Yamaha AFC3 heads for Europe

Following its InfoComm 2012 launch, Yamaha is currently in talks with audio consultants about bringing its AFC3 system to the European market.

Active Field Control (AFC) is an acoustic conditioning system designed to adjust and enhance the acoustical characteristics of a space, while maintaining its natural features. This is achieved by generating feedback loops of microphones and speakers located in the reverberant field of the room to ‘recycle’ the reverberant energy, therefore extending the reverb time.

Used to create varying reverb time settings to suit different performance applications within the same space, AFC can be utilised across a range of applications, for example, adding a sense of ‘spaciousness’ to under-balcony or stage areas, offeringl audience members and performers a shared sense of connection to the music. AFC systems can also be used to add early reflections or as crowd enhancement systems.

“With increasing pressure on facilities to become more multi-purpose, the new AFC3 provides an extremely cost-effective alternative to mechanical means of modifying acoustics as it enhances the acoustic characteristics of a space using only a small set of core devices. Most importantly, it is acoustically transparent for the performers,” said Nick Cook, European marketing director, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems Europe.

Yamaha’s AFC3 processor is designed to support the transfer of finite impulse response (FIR) calculations to dedicated hardware, whilst a new AFC-FIR processor card can be mounted in the AFC3 processor, and, in addition to handling the processor-intensive FIR calculations, provides four AES inputs for system microphone channels.

The new AFC3 is also aimed at offering a cost-effective solution, as the AFC3 system and AFC-FIR card provide both input processing and 4-22 channels of output processing in a single unit.
Furthermore, AFC3 provides more than 120-times the number of FIR taps than previous versions of AFC, making it possible to extend a room’s natural reverb time further than was previously the case, while still ensuring a natural and realistic sound.

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