StormAudio ISP Elite MkIII – Immersive Audio Processor

Description

Overview

The ISP Elite MkIII is StormAudio’s flagship immersive audio processor and the most configurable machine the French company builds. It decodes and upmixes up to 32 channels, and it is modular by design: buy the channel count and output type your room needs today, add cards later as the cinema grows. The figure shown is a “from” price — £17,097.35 inc VAT buys the entry configuration, the 16-channel analogue version. The larger channel counts and digital output versions are priced separately and listed under Key features.

Design & build

Designed and manufactured in France, the Elite MkIII occupies a 4RU chassis — four rack units, roughly 17.6cm of height in a standard 19-inch rack. It measures 46.58 x 44.2 x 17.6cm (depth x width x height) without ears or feet; the removable rack ears add 4cm across and the feet 2cm up, so it sits equally happily on a shelf or bolted in. Net weight is 13.1kg to 13.6kg depending on modules fitted. A 5-inch colour TFT display gives status and advanced control without opening a laptop, and the universal 100–240V supply removes any voltage selection to get wrong.

Sound & performance

The Elite MkIII handles the formats that matter: Auro-3D®, Dolby Atmos®, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced, MPEG-H and Sony 360 Reality Audio. Inputs are supported to 192kHz and post-processing runs at 48kHz. Where it pulls away is control over the room: unlimited subwoofer channels, Active Room Treatment supporting an unlimited number of speakers, up to 20 bands of parametric equalisation per channel, and up to four crossover points per channel from 6 to 48dB per octave in Linkwitz-Riley or Butterworth alignments. That last figure matters with multi-way active loudspeakers, because the processor provides the crossovers itself rather than passive parts inside the cabinet.

Key features

Five factory configurations, all prices inc VAT:

• 16-channel analogue — £17,097.35
• 24-channel analogue — £19,956.44
• 32-channel AES/EBU — £21,671.89 (AES/EBU is a professional digital audio cable standard carrying two channels per link)
• 32-channel AoIP — £22,243.70 (AoIP means audio sent over a standard network cable rather than individual analogue leads)
• 32-channel analogue — £22,815.53

Every version upgrades after installation: XLR output cards to 24 or 32 channels, a 32-channel AES/EBU output card, a 16-channel DCI AES/EBU input card for digital cinema playback, and a 32-channel AoIP card. StormXT, all grades of Dirac Live licence and StormMonitoring are included on every configuration.

Technology

Dirac Live is included in full — Room Correction, Bass Control and Active Room Treatment — with no extra licences to buy. Active Room Treatment (ART) is the clever one: rather than only filtering the signal, it uses the system’s own speakers to cancel the room’s lingering bass decay, so low notes stop smearing into the next scene. StormAudio shipped it first and still describes itself as the only brand including it. Dirac Live runs high-resolution mixed-phase filters and stores ten profiles per theatre or zone; REW measurement files load directly for manual tuning.

StormXT is StormAudio’s own channel expander: when a soundtrack’s format leaves some speakers silent, it draws the relevant signal from neighbouring channels and feeds them, so a large room stays coherent whatever the disc is mixed in. Expert Bass Management adds independent bass extraction and routing across up to six bass zones. StormMonitoring reports the health of connected StormAudio amplifiers back through the processor’s web interface, on site or remotely. Roon Ready, five-year warranty, official URC drivers.

Specifications

Up to 32 channels of decoding and upmixing. Balanced XLR outputs on channels 1–16 as standard, upgradeable to 24 or 32, plus optional 32-channel AES/EBU or AES67/Dante AoIP. Seven HDMI inputs and two outputs at HDMI 2.1a and HDCP 2.3, 40Gbps, 8K and 4K120, with HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vision. Full detail in the specification table below.

Who it’s for

A dedicated, no-compromise cinema room — large immersive speaker layout, serious external amplification, and an owner who wants the room itself taken out of the equation. It also suits anyone who wants 16 channels now and 32 later without replacing the processor. For the same platform in a slimmer fixed box, see the ISP Core 16; for an entirely digital installation, see the ISP Evo.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Hidden Home Technology designs, supplies, installs and calibrates StormAudio systems from our base in Bath, Somerset, and demonstrates across the South. Dan Crick has 25 years in the industry, the company has traded since 2004, and we are a CEDIA member (A-356536). A processor of this calibre only performs when the room around it is right, so we treat it as one job — acoustics, speaker layout, amplification, video, control and Dirac Live calibration by our own team. Available through us; arrange a demonstration at our Basingstoke showroom, or read more on our StormAudio brand page.