New Multi-Channel AES67 Audio Interface Mix Engines at NAB 2018

5th February 2018

On stand C3035 at NAB, Sonifex are showing some new products for the first time in the USA. These products use the new AES67 AoIP format to enable mixing and monitoring of AoIP streams as well as having physical inputs and outputs.

The AVN Portal range of mix engines comprise three main units with options for front and rear panels.

The AVN-PA8 has 8 x stereo analogue line inputs & outputs on D-type sockets with AES59 analogue pinout, paralleled with 8 x RJ45 connectors using StudioHub pinout. It can also receive AoIP streams from 16 additional AES67 sources and can send to 16 additional AoIP destinations. The key to the success of the units is the mix matrix where physical inputs can be freely mixed and routed with AES67 streams in a simple and intuitive way to both physical outputs and AES67 streams, whilst also adding DSP functions (e.g. gain) at inputs, outputs and cross-points. The units can stream RAVENNA, AES67 or AES67-enabled Dante (using SAP) AoIP connected streams.

The AVN-PD8 has 8 x stereo AES3 digital line inputs & outputs on D-type sockets with AES59 pinout, paralleled with 8 x RJ45 connectors using StudioHub pinout. It has individual input sample rate conversion, input and output gain adjustment and has the same streaming facilities as the AVN-PA8, i.e. 16 additional AES67 stream inputs and outputs which can be mixed and routed together with the physical I/O.

Finally, there is the AVN-PM8 which has 8 x mic/line inputs and 8 x stereo line outputs on D-type sockets with AES59 analogue pinout, paralleled with 8 x RJ45 connectors using StudioHub pinout. +48V phantom power is available for each microphone input with a red LED presence indication.

There is adjustable input and output gain/trim and the AVN-PM8 has an additional mic pre-amp gain adjustment for each mic input.

Each of the portals can be supplied with different front and rear panels: As standard they have a front panel display to show product information and for editing basic IP functionality and they use XLRs and D-types for rear panel connectivity.

The D' version portals (e.g. AVN-PA8D) have front panel input and output metering on 2 bright TFT displays. Metering can show as one of 9 different metering scales and there is a summary view of all input channels with a detailed view of any selected stereo pair. Phase metering is also displayed per stereo channel.

The T' version portals (e.g. AVN-PM8T) use rear panel terminal block connectors for all physical inputs and outputs.

For all products, the rear panel contains IEC mains and secondary DC power inputs which provide power redundancy to the product. There are two Ethernet RJ45 connections (control and AoIP) and there is an Ethernet SFP module that, when used, replaces the AoIP RJ45 connection.

For remote operation and monitoring, the units can be controlled using Ember+ commands. A rear panel GPIO connector provides 10 local ports which can be user configured as inputs or outputs and provide software controlled functionality. A voltage free relay contact can be used to operate external equipment. There are virtual GPIO ports which can be used to trigger events over the network and SNMP is also supported.

A built-in responsive web server provides complete configuration & control of the unit including matrix mixing and routing, and also allows for firmware updates and configuration backup.

The portals can also be combined with multiple AVN-HA1 and AVN-HD1 headphone amplifiers to provide a headphone distribution system the portal output connections can supply analogue power to satellite headphone amplifiers. For more information see the Sonifex website.

LINK:	http://www.sonifex.co.uk/company/press/2018/05022018_new_multichannel_...
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