DISCONTINUED October 2019
Louder, cleaner, brighter, FM like audio with a fatigue free quality that attracts listeners and holds them
For over 30 years, Optimod-AM has dominated the sound of major market AM radio. The 9400 distills all of Orban's experience into the best Optimod-AM ever! Orban's all-digital 9400 OPTIMOD-AM Audio Processor can help you achieve the highest possible quality in AM shortwave, medium wave and long wave broadcast sound.
OPTIMOD-AM was designed to deliver a high quality FM-like sound to the listener's ear by pre-processing for the limitations of the average car or table radio. The 9400 supports iBiquity's HD AM® in-band on-channel digital radio system. The digital radio processing can also be used for simulcast satellite radio, netcast, DAB+, DRM or DRM+ digital broadcasts. Regardless of whether you have a major-market station or just want your station to sound like one, Optimod-AM 9400 is right for you.
Before the 9400, if you wanted an Orban AM audio processor that provided no-compromise, independent,multiband processing for analog AM and digital radio, you had to buy two boxes. Orban’s Optimod-AM 9400 changes all that by offering two independently adjustable processing chains: one for the analog channel and one for the digital channel and/or for Internet streaming. The only processing common to the two channels is the AGC and stereo enhancer. Beyond this front-end processing, you get two of everything: equalizer, five-band compressor/limiter, and peak limiter, each optimized for its intended transmission channel.
We realized early on in the 9400’s design process that AM stations need more than just AGC and peak limiting on their digital channels. Particularly because of the preponderance of talk on AM, these stations also need Orban-quality five-band compression and limiting to ensure spectral consistency and smooth source-to-source continuity on the digital channel. However, the analog and digital five-band compressor/limiters require very different thresholds and time constants. Appropriate equalization settings and peak limiting technologies are very different as well. That’s why the 9400 is essentially two independently adjustable processors in one.
The analog-chain peak limiter uses Orban’s exclusive multiband distortion-canceled clipper and overshoot compensator, while the digital chain uses an advanced, low-IM look-ahead limiter to make the most of low bitrate codecs. Moreover, both processing chains are stereo, making the 9400 ideal for CQUAM® installations, conservatively complying with Motorola’s processing requirements that negative peak modulation on the left and right channels be limited to –75% modulation. This is truly one AM processor that does it all.
The HD AM processor provides 15 kHz audio bandwidth (per iBiquity's specifications) regardless of the bandwidth setting of the processing intended for the analog channel. Orban's PreCode™ technology manipulates several aspects of the audio to minimize artifacts caused by low bitrate codecs, ensuring consistent loudness and texture from one source to the next. There are several HD factory presets tuned specifically for low bitrate codecs. These presets have “LBR” in their names.
The 9400 comes with a wide variety of factory presets to accommodate almost any user requirement. The user can readily modify these presets or customize them with easy one-knob LESS-MORE control. Modified presets can be stored and recalled on command. Advanced Control (accessible from the PC Remote application) facilitates detailed sound design using the same controls that were available to the factory programmers. Quick Setup guides you through 9400 setup for your primary analog AM transmitter. It is appropriate for users with modern transmitter plants and without special requirements such as setting
up HD Radio processing or CQUAM AM stereo processing.