First Optimod-AM 9400s Ship

Orban said it has shipped its first Optimod-AM 9400 audio processors.
VP/Chief Engineer Bob Orban called the unit “a complex product to develop” while expressing satisfaction with the result. The unit contains two processing chains, one for AM analog broadcasting and one for netcasting/digital radio broadcasting. The only processing common to the two channels are the AGC and stereo enhancer.
Each processing chain has its own equalizer, five-band compressor/limiter and peak limiter, optimized for its intended transmission channel, the company stated.
The analog chain peak limiter uses an Orban multiband distortion-canceled clipper and overshoot compensator; the digital chain uses a low-IM look-ahead limiter “to make the most of low-bitrate codecs like the HDC codec used in the Ibiquity HD AM system.”
Both processing chains are stereo, making the 9400 appropriate for C-QUAM AM stereo installations. The unit retails for $7,990.