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13 Jun

What's Happening - The DSP Trend and How it’s Changing the Industry

Words by Rosa Sophia

In part one of this two-part installment, industry experts—including Andy Wehmeyer of Audiofrog and Rob Wempe of Elettromedia—share their experiences with DSP and discuss how the industry has struggled with adapting, and how they might improve for the future.

If store owners are uncertain where to begin when it comes to DSP, they should first examine their business and decide how they are going to use it for their own purposes.

According to Andy Wehmeyer of Audiofrog, DSPs are becoming very accessible now, with models available under $200. “Everyone can afford to stock these products whether they know how to use them or not,” he said. But how does a business know where to begin with DSP, and how can technicians begin to educate themselves and problem-solve to integrate audio signals before they are passed to the factory amplifier?

Wehmeyer recalled his first experience with DSP in 1992. “That DSP system was designed to make it easier and to help us do a better job of optimizing the acoustic performance in the car after installing speakers,” he said. “That was the beginning of our ability to delay a signal from a speaker that is closer to us so it arrives at the same time as one farther away.”

Such an advancement made it possible for the car to have a good center image, Wehmeyer explained. “That system in ’92 included a head unit and you had to install the whole system to have the DSP,” he added. “Once DSP was included in factory audio systems, then they were using the same tools we were using. At the beginning, the DSP was included in the factory amp but the audio signal that went from the radio to the factory amp was an analog signal. It was easy for us to grab that analog signal before the factory amp and then we were almost back to what we were familiar with—a pair of wires to which we could connect in order to install an EQ, crossover, DSP or an amp.”

Some confusion remained, however, Wehmeyer added, because installers were accustomed to having an RCA plug. Now they had a pair of wires that resembled a speaker output, and “this meant we needed to learn how to identify signal types to determine if a line output convertor was necessary.”

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Last modified on Wednesday, 13 June 2018 13:49
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