Sennheiser has announced that shipping for its Spectera wideband wireless ecosystem commences on April 25, 2025.
Spectra aims to put the power of a multichannel system into a single 1U rack unit, and accommodate wireless mics, IEMs, and control data in the same RF channel and a single bodypack. The bidirectional solution aims to offer ease of use for both RF managers and the entire audio team.
The hardware includes the Base Station, the bidirectional SEK bodypack, in versions for the TV-UHF and 1.4 GHz bands, the DAD transceiving antennas (also in TV-UHF and 1.4 GHz versions), MADI cards and various accessories. The software for the ecosystem includes the LinkDesk software and the browser-based Spectera WebUI.
Dr Andreas Sennheiser, co-CEO, said: “As a growing and flexible ecosystem, Spectera will continue to be expanded and modelled on current and upcoming customer and user benefits, and we are extremely happy to start series production and shipping. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all participants in the Pioneer Program for their contribution to shaping Spectera, and all our customers for taking this bold step into the future of wireless with us.
“At the same time, I need to ask our customers for patience and understanding, as it will take some time to fulfil the long list of outstanding preorders. At our end, we have invested massively in the electronics production at our plant in Germany and have considerably increased our capacities, but due to the high demand, order fulfilment will inevitably take time.”
From the ecosystem’s small footprint in the warehouse, in transit and backstage, to the automatic coordination of all mobile devices in the 6 MHz or 8 MHz wide RF channel assigned to it, Spectera aims to solve many of the issues that owners and operators of narrowband multichannel wireless systems are faced with today. Setup time with Spectera is reduced, because the frequency calculation and RF cabling of narrowband systems, as well as the calculation of power levels for multichannel IEMs, are no longer required with this wideband solution.
Benedikt Euen, senior product manager at Sennheiser, said: “We have had so many happy comments from our Spectera Pioneers, saying that it was a totally new experience for them to be set up and ready so quickly. Before Spectera, everybody on a production had to wait for them, now they are the ones with time on their hands!”
Spectera aims to allow operators to put both IEMs and mics in the same TV channel. With Spectera offering permanent two-way communication, engineers have full remote control of the wireless system for settings and monitoring, including permanent spectrum sensing, also on the RF channel used by Spectera itself. Due to the ecosystem’s low spectral density, it is easier to reuse frequencies than with narrowband wireless, for example between neighbouring theatres.
Productions become flexible in the use of the frequency resources allocated to Spectera, and can choose between various Audio Link Modes to determine the ideal audio quality, latency, channel count, and operating range for each and every audio link. Mics and IEMs can easily be added during a show, and due to the RF components being part of the DAD transceiving antennas (and not the Base Station), the system does not require any boosters, splitters or combiners.
In addition, the all-new LinkDesk desktop application unlocks the Base Station with the correct, region-specific license, and can turn a Mac or PC into a centralised remote control and monitoring centre, with an intuitive and user-friendly workflow for multiple Spectera Base Stations. The software gives the operator comprehensive configuration capabilities, routing and zoning features, such as a choice of Audio Link Modes with varying levels of audio quality, latency, possible audio links and range.
While LinkDesk is the recommended tool for any larger Spectera setup, an individual Base Station can also be monitored and controlled via the browser-based Spectera WebUI. Designed as a streamlined web interface, Spectera WebUI allows system access to the Base Station from any device – phone, tablet, or computer – for easy setup, configuration, monitoring, and firmware updates.
In future, Spectera will also be integrated into the brand-neutral SoundBase RF planning tool, allowing the coordination of both wideband and narrowband wireless in one software. A mode planner is already available via SoundBase Tools.
Spectera has obtained full regulatory approval and product certification in the EU-27 countries, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Greenland, Qatar, the UAE, the USA, Canada, Australia (indoor use, outdoor pending), Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand (510-606 MHz). Regulatory approval has been granted in South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico, Taiwan and Bhutan, with certification still pending. Certification is also pending in India, where a regulatory ruling is not in place.