Innosonix’s MA32/D2

Reducing our carbon footprint is an aim that we all aspire to, but is particularly challenging when applied to the world of fixed AV installations where the generation of the electricity used to power the electronic devices used in those projects has a significant negative impact on our environment and consequently is thrown into sharp focus.

Electricity generation is the backbone of modern civilisation, and ever more so as it applies to professional audio. Behind the comforting hum of a neatly installed equipment rack lies a complex network of power generation methods, each with its unique environmental footprint and far-reaching consequences on climate change and even affecting air quality and public health.

German audio technology designer Innosonix has tackled this issue head on and has come up with a range of solutions that significantly increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its power amplifiers in any fixed AV installation.

Any reasonably large scale AV project will involve the use of multiple amplifiers to power several zones of loudspeakers in a building. It follows, therefore, that if a greater number of loudspeakers can be powered by fewer amplifiers by providing a larger number of output channels per rack space then less equipment equates to less power consumed by the amp rack.

Secondly, if those amplifiers are designed to not only provide an exceptionally high number (as many as 32 in a single product) output channels and also occupy only one rack space, that translates into a reduced load on the cooling and air conditioning of an equipment room and therefore less electricity used overall.

The real game changer in Innosonix’s award winning MA32/D2 amplifier (ISE best of show Installation product 2024) is its innovative auto standby mode, which can deliver up to 67% savings on energy consumed. Most equipment racks in fixed installations run 24/7, which means that amplifiers are not actually delivering useful audio for a large part of a 24-hour cycle but are still using electricity.

The unique design of the amplifier modules in effect makes each channel its own independent entity, with the ability to turn itself on and off without affecting other channels. Once auto standby mode is enabled by user-editable threshold and time-out parameters on every single channel, idle power usage is slashed from 96 watts to 32 watts, an industry-leading statistic. So even at idle the amplifier is drawing less power. While the channel is off it is consuming minute levels of energy, only turning itself back on when the incoming signal goes above the threshold, doing this within 230 milliseconds.

The combined effect of these energy-saving features is not a random series of accidental occurrences, but is the result of the way Innosonix develops their products from the ground up, optimising every individual part of the amplifier – and just like an F1 team, achieving incremental gains in efficiency at every single stage which when put together have a meaningful impact on energy consumption.