Meyer Sound Speaker Systems

Professional sound reinforcement is about much more than making sound louder. A well-designed system needs to deliver speech and music clearly across the audience area, provide sufficient headroom for the programme material, work appropriately with the acoustics and physical layout of the space, and give the system operator the control needed to achieve consistent results throughout a performance or function.

At the professional production level, this changes the way a sound system is approached. Instead of starting with a question such as “How many speakers do we need?”, system design begins with the audience, the venue and the programme. Where are people located? How large is the listening area? What type of material will the system reproduce? What level of low-frequency reinforcement is appropriate? What physical restrictions affect loudspeaker placement? And how can the system deliver useful, consistent coverage without simply producing unnecessary level?

Meyer Sound has spent decades developing professional loudspeaker systems around these kinds of requirements. Its systems are used across touring, theatre, performing arts, sports, houses of worship and other professional applications. A defining characteristic of the company's approach is its long-standing development of self-powered loudspeakers, in which amplification, loudspeaker components and associated processing are designed as an integrated system rather than assembled as separate components.

For Audio Hire in Adelaide, Meyer Sound represents the premium end of our sound reinforcement capability. Our Meyer Sound offering centres on the Tigra line array and 1800-LFC Low-Frequency Control Element. Rather than treating this equipment as ordinary dry-hire speakers, we provide Meyer Sound as an operated service in which system design, deployment, optimisation and technical operation form part of the overall solution.

From PA Equipment to Sound System Design

At its simplest, a PA system takes an audio signal, amplifies it and reproduces it at sufficient level for an audience to hear. That basic principle applies whether the system is being used for a speech at a small function or a live performance in front of a substantial audience. As the audience, venue and programme become more demanding, however, the quality of the result increasingly depends on how the complete system is designed.

One of the central considerations is coverage. A loudspeaker does not distribute sound equally in every direction, and simply increasing its level does not necessarily improve what people elsewhere in the audience hear. The objective is to direct useful acoustic energy towards the areas where people are listening while managing the way that energy interacts with walls, ceilings, stages and other surfaces.

This is particularly important in difficult acoustic environments. A reflective room can become less intelligible when excessive sound is directed towards surfaces rather than listeners. An outdoor production creates different challenges because there are fewer boundaries to contain the sound and the audience may extend across a relatively large area. A long or unusually shaped room may require a different approach again.

This is why professional sound reinforcement is fundamentally a system-design problem rather than simply an equipment-selection problem. Loudspeaker type, quantity, positioning, height, orientation, low-frequency configuration, processing and level all interact. The most powerful loudspeaker is not automatically the most appropriate loudspeaker, and adding more equipment does not automatically produce a better result.

The aim is to design the system around what the audience actually needs to hear.

Meyer Sound and the Self-Powered Approach

One of the characteristics that distinguishes Meyer Sound's approach is its commitment to self-powered professional loudspeaker systems. Meyer Sound traces its development of self-powered systems back decades and has used the architecture across professional touring, installation and production applications.

In a conventional passive loudspeaker system, the power amplifier is a separate component and must be correctly matched with the loudspeaker. Processing, crossovers and other system components may also sit elsewhere in the signal chain. A self-powered professional loudspeaker integrates amplification into the loudspeaker itself, allowing the amplifier, drivers and associated electronics to be engineered as parts of the same system.

This doesn't mean that professional sound suddenly becomes a matter of plugging in a speaker and walking away. System design remains important. What changes is the degree of integration within each loudspeaker.

Meyer Sound explains that its self-powered approach allows amplification to be closely matched to the loudspeaker's drivers, while integrated processing can optimise characteristics such as crossover behaviour, frequency response and phase response. It also removes the need for external amplifier racks for the loudspeaker system.

For a production crew, that integration has practical implications. There are fewer separate amplification components to configure and transport, while the loudspeaker itself has been engineered around known amplification and processing characteristics. At a system level, however, decisions still have to be made about coverage, placement, array configuration, low-frequency reinforcement, signal distribution and optimisation.

That distinction is important. Sophisticated equipment gives a system designer better tools; it does not remove the need for system design.

