Sound Product Of The Year, Measurement/Analysis: Rational Acoustics SMAART 8

Live Design has named its top products of the past year again. Chosen by our panels of prestigious judges in three categories—lighting, projection, and sound—several months were spent debating the Live Design 2016-2017 Products Of The Year.

Live Design gave SMAART 7 a Sound Product of the Year award in 2011. And we’re giving them another one for an update, you say? Well, if you ask those in the know, it’s not just an update. Rational Acoustics’ SMAART 8 is what one judge calls “…smarter than ever with this new version” and a “…worthy contender to any newly released product,” according to another. SMAART means “system measurement acoustic analysis realtime tool,” so it’s good at looking at the frequency content of signals and measuring responses of systems—pretty complex systems, at that—with v8 adding power and flexibility to make it the most adaptable and scalable version to date.rationalacoustics.com

Products of the year will be presented along with the Live Design Achievement Awards and the tenth annual Excellence in Live Design Awards during a ceremony, sponsored by GLP and Meyer Sound, on June 12 in New York.