Eight-channel analyzer lets audio novices quickly make professional measurements
By Dan Strassberg, Contributing Technical Editor -- EDN, May 15, 2006
Audio Precision Inc calls the APx585 the first audio analyzer with eight channels of simultaneous analog I/O. Targeting use in testing multichannel consumer audio products, the PC-controlled unit also features a novel user-interface that allows new users to almost immediately take measurements and to automate test sequences without programming. “Consumer audio moved to multichannel systems years ago. Test and measurement has now caught up,” says Bruce Hofer, Audio Precision’s co-founder and chairman. “We have also seen a dramatic change in users as the market expanded from audio experts to engineers who have little formal audio training. For these people, in markets such as PCs and portable media players, the 585 will be a tremendous productivity tool.”
The unit’s measurement Navigator presents a set of measurements that you can make simply by selecting a checkbox and clicking Run. Automating test sequences through the Navigator eliminates the need for programming, saving time for development teams and making for a seamless transition to production, in which automated test sequences are standard. Each time you run a test sequence, an integrated facility generates an exportable graphical report that shows the test settings and results. You can customize these reports with your company’s name and logo. You can save measurement settings and automated sequences in a project file, which other users can load and immediately run. Team members can thus quickly review and independently analyze the results.
By year-end, Audio Precision will provide as a free upgrade Dolby and DTS (Digital Theater Systems) projects that will allow designers of multichannel systems to assess the systems’ readiness for Dolby/DTS certification. These projects use measurement techniques that are equivalent to those of Dolby and DTS.
The system uses continuous sweep, a new, patent-pending method that is faster than previous methods and can simultaneously make multiple measurements. A 1-sec sweep with a subsequent 10 sec of processing time can yield 14 measurements of characteristics, such as frequency response, THD (total harmonic distortion), crosstalk, and group delay. You can easily select any of these measurements for full-screen display.
Other tools in the system include real-time input-signal monitors and a general-purpose 1M-point FFT analyzer. The input-signal monitors provide a choice of a real-time oscilloscope view, an FFT-spectrum view, or level, frequency, and eight-channel THD+noise-meter readings, any number of which you can view in real time as the system makes measurements. The APx585 sells for $21,000.
