Road Test: ClearOne BMA 360

Will Coe is the Managing Director of Final Touch Productions, an AV and production company based in Cairns, Queensland. They provide AV equipment hire and audio visual services across the whole FNQ region, with the ability to service events nationwide. Final Touch specialise in speaker, lighting, projector, and LED screen hire, as well as providing AV sales and installation services.

While Final Touch Productions are predominantly a hire and production company, we’ve always provided installation and integration services. With touring on hold due to COVID, we’ve increased the amount of installation work we undertake, and have recently completed some large sound and lighting projects. We’ve also increased the amount of AV work on the books, and ClearOne’s BMA 360 presented itself as a great fit for a recent job.

We were asked to refurbish a health care facility’s meeting space; five rooms ranging from small training rooms, to a boardroom and conference spaces, the largest being 12m x 8m. We were asked to provide user-friendly, high-quality video conferencing in each space using the same equipment with the same functionality, for internal and external use. The goal was to provide a system so easy-to-use that no user ever had to be trained to operate it.

The Solution

Our design utilised ClearOne DSP and beam forming microphone arrays extensively, especially the BMA 360. We also used ClearOne UNITE200 cameras, Converge Pro2 DSP, and ceiling speakers because it all integrated so easily and provided a seamless solution. In addition to the ClearOne products, there were a series of LCD screens in each space, and AVProEdge products were used for video distribution. All products were sourced from Audio Visual Distributors range of solutions.

With three Converge Pro2 DSPs rack-mounted in the IT rack, communications to multiple mic arrays was a simple matter of running Cat6 via ClearOne’s P-Link daisy chain connection to the BMA 360s. The BMA 360s have their own power supply if you want to use the on board 4 x 15W amplifier, so provision was made to run an additional power line per BMA in order to take advantage of this.

The main purpose of the VC system is for staff to network on Microsoft Teams, but it also can run recording sessions or any other UC client supporting Windows. A computer running Teams is mounted behind a screen in each space. A ClearOne USB expander provides USB connectivity to the audio system in each room and is also conveniently daisy chained off the same P-Link line as the mic arrays. The smallest room is for up to six people, while the boardroom can accommodate 14. The biggest space needed two BMA 360’s to ensure adequate microphone coverage and can hold up to 30 people.

In the room running two BMA 360s, it was simple to daisy-chain them via the P-Link connection. This meant a very easy install, with minimal cabling back to the rack. With audio amplifiers built into the BMA 360s, powering the ceiling speakers in each space was much easier than running speaker cable all the way from the rack as well.

The inclusion of the amplifiers is the main reason the BMA 360s are so easy to integrate and provide great audio quality. It’s a big point of difference from the competition. It frees up rack real estate and saves you both cabling and labour. Considering the power rating is 4 x 15W, the level you get out of them is quite impressive.

Audio Performance

We were extremely happy with the audio quality of both the microphones and amplifiers, which exceeded our expectations. Even if the person speaking is in the back corner of the room, the audio capture is extremely clear and consistent. The DSP does a great job with gain and EQ compensation.

Everyone in space comes across at the same volume due to the auto level control and distance compensation. System users don’t have to worry about where they’re placed within the room.

Physical

At 4.1 kgs a BMA 360 is very light, which surprised us. It makes them easy to handle and mount in a ceiling when you’re up a ladder. With the existing ceiling tiles being a standard 600mm x 600mm, dropping in a BMA 360 is as simple as replacing a panel in the ceiling grid. The look is clean and professional, with a nice finish set against the existing tiles.

Support

As this was one of our first ClearOne installations, tech staff from the ClearOne distributor, Audio Visual Distributors, logged into the system remotely to help with configuration. They had direct access to the Converge Pro2 DSPs and communicated with our staff over Microsoft Teams. It was an interesting process, as this wasn’t on a test bench in our workshop; this was a live, real-world application. Together, we could test and tune the AEC, microphone beamforming, and all the other tech in the system.

That being said, a lot of the set-up was automatic. There were some manual gain adjustments to be made, but overall, the system didn’t really require much tweaking. The beamforming microphone’s auto tracking latches on to anyone speaking in the room, with multiple beams active at the same time. In total, Audio Visual Distributors were online with us for around three hours, helping commission seven BMA 360s over five rooms. With this project over and our staff now fully trained, next time, this will take a tenth of the time.

Conclusion

This installation has been running flawlessly from day one. Audio Visual Distributors and ClearOne helped us provide the best outcome for our client, making sure their products and our design suited the requirements. The BMA 360 ticked all the boxes for us; clean and neat, user-friendly, and it all just works.

Product Info: www.clearone.com

Distributor Australia and New Zealand: www.avdistributors.com.au

ClearOne BMA 360 – The Specs

Microphone

True Frequency Invariant Beamformer: Gain response is unvarying across frequency

Beamwidths: 35°, 45° and 55° with Frequency Invariance

Beamforming Range: 100 Hz to 20 KHz

Beam Pointing Accuracy: 0.2 dB

Dynamic Range: 20 Hz to 20 KHz, > 70 dB

Number of Beams: 6, 8, 10, 11, or 12

Coverage Sizes: 24 sizes from small

(3m x 3m) up to extra large (11m x 6m)

Amplifier

Audio: 4 channels

Output Power: 4 x 15W Max, 8 Ω load,

or 2 x 30W, 4 Ω load, Bridged

Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 22 kHz,

+/- 0.5 dB

Connector Type: 5.08 mm Header,

Phoenix-type Euroblock

Configuration

Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) On/Off

Noise Cancellation (NC) on/off.

Range: 6 to 25 dB depth.

Automatic Level Control (ALC) On/Off

Gain Adjust

Mute On/Off

Dimensions & Weight

600mm model:

592.5mm x 592.5mm x 54.1mm

Product Weight: 4.1 kg

Shipping Weight: 5.83 kg