QSC Audio RAVE 81, RAVE 160, RAVE 161, RAVE 188, RAVE 88 User Manual

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RAVE

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USER MANUAL

FPO

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RAVE 80 Digital Audio Router (8 AES3 outputs)

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RAVE 81 Digital Audio Router (8 AES3 inputs)

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RAVE 88 Digital Audio Router (4 AES3 inputs + 4 AES3 outputs)

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RAVE 160 Digital Audio Router (16 analog audio outputs)

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RAVE 161 Digital Audio Router (16 analog audio inputs)

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RAVE 188 Digital Audio Router (8 analog audio ins + 8 analog audio outs)

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Rev. A

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Table of Contents

RAVE Digital Audio Router User Manual

Warning Notices ................................................................................................................................................ 2

I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3

Glossary.......................................................................................................................................................... 4

How it works .................................................................................................................................................. 5

II. Network Design......................................................................................................................................... 6

Network topology examples ......................................................................................................................... 7

Longer distance through fiber.......................................................................................................................8

Network limitations ............................................................................................................ .........................10

III. Installation ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Pre-Installation preparation: analog signal levels (RAVE 160, 161, and 188 only) .................................. 1 2

Rack mounting (all models) ..................................................................................................... .................... 14

IV. Connections.............................................................................................................................................. 1 4

Ethernet connection (all models) ................................................................................................................14

Analog audio connections ...........................................................................................................................14

Digital audio connections............................................................................................................................15

AC power .....................................................................................................................................................16

Sync output .................................................................................................................................................. 16

Slave input ................................................................................................................................................... 17

RS232 port ................................................................................................................................................... 17

V. Operation ................................................................................................................................................... 18

Status indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 18

Channel signal indicators...................................................................................................... ...................... 19

Routing......................................................................................................................................................... 20

VI. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions .......................................................................................................21

VII. Specifications ..........................................................................................................................................23

VIII. Appendix ................................................................................................................................................... 24

IX. Address & Telephone Information ...................................................................................................... 25

© Copyright 1997 QSC Audio Products, Inc. All rights reserved. “QSC” and the QSC logo are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. RAVE™ is a trademark of QSC Audio Products, Inc. CobraNet™ is a trademark of Peak Audio, Inc.

EXPLANATION OF GRAPHICAL SYMBOLS

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol,

within an equilateral triangle, is intended to

alert the user to the presence of uninsulated

dangerous voltage within the products

enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude

to constitute a risk of electric shock to

humans.

The exclamation point within an equilateral

triangle is intended to alert the users to the

presence of important operating and main-

tenance (servicing) instructions in the

literature accompanying the product.

EXPLICATION DES SYMBOLES GRAPHIQUES

Le symbole éclair avec point de flèche à

lintrérieur dun triangle équilatéral est utilisé

pour alerter lutilisateur de la presence à

lintérieur du coffret de voltage dangereux

non isolé dampleur suffisante pour constituer

un risque delétrocution.

Le point dexclamation à lintérieur dun tri-

angle équilatéral est employé pour alerter les

utilisateurs de la présence dinstructions

importantes pour le fonctionnement et

lentretien (service) dans le livret dinstruction

accompagnant lappareil.

ERKLÄRUNG DER GRAPHISCHEN SYMBOLE

Der Blitz nach unten zeigendem Pfeil in einem

gleichseitigen Dreieck weist den Benutzer auf

das Vorhandensein einer unisolierten,

gefährlichen Spannung im Gehäuse hin, die



stark sein kann, einer Person einen

elektrischen Schlag zu versetzen.

Das Ausrufzeichen in einem gleichseitigen

Dreieck weist den Benutzer auf wichtige

Betriebs- und Wartungs- vorschriften in den

beiliegenden Unterlagen des Gerätes hin.

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

CAUTION: To reduce the risk of electric shock, do not remove

the cover. No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing

to qualified service personnel.

WARNING: To prevent fire or electric shock, do not expose this

equipment to rain or moisture.

AVIS

RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE

NE PAS OUVRIR

ATTENTION: Pour eviter les risques de choc électrique, ne pas

enlever le courvercle. Aucun entretien de pièces intérieures

par lusager. Confier lentretien au personnel qualifié.

AVIS: Pour eviter les risques dincendie ou délectrocution,

nexposez pas cet article à la pluie ou a lhumidité.

