At a special online event today (April 20), Focusrite unveiled Optimal Audio, a new commercial audio brand that Focusrite Group CEO Tim Carroll explains has been in development for three years, involving extensive R&D across product and software.
“Optimal Audio provides a streamlined product offering working seamlessly together to deliver high quality sound that is easy to install and can be operated by anyone, not just engineers,” Carroll says. “Alongside its own dedicated staff, a number of colleagues from across the group – most notably within Martin Audio – have helped to bring Optimal Audio to fruition. In the long term, our ambition is that the brand will have its own distinct team.”
Dom Harter, now Managing Director of both Martin Audio and Optimal Audio, provides an overview of the product ecosystem and the focus of the brand: “Optimal Audio offers a one-stop solution of control, amplification and loudspeakers for small to medium-sized commercial installations, with a focus on supporting multi-zone venues. At the forefront of the eco-system are four and eight-zone, powered and non-powered Zone controllers that have DSP at their heart. There is currently nothing else at this price point on the market which has the functionality and versatility to allow such a quick and simple setup. They have a flexible three-band EQ plus bandpass filtering on every output, alongside limiters and delay — features that are normally associated only with premium-priced offerings.”
Designed to be compatible with any device, Optimal Audio’s WebApp is intended to help make system set-up straightforward, allowing installers as much access as they require to configure EQs, devise presets and structure time-of-day routines. Once completed, venue staff can then be presented with a user interface that allows them to operate the system. Zone controllers can also be supplemented by wall-mounted controllers called ZonePad, available in one-zone or four-zone formats.
In addition, Optimal Audio offers three SmartAmps with DSP, multichannel direct drive constant voltage, optimized presets and with half-rack and full-rack options available. They’re designed to provide a cost competitive fit for the commercial market to accompany the portfolio and maximize the performance of its loudspeakers. The new brand’s collection of loudspeakers include a range of five ceiling models named Up, a series of four on-wall wooden units called Cuboid, and two compact subwoofers simply known as Sub.
“Optimal Audio maybe a young brand, but as part of the Focusrite Group it has an impressive pedigree,” Harter concludes. “We have combined innovation and experience to simplify commercial audio, and by launching more than twenty products at the outset, Optimal Audio has created a high-quality, comprehensive, multi-zone, one-stop, commercial audio offering.”
