CEDIA 2023

I had the chance to speak with Dr. Mathias Johansson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Dirac, at CEDIA Expo 2023 in Denver. Our wide-ranging conversation explored the future of home audio systems, specifically focusing on Dirac's technology that aims to revolutionize how we deal with troublesome room acoustics.

The Challenge of Modern Living Room Acoustics
The conversation kicked off with the challenge many of us face: achieving perfect room acoustics in a modern residential living space. "It's often impossible to do perfect real room treatment," Johansson pointed out. That's because the idealized, old-fashioned living room that would support such acoustic perfection simply doesn't exist anymore. I couldn't agree more. Most of us deal with spaces that have suboptimal placement and acoustics, but we still desire the best possible sound.

Rethinking Noise Cancellation
When it comes to improving the acoustics of a room, Dirac's approach is novel. Johansson explained that their technology functions like noise cancellation but for room acoustics. "It's like instead of canceling noise with these speakers, we're sending out anti-reflections to counter what the room is producing," he said. This means that what you're hearing is more of the direct wave of sound from the speakers, rather than reflected standing waves.

This technology is not just about room correction—tuning a speaker to a room—but rather what Johansson (and Dirac) calls "active room treatment" aka ART. The system takes control of the whole wave field in the room, and it does so effectively throughout the entire listening region, not just the "sweet spot."

Rethinking Speaker Configurations
We discussed how this technology changes our approach to system configurations. Normally, you might pair smaller speakers like bookshelves with subwoofers. However, with active room treatment, you can think of adding more mid-bass modules to work alongside these smaller main speakers. The result is what Johansson calls a "super speaker."

When it comes to home theaters, Johansson believes that the future holds opportunities for complete room transformation, even changing the feeling of the acoustic space. The technology doesn't require significantly more processing power, so it is something we might see in mainstream AVRs soon.

Audio Over Visuals?
Interestingly, I had listened to a StormAudio demo featuring ART a couple of hours prior, and despite the high-quality screen and projector, the sound was so immersive that it threatened to overshadow the visuals. Johansson agreed that a high-quality audio experience can have that overpowering effect, and that this has been tested: an audience will perceive the visuals to be of higher quality if the sound is better.

Our conversation wrapped up with a shared enthusiasm for the new doors Dirac's technology is opening—not just for system integrators and OEMs, but for everyday people who love good sound. As I told Johansson, any technology that can bring a significant slice of a high-quality audio experience into a regular home is something I want to know more about.

So, stay tuned. Dirac's innovations could reshape how we all experience audio in our homes, giving us a compelling reason to rethink how we configure our systems.

To find out or check out Dirac.com.