The first Unity Audio B.A.B.E (Boulder Active Bass Extender) installation has been completed at the studio of Isle Of Wight-based composer, producer and remixer Andy Gray.

A long-time Unity user, Gray has added B.A.B.E to his existing Boulder MKII three-way monitor setup, transforming it into a four-way fully active main monitoring system, extending SPL and frequency response for larger tracking, mixing and mastering applications.

The expandable modular-designed system, which retains the same sealed cabinet approach used throughout the Unity Audio range, allows for a number of different mounting options: soffit wall mount, free-standing, tower configurations and the system can be mounted horizontally or vertically. It consists of two bass extension cabinets with their own rack mountable 750W class D amplifiers and DSP-based speaker management – all housed in separate rack mountable units that control the audio routing, gain, cross-over management, optional EQ and limiting.

The B.A.B.E. utilises a 12” woofer designed exclusively for sub and low frequencies. The driver employs a 130mm Hexatech external voice coil wound with a hexagonal-shaped aluminum coil wire promising accurate music reproduction, superior durability and power handling.

With four balanced analogue inputs and eight outputs with full matrix mixing capabilities, the Unity Audio BB-DSP can control two B.A.B.E cabinets and Boulders, four B.A.B.E’s and Boulders in larger systems, or a L,C,R B.A.B.E/ Boulder setup for surround configurations. Compressors are available on every input as well as a high pass filter, six bands of parametric EQ and up to 1.3 seconds of delay.

The BB-DSP comes with a factory-configured preset with the correct 167Hz Linkwitz Riley 24 dB-per-octave crossover; ganged outputs 1 and 2 feed the B.A.B.E’s, with 3 and 4 feeding the Boulders. A second preset is also provided effectively acting as a B.A.B.E bypass if required to use the Boulders by themselves with their original full frequency response.

It runs at 96kHz as standard but can be switched into 48kHz mode to take advantage of 48dB/oct output crossover filters and two bands of dynamic EQ on both input and output channels. The ethernet-based PC control software enables the user to not only control all the devices on a network but also store preset memories and configure systems offline.

Gray, who also added new Unity Audio Super Rocks monitors for the rear surround channels, has a long list of music, TV and film credits to his name, including the Channel 4 Big Brother theme tune, Swordfish, Bourne Identity, Blade II, Fluke, Gary Numan, Enter Shikari, Dave Matthews Band, Korn and Tori Amos.

He has most recently been working on the music score for the new TV series Hunters.

http://www.unityaudio.co.uk