CE Pro December 2022 - 15

CEDIA/CTA Group Revises Audio
Design Recommended Practices
OF CEDIA'S THREE MAIN
pillars, Advocacy, Connection
and Education, Advocacy is
the one most often overlooked.
While Connection
and Education are more
forward facing, CEDIA's
Advocacy work, which consists
of government affairs,
recommended practices, and
standards, often happens
behind the scenes.
The purpose of standards
and recommended practices
is one of the most misunderstood
endeavors. CEDIA's
focus is on system performance
standards, as opposed
to device manufacturing or
signal transport standards,
and poses a few important
questions.
When the components of
your system come together,
what elements of the
experience can be defined
and qualified? How should
the system perform? CEDIA
uses this research to design,
install, and verify residential
spaces. The end result is
data-backed definitions for
system performance when
educating clients on what
they can and should expect
from custom solutions.
The largest and arguably
most impactful of these
groups is R10, a joint effort
between CEDIA and the
Consumer Technology Association
(CTA).
The R10 group was formed
to create standards and recommended
practices for the
installation and integration of
technology into primarily rescepro.com
idential
environments. CEDIA
took over management of
the group when it became an
ANSI accredited Standards
Development Organization
(SDO). Today, both associations
bring unique perspectives
to the discussions.
" R10 is a cross-industry
standards group that has no
commercial or licensing ties
with all participants being
volunteers, " explains Peter
Aylett, Partner at Officina
Acustica and recent CEDIA
Fellow inductee.
The R10 group consists of
over 130 volunteer members
made up of integrators,
manufacturers, protocol
suppliers, members of other
associations like SMPTE,
DTS, and Dolby, content
creators, and more.
Within the R10 group,
there are a few current RP
(Recommended Practice)
sub-groups, RP22, RP23, and
RP1. RP22 is nearly finalized,
with projected completion
estimated for Q1 of 2023.
RP22 is the recommended
practice for the design of immersive
audio within private
entertainment spaces. It is
a revision of the CTA/CEDIA-CEB22-B
Home Theater
Recommended Practice:
Audio Design.
When CEB22 was created,
immersive audio was not
fully specified or released,
so the focus was on general
home theater practices. RP22
is described by Zerbe as " a
major three-year revision, "
that includes immersive audio,
universal speaker layouts
for all of the formats (Dolby
Atmos, DTS-X, Auto 3D, etc.),
a greatly expanded bass management
section, coverage,
set-to-seat variation, and a
never-before-done addition
of performance levels. The
terms " home theater " and
" home cinema " have been
removed from the title to be
more inclusive of all immersive
audio, including gaming,
streaming, music and more.
The performance levels
section of RP22 may be the
most disruptive element of
a recommended practice in
decades. The group posed
the questions: reference to
what, reference how, and
what does that even mean?
RP22 defines performance
targets for reference as well
as two levels below and one
above. There are 21 parameters
that are predictable at
the design engineering phase
of a project and measurable
at post commissioning and
calibration phases. Level
1 is the minimum that is
considered able to convey
basic artistic intent, level 2 is
increased performance, level
3 is reference, and level 4
exceeds reference.
" For the first time, we will
have objective rather than
subjective definitions of
in-room performance, " says
Aylett. " Professional CI is
under huge pressure from
the mainly consumer Giga-companies
who are offering
increasingly compelling
user experiences through
the retail/DIY channel.
Standards will help professional
integration companies
to apply a human-centric
engineering-based
approach as opposed to a
product-based one. "
The R10 group plans to
finalize RP23 (video design)
and RP1 (performance facts)
later in 2023.
December 2022 CE Pro | 15
RP22 is " a major three-year revision " that will address
immersive audio, universal speaker layouts for all of the
formats, a never-before-done addition of performance
levels and more.
COURTESY DOLBY
http://www.cepro.com
CE Pro December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro December 2022
