Just in time for the 2019 Radio Show in Dallas: a new FM audio processor “built from the ground up based on several new breakthrough technologies, including a new approach to dynamics control and pre-emphasis management.”
The product is Wheatstone’s X5, which “reconstructs” audio after pre-emphasis has been applied, via its “Limitless FM peak control” technology.
“Traditionally, pre-emphasis has been either managed by specialized limiting or carefully designed clipping that merely tolerated the pre-emphasis curve,” Wheatstone notes. “This has been the norm for decades, until now.”
X5’s Limitless FM peak control promises “a cleaner, clearer high end; no more dull, ‘smeary’ highs or ‘spitty’ audio.”
The new product also includes Unified Processing, which allows the processor to share critical information between all processing stages. “In the X5, the iAGC gain control, Dynamics and Limitless Clipper stages work together no matter which control a user adjusts,” Wheatstone says. “Changes are made automatically, in real time, for the optimum sound.”
The X5 also includes a redesigned limiter. The limiter, designed as 31 independent filter banks with no crossovers to colorize the audio, works directly with the X5’s Limitless Clipper.
The X5 adds a number of other features, including Live Logger, which documents X5 settings and activities, from remote logins to audio failover to preset changes. A redesigned bass processor and enhancement controls in the iAGC allow the operator to equalize audio. This preserves the audio signature of the station.
Additionally, broadcasters can keep the processor at the studio and maintain HD and FM audio in alignment to the transmitter with the optional MPX SyncLink receiver. MPX SyncLink manages multiple audio streams to keep signals in sync, preventing any possibility of the FM and HD audio getting out of alignment.
The X5 FM/HD audio processor will be at Wheatstone booth 204 during the 2019 Radio Show in Dallas.
