Sonifex are showing a range of new products on stand N4507 in the Radio/Audio Hall at the NAB 2006 exhibition. Sharing the spotlight are 3 main attractions, the
DHY-03 telephone hybrid, the
RB-DS2 stereo audio delay synchroniser and the
RB-ADDA2 192kHz A/D and D/A converter.
With a lower price than its predecessor the DHY-02, the DHY-03 telephone hybrid offers a greater feature-set including universal line compatibility, input and output gain adjustment, input and output metering, conferencing, RS232 serial control, local/remote line hold switching, integrated auto-answer, a balanced mic/line input and balanced line output. With an average line rejection figure of 75-80dB, this is the best performing hybrid in the world.
The RB-DS2 stereo audio delay synchroniser offers a slight diversion into the world of audio for video. The RB-DS2 is used for resynchronising audio to video following delay processes such as standards conversion & transmission delay. The RB-DS2 has both balanced analogue and AES/EBU digital audio inputs and outputs on 3 pin XLR connectors. It can act as a combined A/D and D/A unit meaning that analogue inputs can be delayed and output as AES/EBU and vice-versa. It is a stereo delay, but can also be used as a dual mono delay to process each audio path separately.
As standard the RB-DS2 can provide up to 10.5 seconds of delay at 96kHz sampling, 24 bit (42 secs at 48kHz, 16 bit). An internal Compact FlashTMexpansion allows up to 2GB of memory to be accessed providing delay times of over 3.5 hours, for example, to delay a programme output across different time-zones, or to shift a broadcast programme by 1 hour for a satellite rebroadcast. Delay times can be selected in samples, fields, frames, milliseconds and, with the Compact Flash™ expansion, in hh:mm:ss. Frame and field definitions can be for PAL (25 frame) or NTSC (30 frame) signals.
A new version of the combined stereo RB-ADDA A/D and D/A converter has been launched which is 192kHz, 24 bit compatible. The RB-ADDA2 has all of the features of the existing RB-ADDA unit plus an extended frequency range to 192kHz, an optical input and output, front panel push-button controls and separate AES/EBU and word-clock synchronising inputs, so that the A/D and D/A sections can be used independently.
Three new utility products have been announced - the RB-PA2 is a dual stereo phono RIAA gram amplifier for converting pick-up cartridge signals on a turntable to a line input level. It has adjustable output gain using pre-set potentiometers and the frequency response is held to within 0.5dB of the RIAA equalisation curve.
The RB-ML2 is a stereo microphone and line level limiter. It can operate in stereo, or dual mono mode, so can be used as a stereo line limiter, or dual mic limiter. The unit is mainly used where assistance with level control is required, for protection of mixer inputs and to prevent distortion. Ideal for news-booths, and the input to PC workstations, it provides an economical level control solution. Two mic/line inputs have independent gain, filtering and phantom power selection. The VCA limiter circuit can operate jointly on the signals (stereo mode) or independently (mono mode) and the characteristics of the limiter can be set via level threshold presets. The RB-ML2 also has either line or mic level outputs so that it can be used in line with a mic input on a mixer or similar equipment.
The RB-MM1 is a mix-minus generator. The RB-MM1 is a unit for generating a suitable mix-minus to send to a telephone hybrid or codec. A stereo output is taken from a mixer, together with a post fader output from the mono telephone fader on the mixer. The caller audio is removed from the mixer signal and this is what is sent to the telephone hybrid. The RB-MM1 has analogue inputs and outputs, output level control, 2 null cancellation control pots and a switch for a bandpass filter to condition the signal for the telephone hybrid.
These will be on display together with the complete range of Redbox interfaces – distribution amplifiers, microphone amplifiers, headphone amplifiers, digital converters and matching amplifiers.
Also on display is the S2 small format, modular digital I/O analogue radio broadcast mixer, a talkback intercom unit and the Net-Log multi-channel network audio logger.
