By Ronja Harste, Product Manager, Sennheiser
As businesses and educational institutions evolve, the spaces in which we collaborate must keep pace. The vision for future meeting rooms and classrooms is clear: environments where technology operates autonomously in the background yet allows participants to collaborate seamlessly with those near and far. Participants want to walk into a room, start the meeting, and engage immediately — without troubleshooting technology. Likewise, AV integrators want solutions designed for fast, seamless commissioning and scalability. Finding a solution to these modern-day challenges were the catalyst for the Sennheiser TeamConnect (TC) Bar Solutions – intelligent, all-in-one conferencing video soundbars.
A Central Hub for Seamless Collaboration
Sennheiser’s TC Bars are designed to combine multiple audio, video, and management features into one compact unit, solving the former complexity of meeting room setup and operation. With built-in beamforming microphones, powerful speakers, and a high-resolution 4K camera, the bars ensure pristine audio and video for every participant, whether they’re in the room or joining remotely.
For audio, the TC Bars’ beamforming microphone technology, for which Sennheiser is renowned, actively tracks and isolates the voices of speakers in the room, delivering clear, focused sound while minimizing background noise. The evolution of beamforming microphones has been instrumental in enhancing audio quality and user experience for today’s hybrid meetings, where remote participants need to hear everyone clearly to stay engaged. By adapting to the room’s acoustics, the TC Bars eliminate any “can you hear me?” frustrations, as well as the need for the manual calibration that early beamform technology required.
For video, the TC Bar integrated 4K camera utilizes AI-driven features including auto-framing and person tiling. This ensures that all participants are visible and included in the conversation. They also integrate with a wide range of popular video conferencing software like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and others.
Addressing Scalability and Flexibility
As meeting spaces range from small huddle rooms to larger boardrooms or classrooms, flexibility is essential. The TC Bars are designed to scale effortlessly to fit the needs of different spaces. Available in two models — TC Bar S (with four microphones and two speakers) and TC Bar M (with six microphones and four speakers) — they cater to diverse room sizes and configurations. Their plug-and-play design means they can easily be installed in any room and integrated with existing video conferencing systems, without the need for complicated configurations. For larger rooms, the TC Bars can be expanded by connecting additional microphones or cameras to enhance coverage, ensuring scalability without sacrificing simplicity.
While conferencing bars have become a common fixture in meeting rooms, the TC Bars are the first in their class with Dante integration. This was done to further enhance scalability by supporting installations that span across rooms, floors, or entire campuses. This level of networked flexibility makes them especially ideal for organizations looking to future-proof their meeting room technologies.
Simplified Management and Monitoring
For IT professionals, managing multiple rooms can be a logistical challenge, but with Sennheiser Control Cockpit remote management, tech teams can monitor and adjust the system settings from anywhere. If any issues arise, they can be addressed without needing an in-person visit, minimizing downtime, enhancing productivity, and ensuring rooms are ready. In addition, Sennheiser has prioritized security. Built-in encryption and secure communication protocols protect meeting content, ensuring that organizations can collaborate without concern about data breaches or unauthorized access.
Behold the Future
The future of meetings lies in intuitive, integrated technologies that allow people to communicate and collaborate seamlessly. Sennheiser’s TC Bars are helping shape this future by offering a simple yet powerful solution that enhances the user experience and scales to meet the demands of modern workspaces.
Learn more about Sennheiser TeamConnect Bars here.
