AEC - How bad is doubling up?

muzicman82

Hi all.

Client has a BLU-102. The design started with 8x mics on the 8x channels of AEC. They added 2x more mics.

Can I double up a couple mics on AEC channels? I know the right way would be to add a BLU-101, but there's no way that can squeeze into this budget.

I also have a BLU-806 with no cards taking the mics Dante and spitting out BLU-Link to the BLU-102 but I can't do the floating AEC objects this way.

Kevin Brown

BSS does not recommend feeding more than 1 mic to 1 AEC path. Depending on the characteristics of the room, the proximity of the mics, and the behavior of the ends users, there's a very small chance you could get away with it and have the system perform well. But probably not. I wouldn't do it.

Your best bet is adding an AEC Input Card to your BLU-806. And if you want \"floating\" AEC in the BLU-806, you could also add an Analog Output Card. Physically connect the Analog Output Card channels to the AEC inputs, and you've now turned those AEC inputs into \"floating\" AEC paths. Practically speaking, the D/A and A/D quality is high enough and latency low enough to the point of not mattering.

These 2 cards add cost, so if budget is a concern, consider swapping the BLU-806 for the lower cost BLU-326 (outfitted with the 2 cards described above). The BLU-326 is the same as the BLU-806, minus the DSP. I'm guessing that you can rely solely on the DSP within the BLU-102 to meet your needs.