NTI Audio TalkBox Users Manual

OPERATING MANUAL

NTi Audio TalkBox

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Contact NTi Audio at

Headquarter [phone] [e-mail]
Americas [phone] [e-mail]
China [phone] [e-mail]
Czech [phone] [e-mail]
Germany [phone] [e-mail]
Japan [phone] [e-mail]
South Korea [phone] [e-mail]
United Kingdom [phone] [e-mail]

www.nti-audio.com

NTi Audio AG
Im alten Riet 102, 9494 Schaan
Liechtenstein, Europe
is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.

© NTi Audio AG
Release 2.17.03 / Aug 2019

All information subject to change without notice.
© All rights reserved.
® Minirator is a registered trademark of NTi Audio.
™ XL2, EXEL and TalkBox are
trademarks of NTi Audio.

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Made in

Switzerland

Index:

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................4

2. Overview .............................................................................................................5

General .............................................................................................................6

NTi Audio TalkBox Controls ............................................................................... 7

Side & Rear Panel ........................................................................................... 13

3. How to use the NTi Audio TalkBox ..................................................................14

Procedure .......................................................................................................14

Output Level ................................................................................................... 14

Lombard Effect ...............................................................................................15

CF-Card ........................................................................................................... 16

My Own Files ................................................................................................. 17

4. Battery Operation ............................................................................................ 18

5. Related Products .............................................................................................. 19

6. Further Information ..........................................................................................20

Registration ..................................................................................................... 20

Warranty Conditions ....................................................................................... 21

Service and Repairs ........................................................................................ 21

Warnings ......................................................................................................... 22

Calibration Certificate ...................................................................................... 22

CE Declaration of Conformity ......................................................................... 23

7. Technical Data TalkBox ..................................................................................... 24

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5

1. Introduction

Congratulations and thank you for buying NTi Audio’s TalkBox, a product specially
suited as test signal source for speech intelligibility measurements. This product pro­vides, in combination with an NTi Audio Acoustic Analyzer, the all-in-one solution for
fast and comprehensive STIPA testing of a complete public announcement system.
Additionally, various other test signals are supported for further test applications.
We are convinced you will enjoy using it!

This manual describes the NTi Audio TalkBox operation and functions in detail. Fur­ther application information can be found on the web site.

The NTi Audio TalkBox product package includes the following items:

NTi Audio TalkBox•
Protection Cover mounted with NTi Audio lanyard•
CF-Card with test signals & individual calibration data•
Mains Power Supply & Power Cord•
Carrying Pouch•
User Manual•

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2. Overview

NTi Audio TalkBox greatly simplifies the acoustical feed of the STIPA intelligibility
test source signal into closed sound reinforcement systems. It presents the stan­dardized voice-like acoustical signal emission simulating a human talker according
to IEC 60268-16 at standardized levels.

NTi Audio TalkBox

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7

General

NTi Audio TalkBox features human head-like dimensions. A build-in combination
of solid state generator and DSP ensures highest playback accuracy and lowest
sample frequency deviations with minimized jitter effects. The internal precision
loudspeaker is individually calibrated to achieve a very flat frequency response in
the typical frequency range of the human voice. Each TalkBox is individually equal­ized and calibrated and has an excellent frequency response accuracy of +/- 1 dB
over the relevant frequency range. The radiation characteristic complies with the
ITU-T P.51 in wide ranges.

The perfect frequency response and the precisely correct playback sampling rate
are specifically important to minimize systematic errors when performing STIPA
measurements.

Speaker

The IEC60268-16 standard specifies a sound pressure level for a speaker simulator
of 60 dBA in 1 meter distance. The NTi Audio TalkBox levels are calibrated to comply
with this standard. To avoid operating failures the TalkBox has no volume control.

Mic Stand Mount

The exact positioning the NTi Audio TalkBox in front of a microphone (at the place
where a real human speaker would be) is easy using a conventional mic stand. A
universal mic stand mount is available at the bottom of the box.

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2

3

4

Output Mode

Mute LineOut

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Output Mode

Mute LineOut

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Mute LineOut

Select
Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

NTi Audio TalkBox Controls

Output Mode Selector

Power LED

NTI Audio TalkBox Controls

Play LED Clip LEDSelect Track Switch

Output Mode Selector

The output selector switch offers the following three modes:

The audio signal is available at the speaker and the Line Out.

