as all hype. In retrospect, having now used the Fabrik for myself, I don’t think I really understood it at the time. Fabrik truly is one of those products that you have to hear to believe.

When I was asked to write a review of KS Audio’s CPD 14, I have to admit that I had never heard of the company before. In fact, most of my colleagues that I asked hadn’t heard of KS Audio either. I only found one person who knew the name KS Audio, and when I mentioned their name, his response was that they “make amazing studio monitors.” For a company that has been around for over 30 years, it seemed no one really knew much about them, so I spent the past few weeks getting familiar with their product line, including the speakers that I’ve reviewed here, the CPD 14.

Once upon a time, old timers will remember when “one dollar per watt” was considered either the benchmark or goal of many amplifier designs. Well, thanks to switch-mode, Class-D technology, those days are long gone, and today’s models continue to improve on that, both in terms of increasing onboard DSP functionality and higher power levels in smaller, more lightweight packages.

The new SRX800 line of active loudspeakers from JBL Professional was unveiled during Winter NAMM 2015. The series consists of the 12-inch, two-way SRX812P; the 15-inch two-way SRX815P; the three-way 15-inch SRX835P and single (SRX818SP) and double-18 (SRX828SP) subwoofers.

DPA Microphones continues to expand and improve upon its microphone solutions for pro audio users. This time around, the company sent me the d:screet 4071 omnidirectional miniature microphone to run through its paces. The 4071 is an update to DPA’s 4061 model, a workhorse praised for its sound quality that gets a lot of use on higher-end theatrical productions.

In the past ten years, the audio industry has witnessed an explosion of multi-track recording software that has become more affordable and accessible to the average audio practitioner. During this same time period, a number of companies have introduced recording software aimed directly at sound reinforcement engineers.