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2.0 Designing with the FreeSpace® 4400 System
2.1 Introduction
This section describes the basic steps for designing a FreeSpace
4400 system and inclu des an ex ample. It is a ssumed that a com-
plete loudspeaker design and layout ha s alr ead y been created.
2.2 Basic design steps
There ar e five basic steps in designing a Fr eeSpace 4400 system.
2.2.1 Step 1 – Determine source routing
Decide which sources will be played in each area. Create a
“source map” such as the following one that shows which
sources will be played in each major area of the facility.
2.2.2 Step 2 – Determine Auto Volume
requirements
Identify which areas will use Auto Volume. Each Auto Volume
zone must use one AVM (Auto Volume) user interface and one
Bose® sensing microphone to control the volume.
When using Auto Volume, remember that you will be adjusting
the volume of an overall area. Imagine that you have a dining area
and a bar adjacent to one anothe r. If the sensing microphone is
placed above the bar, the music may become too loud in the din-
ing area. Likewise, if you place the sensing microphone above
the dining area, the music may never be heard in the bar.
Guidelines for establishing Auto Volume zones
Loudspeaker mounting height and the overall quality of the back-
ground noise is used to determine the Auto Volume zoning
requirements. Uniform background noise is found in an area
where no part of the area is louder or quieter than any other. A
room with non-uniform background noise would seem louder in
some areas (people talking, machinery running, etc.) and quieter
in others.
Mounting guidelines for sensing microphones
• The sensing microphone must be mounted at the same height
as the loudspeakers or higher. A sensing microphone must
never be mounted lower than the loudspeaker height.
• In all cases, there must be 6 ft (1.8 m), minimum, between the
loudspeaker and the sensing microphone. This is so that the
microphone does not receive signals only from a loudspeaker.
• There must be 35 ft (10.7 m), minimum, between the sensing
microphones of two adjacent Auto Volume zones.
• Avoid placing the microphone near unique noise sources like
HVAC equipment, dishwashers, motors, etc.
Separating the microphones as much as possible for two zones
is the best practice. Consider the previous example of the dining
area and a bar adjacent to one another. If eac h of these areas
uses Auto Volume, it is possible to cr eate a situation in the dini ng
area where the music is too loud simply because the microphone
is too close to the bar.
Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
Area 1 ● ●
Area 2 ● ● ●
Area 3 ● ●
Area 4 ●
Area 5 ●
Loudspeaker
height is… Background noise
is uniform Background noise
is non-uniform
>25 ft (7.6 m) Not recommended
12-25 ft
(3.7-7.6 m) One Auto Volume
zone for every
3600 ft2 (324 m2)
One Auto Volume
zone for every
1800 ft2 (162 m2)
<12 ft (3.7 m) One Auto Volume
zone for every
1800 ft2 (162 m2)
One Auto Volume
zone for every
900 ft2 (81 m2)