RTW SurroundMonitor 10800X Provides Loudness Metering

RTW has announced the release of a software upgrade that will enable qualified SurroundMonitor 10800X devices to perform loudness metering.
The RTW version 6.0 software, which will be standard on all new 10800X units, enhances the devices' well-known functionality with features including an ITU BS.1770-compliant loudness meter and a quasi-DIN (quasi-analog) bargraph for digital PPM measurements. The 10800X is the first metering system ever to incorporate RTW's path-breaking Surround Sound Analyser for intuitive representation of surround signals.
Designed to offer users of 10800X series and 10860-VID SurroundMonitor models a way to begin implementation of ITU-compliant loudness metering, the 6.0 software offers new functions including an RLB (K) weighting filter as specified by the current ITU recommendation.
The filter is available not only for single-channel bargraph meters but also for Dialnorm metering and for the Surround Sound Analyser. Using an ITU scale in dBLU with positive and negative ranges, the bargraph meter allows the reference level to be set for OdBLU (-25 to -10 dBFS), and the integration times for single-channel view, summed momentary value, and Surround Sound Analyser (125 ms to 1.5 seconds). A summed integrated (short-term) measurement with integration times between one and 12 seconds can also be displayed. To exclude low-level modulation portions from the calculation, a gate with variable threshold (-30 to 0 dBLU) can be enabled separately.
The version 6.0 software also comes with the same extra scale for PPM measurement of digital input signals that is now available on other RTW products. The extra scale is quasi-DIN (ie: a quasi-analog scale according to ARD specifications) with a metering range of -60 dB to +9 dB where the 0 dB point is fixed to a digital input level of -9 dBFS. Thus, a sine-shaped input signal at 0 dBFS results in a display value of +9 dB. The unit uses a fixed integration time of 10 ms. The scale is popular among users because it provides a clipping range above 0 dB, which is familiar from the analog domain. On that scale, even with a fixed integration time of 10 ms, an input level set to 0 dB rarely causes digital clipping.
To find out if their existing 10800X series or 10860-VID systems are equipped for the upgrade, current customers should contact the RTW sales department.
Further information is available at: www.rtw.de.
(KMcA/BMcC)