Spectera is Shipping

Sennheiser has announced that shipping for its Spectera wideband wireless ecosystem commenced on 25 April. By putting the power of a multichannel system into a single 1U rack unit, and accommodating wireless mics, IEMs, and control data in the very same RF channel and a single bodypack, the bidirectional solution will offer unprecedented ease of use for both RF managers and the entire audio team. The hardware includes the Base Station, the bidirectional SEK bodypack, in versions for the TV-UHF and 1.4 GHz bands, the DAD transceiving antennas (also in TV-UHF and 1.4 GHz versions), MADI cards and various accessories. The software for the ecosystem includes the LinkDesk software and the browser-based Spectera WebUI.

“As a growing and flexible ecosystem, Spectera will continue to be expanded and modelled on current and upcoming customer and user benefits, and we are extremely happy to start series production and shipping,” says co-CEO Dr Andreas Sennheiser. “I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all participants in the Pioneer Program for their contribution to shaping Spectera, and all our customers for taking this bold step into the future of wireless with us.

From the ecosystem’s small footprint in the warehouse, in transit and backstage, to the automatic coordination of all mobile devices in the 6 or 8 MHz wide RF channel assigned to it, Spectera solves many of the issues that owners and operators of narrowband multichannel wireless systems are faced with today. Setup time with Spectera is greatly reduced because the extensive frequency calculation and RF cabling of narrowband systems, as well as the complex calculation of power levels for multichannel IEMs, are no longer required with this wideband solution.

“We have had so many happy comments from our Spectera Pioneers, saying that it was a totally new experience for them to be set up and ready so quickly,” says Benedikt Euen, senior product manager at Sennheiser. “Before Spectera, everybody on a production had to wait for them, now they are the ones with time on their hands.”

Spectera allows operators to put both IEMs and mics in the very same TV channel – no separate bands with guard bands anymore. With Spectera offering permanent two-way communication, engineers have full remote control of the wireless system for settings and monitoring, including permanent spectrum sensing, also on the RF channel used by Spectera itself. Thanks to the ecosystem’s low spectral density, it is easier to reuse frequencies than with narrowband wireless, for example between neighbouring theatres.

“The entire Spectera team are super-excited about the start of shipping,” shares Euen, “and are very much looking forward to further evolving the ecosystem together with our customers.”

Spectera web page: Spectera: The Future of Wireless Pro Audio | Sennheiser