Dolby calls time on DLP production

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As of the first of this month Dolby officially made its departure from the live sound market.

Dolby issued a statement last month to its distributors announcing it would cease manufacturing the Dolby Lake Processor (DLP) as of September 30, due to “changing market conditions and to align with its strategic plans”.

Dolby also stated that the letter served as notice that the recipient’s relationship with Dolby as a manufacturer’s representative would terminate as of October 1.

However, Dolby added it would carry on supporting its OEM licensing agreement with Lab.gruppen, which utilises DLP technology inside its PLM 10000Q Powered Loudspeaker Management system.

“With the success of the Lab.gruppen project, and to align Dolby with our future corporate strategies, we have decided to exit the live sound business. As a result, we are announcing the final production run of the DLP, after which we will discontinue its manufacture,” read a statement issued by the company.

Lab.grupen’s head of marketing Tim Chapman, asserted the success of the PLM Series – PLM1000Q Powered Loudspeaker Management systems with integrated DLP technology, which brings together system processing, equalisation and digital audio networking – was actually a crucial factor in Dolby’s decision to terminate its DLP production.

“We at Lab.gruppen are flattered by this observation, and honoured to take DLP development to the next level. Development of the PLM Series will therefore continue apace with full support from Dolby,” announced Chapman.

Over the last three years, Chapman said Dolby and Lab.gruppen had analysed the market and noted an accelerating shift toward integrated speaker processing, equalisation, and digital audio networking. He added as a direct result the PLM Series was developed to meet that demand.

“There are a vast number of DLP supporters in the global sound reinforcement market. All of these customers can now look to Lab.gruppen to perpetuate and further develop the DLP technology in a unique format that offers a number of advantages over stand-alone system processor/power amp combinations,” he said.

“This makes the PLM an even stronger proposition when it comes to system expansion or repowering. Creating new system designs and configurations that require loudspeaker processing and system management is already greatly simplified using PLM, so clearly we will see an ever-increasing number of sales opportunities for PLM.”

The PLM Series is now the only method of providing Dolby Lake processing to the marketplace and Lab.gruppen has cemented its commitment in developing the technology, with the announcement that future PLM models will be announced in the near future.

“While we acknowledge that the DLP’s discontinuation marks the end of an era, it is also the beginning of a new one.

“The move to integrated systems is well under way and with PLM, we have a proven platform to lead this transition,” stated Chapman.

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