From the Manufacturer
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882i features dual-mono operation with balanced XLR inputs and
outputs. It is designed for applications requiring low noise,
high headroom and +4dBu input levels.
Applications:
* Professional studios
* Pro and semi-pro sound reinforcement
* Multitrack studios
* Cassette copies
* Nightclub sound systems
* Broadcast transmission Features:* +4dBu balanced line (1/4"
tip-ring-sleeve and XLR inputs and outputs)
* +23dBu headroom
* Active balanced outputs
* Hardwire bypass
* Bypass switch for comparison of processed to unprocessed signal
Specifications:* Frequency Response,
* Process Mode: Program controlled
* Bypass Mode: 10Hz to 50kHz, +/- 0.5dBu, 0dBu input
* Signal to Noise Ratio: 115dB Process IN
* THD, Process mode: less than 0.025% 20-20kHz
Bypass mode: less than 0.002% 20-20kHz
* Maximum Output: +23dBu (may vary due to control settings)
* Input Impedance: 14.7K Ohms, balanced 1/4" stereo phone jack or
XLR jack. Pin #2 is the hot or "+" signal.
* Output Impedance: 600 Ohms, balanced 1/4" stereo phone jack or
XLR jack. Pin #2 is the hot or "+" signal.
* Sensitivity: -45dBu for maximum process
* Maximum Process: +12dBu boost at 5kHz, 0dBu input
* Lo Contour: +12dBu adjustment at 50Hz, 0dBu input BBE High
Definition Sound is the core sound enhancement technology
licensed by BBE Sound and featured in the BBE Sonic Maximizer
range of professional audio signal processors. Other technologies
licensed by BBE Sound into the consumer electronics market either
incorporate this core technology or are optimized for best
results when used with BBE High Definition Sound.
Because the BBE Sonic Maximizer range of professional audio
processors is so popular among music and sound professionals we
first highlight the benefits of BBE High Definition Sound in
terms of useage by musicians and sound professionals:
* Natural Musical Realism - music has great "live presence".
Unlike some "exciter" devices which add iguing artificial
harmonics to the signal, BBE adds nothing artificial to the
signal but instead restructures it to faithfully allow all the
detail and nuance to be heard.
* Full Frequency Operation - Highs frequencies are clearer,
naturally brilliant and more finely detailed. Lows are tight,
well defined and harmonically rich. All from a single processor
with easy two-knob adjustment of the BBE process.
* Speech intelligibility - Sound contractors know that vocal
intelligibility is para to a successful PA installation and
client satisfaction. No other audio processor brings natural
clarity and crisp definition to the spoken word like BBE does.
That's why BBE Sonic Maximizer processors can be found installed
in PA systems ranging from the massive network in New York's JFK
airport to the thousands of houses of worship around the world.
* Electric and acoustic guitars - have sparkle, clarity and
definition. BBE sound processing brings out the harmonic
complexity and bite significantly increases cutting power. Each
note of a chord becomes more distinct. Brings guitars out of the
"mud".
* Keyboards and synthesizers - take on new realism. Percussive
and plucked sounds are clear and sharp, chords are rich and
full-textured, each note in the chord retains its integrity.
* Electric & acoustic basses - take on that rich, earthy "CD"
sound. Five string players love what it does to the "B" string.
Extremely tight, punchy bottom end with all the presence, clarity
and bite of the top end.
* Vocals - cut through the amplified instrument so you can be
heard better. Lyrics of the sound are no longer "buried in the
mix".
* Improves effect processing - expands the spatial dimension of
stereo reverb and chorus. Whether in an individual instrument
rack or across a full mix, BBE makes a dramatic improvement in
the quality of effects and neutralizes their tendency to muffle
instrument and vocal characteristics.
* studios, home and professional - use BBE on
individual tracks, mixdown, and of course in mastering, BBE
brings out the full spectrum of sound. Mixes with BBE are fresh
and sparkly. BBE gives you enough sparkle to restore instrument
clarity or increase vocal intelligibility without appreciably
adding level.
* Broadcast clarity - broadcast facilities all over the the world
depend on BBE for the best possible transmission quality. From
huge operations such as Japan's NHK to local music stations such
as Los Angeles' 94.7 The Wave, BBE has become a necessity for
modern quality broadcast quality. Transients and Harmonics: The
Color Codes of Sound
To understand how BBE sound processing technology works,
consider the characteristics of a loudspeaker and what we expect
from one. Among a loudspeaker's most important requirements is
the ability to reproduce transients - the brief high-energy
bursts at the beginning of sounds. The transients then evolve
into harmonics. It is the particular amplitudes and phase
relationships of these transients and harmonics which add the
unique color and character to each sound.
Varying either the amplitude or the phase of the transients and
harmonics within signal causes distortion of the sound's
characteristics. By drastically altering the transient response
of a sound, it's possible to make a cymbal c seem like a car
c. Similarly, altering amplitude or phase relationships of
the harmonics in a clarinet's tone can make it sound more like a
flute, or a French horn like an oboe.
Amplitude and Phase
A loudspeaker's transient response is typically expressed in
terms of amplitude response (how quickly it reacts to an incoming
signal), with little or no regard to phase response (whether high
and low frequencies are reproduced at the proper time). The
ability to accurately represent a sound's phase and amplitude
define the quality of a loudspeaker's transient and steady -
state, or sustained, response.
If a loudspeaker's amplitude response curve were linear, then
the relationship between the high and low frequencies would be
correct. And if a loudspeaker's phase response curve were linear,
then the low and high frequencies would reach the listener's ears
in their correct time order. This would result in faithful
reproduction of the sound. However, this isn't normally the case.
Why is Live Sound so Pleasing?
When we listen to live music, all of the highs and lows reach
our ears in the same relationship to each other as when they were
created by the instruments. If this same live music were to be
recorded and played back through a loudspeaker system, the
loudspeaker would introduce frequency-dependent phase shifting.
The inductance of the speaker's voice coil creates a stronger
impedance as the signal's frequency increases, resulting in a
time delay. Consequently, frequency components with large
negative phase shifts (high frequencies) arrive at the listener's
ear later than signals undergoing small phase shifts (low
frequencies). The resultant signal is distorted in the time
domain to the listener's ear. Audio material containing sharp
transients (e.g., percussive and plucked sounds such as drums,
guitar, piano and harpsichord, etc.) suffers the most from this
phenomenon, making it seem unfocused, or mushy.
In order to address these problems inherent in basic loudspeaker
design, BBE Sound, Inc. has developed a circuit that has two
primary functions. The first adjusts the phase relationships of
the low, mid and high frequencies. Since a loudspeaker's natural
tendency is to add progressively longer delay times to higher
frequencies, the BBE sound processing system adds progressively
longer delay times to lower frequencies. This creates a kind of
"mirror" curve to the time delay curve created by the speaker,
neutralizing its phase distortion.
The second major element in the BBE system is the augmentation
of the higher and lower frequencies. Loudspeakers tend to be less
efficient in their extreme treble and bass ranges. Most
sound-reproducing systems include a circuit for boosting high and
low frequencies, showing an accepted awareness of the
loudspeaker's efficiency problem. The BBE system, however,
provides a dynamic, program-driven augmentation which combines
with the phase compensation feature to restore the brilliance and
clarity of the original live sound. The result is, as one
professional journal phrased it, "The most hearable advance in
audio technology since high fidelity itself!"
