The United States Patent Office has awarded Meyer Sound its 17th US patent, this time for the rigging system used on the M3D line array and M3D-Sub directional subwoofer. The issuance of a patent recognizes the rigging system’s innovations including the CamLink system, which allows splay angles to be changed much more easily than in other rigging systems.
The rigging system features a rigid design, which offers numerous advantages. For a start,has no pullback cable, required by other systems. Without pullback cables, cabinet angle adjustments can be accomplished without having to release the array, while the rotating cam at the rear of the frame means that only the front of the cabinet need be adjusted to change the splay angle; no parts need be exchanged.
Rigid mounting also enables arrays to be transported intact, maintaining cabinet splaying, saving truck space, and simplifying and speeding setup. There is no need to lay array components horizontally on stage and assemble them; arrays (typically in modules of two or three cabinets) are simply rolled out of the truck, attached to the hoist cables, and flown. Additional modules can be attached, as needed. A transition bar allows downfill speakers to be hung from the bottom of an array, and all rigging linking components are stowed within the end frame itself or remain captive in use.
Meyer Sound was granted its first patent, for a method of lowering distortion in horns, three months after the company was founded in 1979. Since then, Meyer Sound has been awarded patents for everything from the trapezoidal cabinet shape for loudspeakers to the MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeaker, the first of Meyer Sound’s self-powered products. The company has also been issued 16 international patents.