If your team uses Microsoft® Copilot® or Zoom AI Companion® for meeting notes, meeting room audio has to do more than sound clear to the people on the call. It also has to be clean enough for AI to transcribe accurately, which is a different, higher bar.
That’s the challenge Crestron DM NAX® Intelligent Audio is built to meet. For organizations looking to improve AI meeting room audio, Bluewater can help design and integrate these solutions across collaboration spaces of different sizes.
DM NAX Intelligent Audio uses an approach Crestron describes as “One Platform. Every Space.” One audio processor, the DM-NAX-AP-100, runs the same network-based platform in every room and can scale up or down to fit the space.
One Processor, Three Ways to Build a Room
Every DM NAX® room starts with the AP-100. From there, you choose one of three supported configurations depending on the room:
- Ceiling: Up to four Saros® DM-NAX-IC4A-W active ceiling speakers, each able to power up to three additional passive IC4P-W speakers, paired with up to four Sennheiser® TCC M Plus in-ceiling microphones.
- Hybrid: The same Saros® active ceiling speakers paired with up to four DM-NAX-POD-MIC tabletop mic pods. This is a good fit for larger rooms that want overhead speaker coverage and mic pickup on the table.
- Tabletop: Up to eight DM-NAX-POD-MIC-SPK and/or DM-NAX-POD-MIC pods on the table, with no ceiling installation required.
That range means a huddle room, a standard conference room, and a full boardroom can all run on the same platform.
The Speakers and Mic Pods That Connect to the AP-100
Each configuration is built from a small set of devices that connect to the AP-100, and each one has a different job:
- Saros® DM-NAX-IC4A-W and IC4P-W (ceiling speakers): No external amp is needed. Each active IC4A-W speaker can power up to three passive IC4P-W speakers, and the AP-100 supports up to eight active Saros® speakers. This is a fit for rooms that want broad, even coverage from the ceiling without adding separate amplifier hardware.
- DM-NAX-POD-MIC-SPK (mic and speaker pod): A 360°, 12-element beamforming microphone array with a built-in speaker in one tabletop unit, with support for up to eight pods per AP-100. This configuration fits rooms that want mic pickup and sound reinforcement from the table without installing anything in the ceiling.
- DM-NAX-POD-MIC (mic-only pod): The same 360° beamforming array as the POD-MIC-SPK, without the speaker. It pairs with Saros® ceiling speakers for rooms that want audio coming from overhead while keeping the tabletop clean, with just a low-profile mic pod on the table.
Together, these options make it possible to design AI meeting room audio around the needs and layout of each collaboration space.
What the AP-100 Actually Does
The AP-100 is a compact processor with onboard DSP, including acoustic echo cancellation (AEC), automatic gain control (AGC), auto-mixing, matrix mixing, parametric EQ, and delay compression.
That processing keeps a call sounding clear while giving AI meeting assistants clean audio to work with, without requiring anyone in the room to make manual adjustments.
The AP-100 connects to a collaboration platform over USB-C®. It is also built on Crestron’s DM NVX® AV-over-IP foundation. As a result, microphones and speakers connect over standard CAT cabling and receive power and data over a single PoE connection.
A Network Approach Designed for IT
One detail that matters for IT teams is that the AP-100 has two network ports. One connects to the corporate network. The other is a private, PoE-powered connection dedicated to the room’s microphones and speakers.
This setup keeps audio traffic separate from everything else on the network.
Devices on that private network auto-discover and configure themselves. This helps get a room from installation to first audio in minutes rather than requiring extensive manual setup.
For organizations deploying technology across multiple collaboration spaces, that streamlined setup can also make AI meeting room audio easier to scale and manage.
Managed the Same Way, Room by Room
Every AP-100 is set up and managed from one browser dashboard, with no separate software to install.
From that dashboard, teams get system status at a glance, one-touch volume and mute controls, and health reporting for every connected microphone and speaker. This includes network status, IP address, signal presence, and firmware version.
XiO Cloud® Platform Management is also available for teams that want to manage the system remotely alongside the local dashboard.
This consistent management experience helps IT and facilities teams maintain rooms of different sizes without introducing a completely different audio platform for each space.
Room to Grow
The AP-100 exposes three independent AES67 streams, so advanced in-room Intelligent Audio and Video automation happens on the processor itself, with no separate DSP.
That reduces cost and complexity versus competitors and makes rooms easier to scale. Because devices auto-discover on the network, there is minimal time-to-audio. Systems can come up quickly and remain flexible downstream, right down to feeding an Assisted Listening System (ALS) directly from the room’s audio.
Why AI Meeting Room Audio Matters
For a facilities or IT team managing more than one room, the appeal isn’t any single feature.
It’s that a huddle room and a boardroom can run on the same platform, go through the same setup process, and get monitored from the same dashboard. At the same time, the system gives AI meeting tools the clean audio they need to actually be useful.
As AI-powered transcription and meeting assistants become a larger part of workplace collaboration, the quality of the audio feeding those tools becomes increasingly important.
Bluewater works with organizations to design and integrate collaboration environments that bring together audio, video, control, and workplace technology. With Crestron DM NAX® Intelligent Audio, teams can create scalable meeting spaces designed for both the people participating in a conversation and the AI tools helping document it.
Talk to a Bluewater Specialist
Looking to bring clearer, more scalable audio into your meeting and collaboration spaces?
Bluewater can help you scope a solution, determine the right configuration for your rooms, and integrate Crestron DM NAX® Intelligent Audio into your collaboration environment. Contact us today to get started.
