The What: ClearOne has begun shipping its new BMA 360, a wideband, frequency invariant beamforming mic array with uniform gain response across all frequency bands.
The What Else: The BMA 360 features FiBeam technology to provide conference participants with fuller fidelity audio across all beams and within a single beam. Deep sidelobe beamforming, DsBeam, provides maximum sidelobe depth, below -40 dB, resulting in enhanced rejection of reverberation and noise in difficult spaces for improved clarity and intelligibility.
Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Audio in the New Era of UC
The BMA 360 is based on a new beam topology to provide distortion-free, 360-degree coverage of any room shape and seating arrangement using ClearOne Audio Intelligence. Further advancements in adaptive steering (think of it as smart switching) provide coverage of each conference participant as well as support for camera tracking.
In addition to the advancements in beamforming technology, the 6G Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) delivers improved per-beam full-duplex audio performance. Onboard audio algorithms, like noise reduction, filtering, and automatic level control, eliminate the need for per-beam processing in a DSP mixer—requiring fewer DSP mixer resources. Finally, robust built-in amplifiers, configurable as 4 x 15 watt or 2 x 30 watt, provide flexibility for driving loudspeakers.
ClearOne’s technologies FiBeam, DsBeam, and 6G AEC combine to create VividVoice for professional conferencing. Further, single-workflow configuration is provided by a new release of ClearOne’s CONSOLE AI software.
The BMA 360 supports three different ceiling grid sizes: 24 inches, 600mm, and 625mm. It incorporates a VESA-standard hole pattern that supports pole mounting. Hard-ceiling-mount accessory kits are also available.
“We introduced the world’s first professional conferencing beamforming microphone array in 2012 and it revolutionized the conferencing microphone in the pro AV industry,” said Zee Hakimoglu, ClearOne CEO and chair. “Since then, we have introduced a diverse lineup of beamforming microphone array solutions to meet evolving market applications, performance, and pricing needs. And with the new ClearOne BMA 360, we have pushed the envelope again by developing a product that is superior to any other competing product in the market.”
The Bottom Line: The integrated features in the BMA 360 are engineered to reduce system design complexity, simplify installation, consume less rack space, and lower system cost. The BMA 360 also supports daisy-chaining of up to three ceiling tiles via P-Link for divisible rooms or larger conference setups—for simpler wiring, longer distances, and lower-cost deployments compared to networked “home-run” connections via Ethernet.
