3-6
OPERATION ORBAN Model 8400
There is very little that a radio station can do with these CDs other than to use conserva-
tive 8400 presets, which will cause loudness loss that may be undesired in competitive
markets. There is a myth in the record industry that applying “radio-style” processing to
CDs in mastering will cause them to be louder or will reduce the audible effects of on-air
processing. In fact, the opposite is true: these CDs will not be louder on air, but they will
be audibly distorted and unpleasant to listen to, lacking punch and clarity.
Another unfortunate trend is the tendency to put so much high frequency energy on the
CDs that this energy cannot possibly survive the FM pre-emphasis/de-emphasis process.
Although the 8400 loses less high frequency energy than any previous Orban processor
(due to improvements in high frequency limiting and clipping technology), it is neverthe-
less no match for CDs that are mastered so bright that they will curl the vinyl off car
dashboards.
We hope that the record industry will come to its senses when it hears the consequences
of these practices on the air.
About the 8400’s Signal Processing Features
By comparison to its predecessor (Orban’s 8200), the 8400 contains new signal process-
ing innovations that advance the state-of-the-art in FM on-air processing.
Dual-Mono Architecture
The 8400 implements full dual-mono architecture in both the AGC and the multiband
compressor sections. You can couple each band in both the AGC and multiband com-
pressors to a variable extent—anywhere from perfect stereo coupling to completely un-
coupled operation. The coupling control determines the maximum amount of gain imbal-
ance permitted between the left and right channels in a given band, and therefore the
amount of stereo image shift permitted in each frequency band.
Although the processing is dual-mono, you cannot adjust setup controls in-
dependently on the left and right channels. We assumed that the 8400 would
always process stereo program material.
Signal Flow
The signal flows through the 8400 through the following blocks:
• Input Conditioning, including sample rate conversion, defeatable 30 Hz highpass fil-
tering, and defeatable phase rotation
• Stereo Enhancement
• Two-Band Gated AGC, with target-zone window gating and silence gating
• Equalization, including high-frequency enhancement
To Next Page
Loading...
