Professional Sound - February 2020 | Page 12

SIGNALS AVL’S ONTARIO SALES DIR., ROB PORETTI AVL Media Group Now the Canadian Distributor for Wisycom Wireless systems manufacturer Wisycom has appointed AVL Media Group as its new distribu- tor in Canada. “We are pleased to start this collaboration with an experienced partner in Canada and I am confident that with its solid knowledge and local expertise, AVL Media Group will be able to serve our current and future customers promptly, efficiently, and in the best way possi- ble,” says Massimo Polo, Wisycom VP. “With the ongoing changes in relation to the 600 MHz frequency band, the need for agility in wireless is paramount and Wisycom with its wideband technology grants the most flexibility and complete range on the market. I look forward to working with my team and our network in bringing hassle-free solutions to the Canadian market,” adds Andrew Hope, manag- ing director at AVL Media Group. “One of our immediate goals is to provide exceptional support to any customers that are affected by the 600 MHz spectrum repack,” continues Hope. “These devices are interopera- ble with most popular wireless manufacturers’ equipment and Wisycom is the only manufac- turer that integrates wideband technology with three times the bandwidth of anything else currently available.” For more information, contact AVL Media Group: 514-400-0110, [email protected], www.avlmediagroup.com. 12 PROFESSIONAL SOUND SFM Partners with LS Media to Distribute Avid Live Sound Products in Canada SFM and LS Media have announced that Avid Live Sound products are now distributed and supported in Canada by SFM. Under this new arrangement, LS Media will contin- ue to serve as the face of Avid Live Sound products in Canada, under contract with SFM. LS Media will remain active and continue to offer Avid certifi- cations, as well as training and system commissioning to the live production field. Hugo Larin, founder and director of LS Media, will continue service to ensure (L-R) LS MEDIA’S HUGO LARIN WITH SFM’S RANDAL TUCKER & JOEY MOLINO continuity for Avid Live Sound product users in Canada. “Hugo and LS Media have done an outstanding job over the past dozen years representing the line of Avid Live Sound products in Canada. Combining SFM’s robust technical, financial, logistical, and service resources with Hugo’s deep technical sales ex- pertise will allow us to not only continue the impressive growth trajectory achieved by LS Media over the years, but to continue to do so at scale,” says Randal Tucker, president and CEO of SFM. For more information, contact SFM: 514-780-2070, [email protected], www.sfm.ca. Or contact LS Media: 514-990-7867, [email protected], www.lsmediapro.ca. New Bluetooth Standard Unveiled at CES 2020 Promises a World of Improvement At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) announced a new Bluetooth standard that it says will greatly enhance the audio experience in significant ways. Called the LC3 audio codec, or just LE Audio, Bluetooth SIG says it will deliver higher data rates using less energy, bring Bluetooth to hearing aids, and allow for multi-stream audio and location-based audio sharing. “Extensive listening tests have shown that LC3 will provide improvements in audio quality over the SBC codec included with Clas- sic Audio, even at a 50 per cent lower bit rate. Developers will be able to leverage this power savings to create products that can provide longer battery life or, in cases where current battery life is enough, reduce the form factor by using a smaller battery,” says Manfred Lutzky, head of audio for communications at Fraunhofer IIS. Multi-stream audio will enable the transmission of multiple independent, syn- chronized audio streams. This means that for the first time, an audio source device like a smartphone could send synchronized audio streams to multiple devices, such as wireless headphones. The Bluetooth SIG also says that LE Audio will enable the development of Bluetooth hearing aids that bring the benefits of Bluetooth audio to people with hearing loss. Another promised benefit of LE Audio is Bluetooth audio sharing that can be per- sonal or location-based. “Location-based audio sharing holds the potential to change the way we experience the world around us,” says Peter Liu of Bose Corporation. “For example, people will be able to select the audio being broadcast by silent TVs in public venues, and places like theatres and lecture halls will be able to share audio to assist visitors with hearing loss as well as provide audio in multiple languages.” For more information, go to www.bluetooth.com.