CES 2019: Dirac to Unveil an All-New Bass Management Solution

CES 2019: Dirac to Unveil an All-New Bass Management Solution​

(Dirac)
(December 19, 2018) The boom is about to get a lot tighter! The sound experts at Sweden’s Dirac have emerged from their labs with a new solution to tame the immense power of subterranean bass. Fresh on the heels of releasing its highly anticipated Dirac Live 2.0 re-fresh, Dirac has announced plans to arrive at CES 2019 with an all-new multi-subwoofer bass management system. Tagged as 2.0’s first “module add-on,” the Dirac Live Bass Management Module features proprietary technology designed to analyze and correct a system’s low-end sound for smoother and more accurate playback.

"Seven years ago, we introduced the world to Dirac Live, which marked a breakthrough in digital room correction and has since become the industry’s reference solution,” said Dirac’s General Manager of High Performance Audio, Niklas Thorin. “Dirac Live set the bar high and helped establish our reputation as the leading pioneer of sound optimization solutions. Our all-new Dirac Live Bass Management Module lives up to the legacy of Dirac Live and proves to the market that wherever we innovate, we lead.”

Those are rather bold words, but Dirac’s reputation and loyal following certainly seems to back them up. According to Dirac, the Bass Management Module taps “mathematical models and processing algorithms” to deliver sound optimization for systems using single and multi-subwoofer deployments. And because the module allows audio fans to run predictive analyses complete with visual representations, the amount of time needed to properly integrate a sub into a system and a room will be streamlined.

Dirac has opted to release three different tiers of the The Bass Management Module, meant to accommodate a variety of budgets. The company outlines these tiers as:

• Tier 1: Management of any number of subwoofers, analyzing each one to create a single-optimized sub channel that drives each subwoofer. It also enables precise control of frequency cutoffs for all speakers.
• Tier 2: Advanced setup for a single subwoofer, while also providing control over parameters and applying frequency filters to all speakers based on measurements.
• Tier 3: A free module for all current Dirac Live customers and OEMs, permitting standard bass management with the added benefit of predictive results.

The Dirac Live Bass Management solution is the first of many Dirac Live add-ons planned for release “on a yearly basis.” It’s currently scheduled to launch sometime during Q2 2019.

 

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Tier 2 and 3 are single and multi-sub, respectively. Projected to cost $99 and $249 (although that’s not set in stone). User has input control over the slope and crossover point... Dirac takes care of the rest. From a technical perspective, a lot of the logic behind the technology is a bit heady for me (not afraid to admit that ;-). The gist is that Bass Management sets gain, delay, etc, and then applies multiple layers of “all pass filters.”

Does this mean DL will treat each sat + sub as one speaker to optimize the splice between them?

 

[Tonto]

Nice scoop Todd. So what does the unit look like? I also think the price is very good for what it does. I imagine it will be incorporated into the AVR in a couple of years.