Tigra is a line-array loudspeaker system. Understanding why that matters requires moving beyond the idea of a speaker as simply a source of sound.

A line array combines multiple loudspeaker elements into a deliberately configured array. The number of elements, their relative angles and the position of the array influence how sound is distributed across the audience. This gives the system designer considerably more control over coverage than simply placing loudspeakers in a space and turning them up. The objective is not necessarily to make every seat receive precisely the same sound pressure level. Real venues and audience areas rarely behave that neatly. Instead, the system is designed to achieve appropriate and predictable coverage across the intended listening area.

That becomes increasingly important as audience depth grows. People close to a conventional loudspeaker may receive substantially more level than people much farther away. Simply increasing the volume to compensate can make the front of the audience unnecessarily loud while still failing to address the underlying coverage problem. A properly designed array provides another way of approaching that challenge. Array length, element angles, positioning and system processing can be considered together to shape the system for the audience geometry.

Meyer Sound designed Tigra for flexible professional deployment. Depending on the production and configuration, Tigra can be flown, ground-stacked, used as a main system or incorporated into larger systems for supplementary coverage. Meyer also specifies controlled cardioid low-frequency behaviour for Tigra arrays, adding another element of control to how acoustic energy is distributed.

None of this means a line array is automatically better for every function. That would be the wrong conclusion. Different loudspeaker formats exist because different applications have different requirements.

The relevant question is not, “Is a line array better?” It is, “What loudspeaker system and configuration best suit this audience, space and programme?” That is the question professional system design attempts to answer.

One of the easiest mistakes to make when discussing professional sound is to reduce performance to maximum volume.

Sound pressure level matters because a system needs sufficient capability for its intended application. But maximum output tells only part of the story. A professional system also needs to reproduce the programme cleanly and predictably while retaining sufficient capacity for peaks in speech and music.

This is where headroom becomes important.

Music is dynamic. A kick drum, vocal transient or sudden musical peak can demand considerably more instantaneous output than the average level of the programme. If a sound system is already operating close to its limits, those peaks become more difficult to reproduce cleanly. A system with appropriate headroom can accommodate them without needing to operate continuously at its maximum capability.

For speech, the priorities may be different but no less demanding. Intelligibility depends on much more than level. Loud speech that is poorly distributed through a reverberant room can be harder to understand than speech reproduced at a more appropriate level through a carefully designed system.

Professional reinforcement therefore involves balancing output with coverage, intelligibility, tonal consistency and the acoustic behaviour of the venue.

Meyer Sound specifies Tigra as a high-output system despite its relatively compact enclosure, with the Tigra-L capable of 146 dB maximum SPL and a 55 Hz–16 kHz linear operating range. Those figures demonstrate its available capability, but they should not be interpreted as a target operating level for an audience. System capability provides the designer with headroom; good system design determines how that capability is actually used.

That is an important distinction whenever professional audio specifications are discussed. Bigger numbers do not replace good judgement.

Low Frequencies Are a System of Their Own

Low-frequency reproduction introduces another set of design considerations. Bass behaves differently from higher frequencies, and low-frequency performance can be strongly affected by loudspeaker positioning, room boundaries and the interaction between multiple low-frequency sources.

For music-led productions, low-frequency reinforcement may provide the physical weight and impact associated with kick drums, bass instruments and electronic music. In other applications, the objective may be less about impact and more about maintaining a balanced, natural system across the programme's frequency range.

Audio Hire's Meyer Sound system uses the 1800-LFC Low-Frequency Control Element for this role.

Meyer Sound specifies the 1800-LFC with a 30 Hz–125 Hz operating range and describes it as a natural companion for Tigra. Like Tigra, it is self-powered and incorporates the company's GEN-1 technology. It can be used in ground-stacked or flown configurations and multiple units can be configured into low-frequency arrays where the system design requires greater control.

The terminology is significant. Meyer Sound calls the product a Low-Frequency Control Element, reflecting an approach in which low frequencies are something to be designed and controlled rather than simply added.

Positioning multiple low-frequency elements affects how they interact acoustically. Depending on the system design, those interactions can be used deliberately to influence where low-frequency energy is concentrated and where it is reduced. This becomes particularly useful in professional productions where controlling sound around a stage, audience area or venue boundary can be as important as creating impact on the dance floor.

