Dolby engages Genelec to monitor its Agile scrum facility @ Nuremberg

The new Dolby facility in Nuremberg, Germany, has chosen Genelec for its monitoring systems.

With a growing number of use cases utilising its pioneering technology, the previous Dolby facility was no longer providing the environment or technical capabilities to handle applications such as automotive testing. 

The company took the opportunity to augment its development and testing facilities with both a mixing lab and a critical listening lab in its new, larger location. When it came to the monitoring systems in these important spaces, Genelec was the brand of choice.

The new Nuremberg facility has been built with software development and testing in an Agile scrum environment as its priority. This will see the space used for device testing for head units and loudspeaker setups in cars, as well as TVs, soundbars, set top boxes, AVRs and wireless smart speakers. 

In addition, the space will also host scrum teams working on prototypes in dedicated project rooms, as the company continues to grow its product offerings.

For the audio lab, Dolby worked with acoustic consultant Radoslaw Arkadiusz Ciszewski from Müller-BBM Building Solutions in Berlin. Ciszewski developed the detailed design of the labs while also working closely with the landlord’s architects and the professionals on site.

Andreas Ehret, Sr. Director Automotive Dolby & Managing Director of Dolby Germany, recalled, “During the planning phase, it was very challenging to align all the different trades such as dry wall construction, lighting, power and air conditioning/ventilation, especially as we needed a noiseless environment which required a very low air speed for the ventilation system. 

“This typically requires large ventilation pipes, so we had to go through a lot of different approaches during planning.

“During the construction phase the biggest challenge was to ‘train’ the different professionals. These professionals had to take care of a lot of very important details, such as fixing the dry wall construction to the concrete floor with special materials.”

Reflecting on the overall project, the whole Dolby Nuremberg team is proud of its new location. “With the new labs, we have a very high-quality environment to listen to and create Dolby Atmos content,” stated Ehret. “It also gives us the opportunity to contribute to listening tests for standardisation bodies.”