ASI Audio x Sensaphonics has announced the launch of the second-generation 3DME Gen2 Active Ambient Monitoring System that comes with Audio App and beltpack enhancements to expand the system feature set based on user requests and customer needs, along with extended battery life.
The core remains the 3DME system’s application of patented Active Ambient technology that’s designed to provice users with high-fidelity in-ear monitor mixes with natural room sound from their bandmates and the audience.
“Our mission at ASI Audio has always been two-fold,” says ASI Audio x Sensaphonics chairman and 3DME inventor Dr. Michael Santucci, Au.D. “We want to give our customers the ultimate stage monitoring experience as well as help protect their hearing. The 3DME Gen2’s enhanced feature set aids in both of those goals.”
ASI Audio system engineer Stephen Julstrom adds, “With Gen2, we’ve added options that touring musicians will appreciate. One allows the Monitor In signal to bypass the limiting and EQ stages to enable professional monitor engineers to maintain full unimpeded control over the mix they deliver. Another optimizes the system for use with either the standard full-range dual-driver earpiece or the new Custom Pro quad-driver earpiece.”
The internal limiter’s lowest Limiter Threshold setting is stated to be now “stretched down” from 84 dB-SPL to 76 dB-SPL for those with sensitive hearing, joined by subtle improvements in the attack characteristic of the limiter and the linearity of extremely high frequencies. The selectable Start-Up Squeal Suppressor (formerly called the Safety Limiter) eliminates the feedback squeal that was possible when a user covered the ambient microphone with their finger while inserting the earpieces with the system powered.
In addition, turn-on and turn-off “thumps” heard when powering the system with earpieces inserted are now greatly reduced. For users who can hear very little in one ear – single-sided deafness (SSD) or unilateral hearing loss, which creates a head shadowing effect that negatively impacts clarity and timing – the CROS (Crosslateral Routing Of Signal) option is designed to restore intelligibility by combining the binaural signals and removing all sound to the impaired ear.
“The Gen 2 version of our 3DME is a result of the pro audio community telling us exactly what we needed to add to our in-ear monitors for this new version,” adds Evan MacKenzie, ASI Audio x Sensaphonics vice president, marketing and sales. “We’re grateful and appreciative that our customers have embraced the 3DME Active Ambient Monitor System for both the natural stage experience it delivers as well as its sound quality and are delighted to reward their loyalty with these additional enhancements.”
The system consists of Active Ambient earphones with embedded binaural MEMS ambient microphones, a bodypack mixer/controller/DSP processor/headphone amplifier and the Bluetooth-enabled ASI Audio App for control. The free ASI Audio App allows untethered adjustment of the system’s seven-band stereo EQ and limiter threshold, and the app also offers an Audio Seal Test to confirm correct IEM fit in addition to allowing the saving and recall of User Presets to ensure repeat access to preferred sound signatures.
In operation, after locking in the preferred EQ and limiter settings, up/down switches on the bodypack are designed to make it easy to add the preferred amount ambience to the monitor mix so the performer can hear what they want When used without a monitor mix, 3DME can function as variable-level, high-fidelity earplugs. The universal-fit earphones supplied with 3DME can be converted to custom fit with silicone sleeves from Sensaphonics or upgraded to Custom Pro earpieces.
The new ASI Audio x Sensaphonics 3DME Gen2 is available immediately at an MSRP of $799.00 USD for the standard system, $2,000.00 for the Custom Pro version and $2,500.00 for the Custom Tour Quad version (both custom versions are available direct from Sensaphonics).
