Embedded, Modular, and Affordable High-Density Loudspeaker Arrays

Maxime Popoff, Romain Michon, Pierre Cochard, and Tanguy Risset

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Scalable loudspeaker arrays for spatial audio research typically require complex multichannel hardware, limiting the practical deployment of high-density configurations. We introduce a modular loudspeaker array design that supports a wide range of geometries without hardware modification. The system integrates an embedded FPGA system-on-module with compact 8-channel loudspeaker printed circuit boards (PCBs) that can be easily daisy-chained. Each module uses PCB-mounted drivers to maximize spatial density and ensure consistent acoustic and mechanical characteristics across the array. Controlling such a system with hundreds of loudspeakers requires handling timing-critical operations and distributed, synchronized audio streams with minimal I/O overhead. This is achieved using an embedded Xilinx Zynq-7000 FPGA: the current prototype has been tested with 64 speakers, and the architecture supports configurations of up to 768 channels. The modular PCB design enables rapid reconfiguration into linear, circular, or two-dimensional layouts without modifying the underlying signal-distribution or processing architecture. This platform provides an accessible, open-source foundation for evaluating spatial audio applications under high-channel-count conditions.

Citation

Maxime Popoff, Romain Michon, Pierre Cochard, and Tanguy Risset. 2026. Embedded, Modular, and Affordable High-Density Loudspeaker Arrays. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784324 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_107,
 abstract = {Scalable loudspeaker arrays for spatial audio research typically require complex multichannel hardware, limiting the practical deployment of high-density configurations.  We introduce a modular loudspeaker array design that supports a wide range of geometries without hardware modification. The system integrates an embedded FPGA system-on-module with compact 8-channel loudspeaker printed circuit boards (PCBs) that can be easily daisy-chained. Each module uses PCB-mounted drivers to maximize spatial density and ensure consistent acoustic and mechanical characteristics across the array.  Controlling such a system with hundreds of loudspeakers requires handling timing-critical operations and distributed, synchronized audio streams with minimal I/O overhead. This is achieved using an embedded Xilinx Zynq-7000 FPGA: the current prototype has been tested with 64 speakers, and the architecture supports configurations of up to 768 channels. The modular PCB design enables rapid reconfiguration into linear, circular, or two-dimensional layouts without modifying the underlying signal-distribution or processing architecture. This platform provides an accessible, open-source foundation for evaluating spatial audio applications under high-channel-count conditions.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {107},
 author = {Maxime Popoff and Romain Michon and Pierre Cochard and Tanguy Risset},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784324},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {7},
 pages = {898--904},
 title = {Embedded, Modular, and Affordable High-Density Loudspeaker Arrays},
 track = {paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_107.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}