For Audio Hire configurations requiring dedicated low-frequency reinforcement, we work from a baseline of at least two low-frequency elements. The appropriate configuration beyond that depends on the audience, venue, programme and required coverage.

We will examine this subject in much greater detail in our dedicated guide to the Meyer Sound 1800-LFC and in the low-frequency system-design articles within this Knowledge Centre.

Professional loudspeaker technology has increasingly become part of the digital audio and control environment rather than sitting only at the end of an analogue signal cable.

Tigra and the 1800-LFC were introduced with Meyer Sound's GEN-1 input module, which integrates signal processing and networked audio functionality directly into the loudspeaker. Tigra provides Milan and analogue connectivity, while the 1800-LFC supports Milan, AES67 and analogue connectivity. Meyer Sound states that GEN-1 incorporates processing derived from its Galileo GALAXY platform and can reduce or eliminate the requirement for separate system processors in some configurations.

For somebody organising a wedding, corporate function or live performance, terms such as Milan, AES67 and networked DSP may understandably sound remote from the actual objective of having good sound.

The practical significance is that modern professional systems can combine audio transport, processing, configuration and monitoring in increasingly integrated ways. For the technician, this provides more information and control over the system. For the audience, none of that technology should call attention to itself. The result should simply be sound that works properly.

This is an important principle throughout professional audio. Technology is valuable when it helps produce a better and more predictable result, not because complexity itself is desirable.

The forthcoming Understanding Meyer Sound GEN-1 Technology guide will explore this architecture in greater depth, including what networked audio means and why it matters in contemporary professional sound systems.

Why Deployment and Optimisation Still Matter

It is tempting to assume that increasingly sophisticated loudspeakers make the technician less important. In practice, the opposite can be true.

The more control a professional system provides, the more opportunities there are to adapt it intelligently to the production.

Before deployment, the system needs to be considered in relation to the venue and audience. Loudspeaker locations need to be chosen. For an array, the number and orientation of elements need to suit the required coverage. Low-frequency elements need an appropriate configuration. Signal paths, power distribution and physical deployment all need to be planned.

Once the system is in place, it needs to be checked and optimised for the environment in which it will actually operate.

A ballroom with hard reflective surfaces behaves differently from an outdoor site. A theatre with raked seating creates different coverage requirements from a flat function room. A corporate presentation dominated by speech creates different priorities from a live band or DJ performance.

Even the audience changes the acoustic environment. A room during setup can behave differently once it contains hundreds of people.

This is why Audio Hire treats Meyer Sound as an operated professional sound service rather than ordinary dry-hire equipment. The value is not simply in providing Tigra and 1800-LFC loudspeakers. It is in considering how the system should be configured, deploying it appropriately, optimising it for the space and providing the technical support required for the production.

For customers who simply require a professional portable PA system that they can collect or have delivered and operate themselves, Audio Hire has other equipment specifically suited to that type of hire. Meyer Sound occupies a different role within our service.

That allows us to recommend systems according to the requirements of the occasion rather than assuming that the most sophisticated equipment is automatically necessary.

Professional Sound Reinforcement Starts With the Audience

Perhaps the most useful way to understand professional sound reinforcement is to stop thinking about speakers for a moment and think about listeners.

A successful sound system should allow the audience to hear what they are supposed to hear, at an appropriate level and with the clarity required for the programme. People should not have to struggle to understand a presenter. Music should retain its character and dynamics. People close to the system should not have to tolerate excessive level simply so that people farther away can hear.

Achieving that result involves equipment, but it also involves acoustics, coverage, placement, system design and technical judgement.

Meyer Sound's Tigra and 1800-LFC provide Audio Hire with a sophisticated platform for productions where those considerations justify a professionally designed and operated system. Tigra provides scalable line-array coverage in a comparatively compact format, while the 1800-LFC provides complementary low-frequency reinforcement and system-design flexibility. Both incorporate Meyer Sound's self-powered architecture and current GEN-1 platform.

For information about Audio Hire's operated Meyer Sound service in Adelaide, see our Meyer Sound Hire Adelaide page.