Controlling the dispersion of bass frequencies has always been a challenge, and today’s high-powered subwoofer technologies have made it more essential than ever. A well-designed directional subwoofer system can go a long way toward keeping deep low frequencies from overpowering a small space or building up on stage.
Community Professional has introduced S4 (Subwoofer Steering Simulation Software), a simple and intuitively designed application that allows the user to input basic information on the system specifications (number and spacing of subwoofers, desired cutoff frequency) and quickly configure the optimal arrangement for any situation.
Community’s S4 calculator’s easy-to-use graphical interface provides a two-dimensional polar prediction for an array of LF point sources at any given frequency, and predicts the frequency and phase response in front and behind the array, delivering an accurate prediction of the system performance both onstage and in the audience area. S4 also provides box spacing and DSP settings for bass arrays of Community VLF208 or VLF212 woofers, and advanced settings provide the ability to calculate average bandwidth, polar degree and amplitude resolutions, listener position and several other parameters.
“Designing a delayed bass array is no longer a complex and mysterious procedure,” says Chris Foreman, Community’s Vice President and COO. “Our S4 application has hidden the mathematical calculations behind a simple software interface that runs within Microsoft Excel. S4 calculates several different types of arrays and delivers a simple graphical readout. You can select the array that works best for a given application, or use the software to experiment with different configurations.”
The S4 software application is available as a free download from Community Professional’s website, in the Software Section of the Products Tab. Separate versions are available for Microsoft Excel 2003 and Excel 2007.