The audio signal is muted (no signal at Line Out and speaker).

Line OutLine InCF Card

The audio signal is available at the Line Out. The speaker amplifier is
muted.

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9

Power LED

The red Power LED indicates the following:

fast

The power up sequence is in process (about 10 seconds)

flashing

continuously onThe TalkBox is powered on and ready for operation.

slow

flashing

The outputs are muted by

the Output Mode Selector or•
the External Mute Input•

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CF-Card

The supplied CF-Card needs to be pushed into the provided slot. Up to 15 test sig­nals can be stored on the CF-Card. The size of the test signals is as big as required
for the looped operation. The selected signal is further processed and seamlessly
looped by the built in DSP. The CF-Card is FAT32 formatted and can be read/written
by any PC/MAC with CF-Card reader. The TalkBox repeats the selected audio track
as long as mains power is connected. Besides the STIPA test signal the CF-Card
contains the following additional wave forms:

CF-Card Track List:

1 STIPA (Standard) 60dBASPL @ 1m

2 Pink Noise 60dBASPL @ 1m

3 White Noise 60dBASPL @ 1m

4 Sine 1 kHz 60dBASPL @ 1m

5 Male Speaker (German) 60dBASPL @ 1m

6 Male Speaker (English) 60dBASPL @ 1m

7 Delay Test Chirp

8 -

9 -

A STIPA (Lombard) 70dBASPL @ 1m

B Pink Noise 70dBASPL @ 1m

C White Noise 70dBASPL @ 1m

D Sine 1 kHz 70dBASPL @ 1m

E Male Speaker (German) 70dBASPL @ 1m

F Male Speaker (English) 70dBASPL @ 1m

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Any hot swap of the CF-Card is not supported. In case the CF-Card
has been removed during operation it shall be returned and the
mains power shortly disconnected to initiate the operation again.

File format of audio signals

*.wav file•
Sample rate: 44100 Hz•
Mono •
16 Bit•
PCM linear quantization •

File name format

The first character of wav-file name matches the output selector switch position.
So the audio files names are e.g. “1anyName.wav” or “8anyName.wav”, whereby
“anyName” may describe the content of the wav-file for example “1_STIPA.wav”.
The maximum length of the filename is 8 digits, e.g. “xxxxxxxx.wav”.

Calibration data

The CF-Card keeps additionally the individual calibration data of the
NTi Audio TalkBox. The file is named “xxx.cal”. The CF-Card is labeled with the serial
number of the corresponding TalkBox, so the CF-Card and the NTi Audio TalkBox do
have the same serial number, guaranteeing accurate and calibrated operation.

The serial number on the CF-Card must match with the serial num­ber of the NTi Audio TalkBox, otherwise the acoustical parameters of
the TalkBox are out of specifications.

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Play LED

The green Play LED indicates the following:

continuously onThe audio signal is replayed•

At Line In mode (= Select Track switch set to “0” ) and input •
signal > -30 dBu

flashing Error indication, which might be caused by

The CF-Card is not plugged in or damaged•
The file “serialnumber_xxx.cal” is not found on the card•
The selected audio file is not available, damaged or of wrong •
format

Select Track Switch

This switch allows the following selections:

“0” This position selects the input signal from the input connector

“Line In” to the speaker.

“1” - “F” These positions select the individually stored audio tracks from

the CF-Card in hex-order form (1, ... , 9, A, B, C, D, E, F).

Clip LED

The red Clip LED is activated when the Line In mode is selected
(= Select Track switch set to “0”). Reduce the input level when the Clip LED flash-
es.

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13

Line In

XLR input connector for external audio signals.

The Line In mode (Select Track switch = “0”) enables to play an external audio sig­nal with the NTi Audio TalkBox. In the Line In mode the Play LED indicates an input
signal > -30 dBu and the Clip LED is activated at input signals > +15 dBu.

The DSP based equalization introduces a signal propagation delay of 59 ms be­tween the Line-In and the acoustical output. Consequently and in order to guaran­tee synchronicity between the acoustical output and the line-output for delay time
measurements the latter is also delayed by 59 ms.

Line Out

Using the balanced line out, the TalkBox operates as a signal generator. The stored
signal of the CF-Card or any connected signal from the Line In connector is directly
send to the Line Out connector (not equalized).

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