How To Choose The Right Ceiling Mic Or Speakerphone For Your Office Space
Conference calls began with one or more table-mounted speakerphones resembling a typical telephone. As time progressed and digital options for calling became more practical, the form of conferencing technology changed to increase the efficacy and convenience of this new and improved method of communication.
While table microphones continue to be essential in the array of conferencing devices, innovative alternatives have emerged. These include bar-shaped, boundary, and ceiling-mounted conference microphones, each serving a unique purpose in the modern conference room.
Ceiling microphones, in particular, have developed dramatically over the past decade to increase the quality of audio pickup and deliver a seamless conferencing experience. Ceiling array microphones can be customized to pick up different zones of coverage to isolate singular or groups of speakers. For small to medium-sized rooms, ceiling speakerphones can even act as standalone conferencing devices, delivering all of the audio your room needs while remaining out of sight.
This begs the question: Which ceiling microphone or speakerphone is right for my conferencing space? To answer this, we need to review the strengths of each ceiling conference mic in the Shure lineup and determine which will work best for your application.
MXA920
The MXA920 ceiling array microphone is a conference room ceiling microphone that can be combined with other devices in the MXA ecosystem to provide a complete conferencing package. The device can cover up to a 30 by 30 area, meaning it provides optimal coverage for all but the largest conferencing spaces.
The device's Automatic CoverageTM technology captures participants’ words without all of the background noise you’d expect to find in a busy office environment. MXA920 also has an onboard IntelliMix DSP, which applies automatic sound mixing that eliminates disruptions like echos and reverberation while amplifying human voices.
The MXA920 also has adjustable coverage areas, which work with the Q-SYS Designer program to allow for camera tracking. This means that the device can recognize the direction the speaker is in relation to its position and send a signal to the room’s camera to focus on that position.
MXA901
The MXA901 conferencing ceiling array microphone is a sleek yet powerful networked microphone designed to work as a part of a larger audio ecosystem. This option is smaller than the MXA920 and the microphone can either be hung from the ceiling or installed flush utilizing a standardized mounting platform.
Able to cover 20 by 20 feet, the MXA901's coverage area is smaller than that of the MXA920. However, its simplified design allows it to be easily networked with multiple MXA901s and other audio endpoints in the MXA ecosystem to improve the coverage area and deliver full conference audio.
Much like the MXA920, the 901 comes with onboard IntelliMix DSP, which automatically mixes and filters the sound. Unlike the 920, it uses Single Zone Automatic Coverage technology, which can capture multiple voices concurrently from different parts of the coverage area while avoiding stray audio pickup from outside that range.
Stem Ceiling
Stem Ceiling is a ceiling array microphone that acts as an element of the innovative Stem Ecosystem, a fully customizable conference audio system comprised of mix-and-matchable audio endpoints. Ceiling can be combined with other Ceilings or any of Stem’s other audio endpoints to create a seamless conferencing experience.
Ceiling comes with three array modes - narrow, medium, and wide - that can be selected via the Stem Ecosystem Platform to provide the appropriate area of coverage for your room. The device also comes with audio fencing, which means that outside noises will be eliminated or reduced to minimize interruptions.
The Stem Ecosystem is designed to be installed by anyone in minutes using a streamlined three-step process. It comes with onboard room adaption settings, so you don’t need to spend the extra time and effort to perform a complicated integration.