An audio system comprising: a microphone array comprising: a first elliptical radial portion comprising a plurality of microphones (m2-m6/m7) located on an ellipse; and a center microphone concentrically located within the first elliptical radial portion; and a signal processing subsystem (704, 706, 708) adapted to process audio signals generated by the microphone array to generate one or more output beampatterns, wherein the signal processing subsystem comprises: a decomposer adapted to: spatially decompose the audio signals corresponding to the first elliptical radial portion into a set of eigenbeam outputs; and modify one or more of the eigenbeam outputs of the set based on the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone to generate a modified set of eigenbeam outputs, characterized in that the decomposer is adapted to subtract a filtered version of the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone from a zeroth-order eigenbeam output of the set to generate a modified eigenbeam output for the modified set; and a beamformer adapted to combine the modified set of eigenbeam outputs to generate each output beampattern, wherein the beamformer is adapted to apply one or more of steering, frequency-response compensation, and weighting to the modified set of eigenbeam outputs in generating each output beampattern. a microphone array comprising: a first elliptical radial portion comprising a plurality of microphones (m2-m6/m7) located on an ellipse; and a center microphone concentrically located within the first elliptical radial portion; and a first elliptical radial portion comprising a plurality of microphones (m2-m6/m7) located on an ellipse; and a center microphone concentrically located within the first elliptical radial portion; and a signal processing subsystem (704, 706, 708) adapted to process audio signals generated by the microphone array to generate one or more output beampatterns, wherein the signal processing subsystem comprises: a decomposer adapted to: spatially decompose the audio signals corresponding to the first elliptical radial portion into a set of eigenbeam outputs; and modify one or more of the eigenbeam outputs of the set based on the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone to generate a modified set of eigenbeam outputs, characterized in that the decomposer is adapted to subtract a filtered version of the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone from a zeroth-order eigenbeam output of the set to generate a modified eigenbeam output for the modified set; and a beamformer adapted to combine the modified set of eigenbeam outputs to generate each output beampattern, wherein the beamformer is adapted to apply one or more of steering, frequency-response compensation, and weighting to the modified set of eigenbeam outputs in generating each output beampattern. a decomposer adapted to: spatially decompose the audio signals corresponding to the first elliptical radial portion into a set of eigenbeam outputs; and modify one or more of the eigenbeam outputs of the set based on the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone to generate a modified set of eigenbeam outputs, characterized in that the decomposer is adapted to subtract a filtered version of the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone from a zeroth-order eigenbeam output of the set to generate a modified eigenbeam output for the modified set; and spatially decompose the audio signals corresponding to the first elliptical radial portion into a set of eigenbeam outputs; and modify one or more of the eigenbeam outputs of the set based on the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone to generate a modified set of eigenbeam outputs, characterized in that the decomposer is adapted to subtract a filtered version of the audio signal corresponding to the center microphone from a zeroth-order eigenbeam output of the set to generate a modified eigenbeam output for the modified set; and a beamformer adapted to combine the modified set of eigenbeam outputs to generate each output beampattern, wherein the beamformer is adapted to apply one or more of steering, frequency-response compensation, and weighting to the modified set of eigenbeam outputs in generating each output beampattern.