MASTER AUDIO

Amate Electroacústica, founded in 1972 in Terrassa-Barcelona (Spain), has, over the years, established itself as a leader in design, production and marketing of high technology Professional Audio products under the Master Audio brand.

Founder Juan Amate began his career as an audio installer, giving him a great understanding of what the market was missing and where products could be improved. It is this grounding which has helped keep the company pushing in the right direction – and still feeds into Juan Amate’s designs, as his son Joan Amate (electronics specialist at Master Audio) notes: “He has a lot of experience in the installation of audio systems. The intuition he has gained from this is clear from the work he does in our R&D department.” Over the years some of their revolutionary designs have been emulated by manufacturers the world over (see box out).

Master Audio controls every step of the production process, from the design to the manufacturing and final testof its products.

Working very closely with some of the world’s best respected suppliers of transducers, woofers and whole components, Master Audio is able to request products made to its exacting specifications. In this way, they are able to achieving the perfect match between transducers and electronics - now increasingly focused on digital technology.

The Master Audio brand can be grouped into four families, which together offer audio solutions for most audio requirements: M.A. Line Array systems; Professional Active speaker systems; Commercial Audio and Installed Audio.

M.A. line arrays - digital active speaker systems with built-in DSP - are seen by Amate as a ‘technological statement’. M.A. offers true High Definition audio quality solutions with the very latest technology in transducer development plus new generation Class D digital active amplification and DSP to satisfy any need, from big live concerts to fixed theatre installations and stage monitoring.
Within this series is the MA-210 line array cabinet, launched in 2005.

“We wanted to have a real line array,” says Joan Amate of the launch. “Initially, we were a bit sceptical about how customers would react to a line array from us, but the response has been very positive.”

Following on from the success of the MA-210, in 2006 Master Audio brought out a smaller line array, the MA-206. Where as an array of 210s has an amp in every cabinet, the smaller 206 will include an amp in just one of the boxs with the rest of the array acting as slaves to that one active cabinet.

In the same year, the team developed the MAW-215 sub. Designed to be flown as part of the big MA210 array, the subs can equally be used with the 206.

Initially envisaged as a system for live applications, the Line Arrays are increasingly finding a home in fixed installs (as last issue’s report on the nightclub Pont Aeri is testament).

Away from line arrays, the Master Audio’s Professional Active speaker systems are dedicated to professional events. In 2007, the company introduced the Pro Series of active speakers. “The idea is to give a professional product at an affordable price,” says Joan.

More recently, the team launched the NT series of two-way passive speaker systems. Using the same Ellipsoidal Waveguide theory as the top systems from their MD Series, the NT series is designed to be a perfect solution for both fixed installs and live sound events.

Today Master Audio employs a total of 50 people in its headquarters and 1,600 square-metre factory in Terrassa. The company recently restructured, freeing Juan from what had become an increasingly corporate role and allowing him to focus fully on what he does best: R&D. Products are now created by two groups within the company: the electronics division headed by Joan Amate works onamplification and DSP, while the acoustics division is lead by Natalia Milan works on the speaker and cabinet design.

And what of the future? Though Master Audio already sells in over 30 countries (65% of their products are for export), a team led by Export Manager Oscar Garcia Chacon are looking for new markets in, for example, Eastern Europe, Poland, Romania and the Middle East, with new distributors recently appointed in Israel and Syria.

Productwise, a new line array and amp ranges are currently being developed for the Pro Series range: quality products at an affordable price point – and with the flexibility of being applicable to a multitude of jobs.

Working in conjunction with the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Master Audio also intend to provide waveguide and EASE data for their full range – starting this September with their line arrays.

Master Audio takes credit for being the first to introduce a host of innovations to its product range:

1985
The first amplifier with clip limiter circuit to avoid output distortion at the maximum power level. Today there is not a good amplifier in the world without this feature!!

1988
The first 3-channel amplifier with signal processing built-in: one channel dedicated to the subwoofer and two for the left and right satellites. Today there are many manufacturers following this concept.

1990
The first three way-parametric analogue processor.

1993
First MD System with built-in digital processing amplifier and sense return from the amplifiers.


1995
Class H amplifier with high dynamic circuit switch.

In the 1990’s, the signal processing amplifier (DPU) with Soft-start which prevents currents surge when the amplifier is switched on. Overvoltage protection (>240V-400V) with a customized processing card (DPM), to be assembled into DPU.