VORSICHT

GEFAHR EINES ELEKTRISCHEN

SCHLAGES. NICHT ÖFFNEN!

VORSICHT: Um das Risiko eines elektrischen Schlages zu

vermindern, Abdeckung nicht entfernen! Keine Benutzer

Wartungsteile im Innern. Wartung nur durch qualifiertes

Wartungspersonal.

WARNUNG: Zur vermeidung von Feuer oder elektrischen

Schlägen, das Gerät nicht mit Regen oder Feuchtigkeit in

Berührung bringen!

SAFEGUARDS

Electrical energy can perform many useful functions.

This unit has been engineered and manufactured to

assure your personal safety. Improper use can result in

potential electrical shock or fire hazards. In order not to

defeat the safeguards, observe the following instruc-

tions for its installation, use and servicing.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) INFORMATION

NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a commercial installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his or her own expense.

PRECAUTIONS

DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

for all RAVE models

We declare as our sole responsibility that this

product is in compliance with the EMC Direc-

tive 89/336/EEC and conforms to the require-

ments of the Harmonized Product Standards

EN 55013 (Product Emissions), and EN 55020

(Product Immunity).

Lénergie électrique peut remplir de nombreuses fonctions

utiles. Cet appariel a été conçu et réalisé pour assurer

une sécurité personnelle entiére. Une utilisation impropre

peut entraîner des risques délectrocution ou dincendie.

Dans le but de ne pas rendre inutiles les mesures de

sécurité, bien observer les instructions suivantes pour

linstallation, lutilisation et lentretien de lappareil.

I. Introduction

RAVE Digital Audio Router products provide a means of transporting audio signals over a data network. Using common Fast Ethernet as the physical medium, a RAVE system has a maximum capacity of 64 channels on a 100baseTX network. RAVE transports the audio signals over the network in a 48 kHz 20-bit digital format. Each unit has a female RJ-45 connector on its rear panel for connecting to a standard Ethernet twisted-pair cable. For economy and flexibility, you can use standard off-the-shelf Fast Ethernet devices such as hubs and fiber optic media converters with your RAVE system.

You need at least two RAVE devices—one to send and one to receive, or two to both send and receive—to route audio over an Ethernet. There are currently six RAVE models, with three basic send/receive configurations (16 channels send, 16 channels receive, or 8 channels send/8 channels receive), with either analog or digital AES3 (often called AES/EBU) ins and outs. The six models are numbered as follows:

RAVE 80 Digital Audio Router (8 AES3 outputs; 16 audio channels total) RAVE 81 Digital Audio Router (8 AES3 inputs; 16 audio channels total) RAVE 88 Digital Audio Router (4 AES3 inputs + 4 AES3 outputs; 8 audio channels total each way) RAVE 160 Digital Audio Router (16 analog audio outputs) RAVE 161 Digital Audio Router (16 analog audio inputs) RAVE 188 Digital Audio Router (8 analog audio inputs + 8 analog audio outputs)

A RAVE system handles routing in groups of 8 individual audio channels.

Power LED

Front view of a RAVE 161; other models are simliar

Network channel selector switches (behind cover)

Network status LEDs Audio signal level LEDs

Rear views, from top: RAVE 160, RAVE 188, RAVE 161, RAVE 80, RAVE 88, and RAVE 81.

GLOSSARY

Below are some terms used in this manual that RAVE users should be familiar with.

AES3—A technological specification for inter-device conveyance of a dual-channel (stereo) digital audio

signal. Also called AES/EBU.

Crossover cable—A type of twisted-pair Ethernet patch cable, but somewhat analogous in function to a

null modem cable. Unlike a normal patch cable, the transmit and receive wire pairs are swapped at one end, permitting a direct connection of two nodes without a hub in between. A crossover cable is also suitable for cascading hubs that don’t have an available uplink port. It also has nothing to do with an audio crossover.

Network channel—A RAVE network group of eight audio channels, with a channel number designated by

a switch on the sending unit. Don’t confuse this term with actual audio channels. A RAVE network multiplexes eight audio channels onto a single network channel and routes the entire network channel as a whole. A receiving RAVE unit set to a particular network channel will output all eight of the network channel’s audio signals.

Uplink port—A special port on a hub, used for cascading to another hub. Usually it’s offered in tandem with

a normal port so you can use one or the other, but not both. For example, a 5-port hub with an uplink allows you to connect to five nodes via the normal ports, or to four nodes via normal ports plus one hub via the uplink port.

HOW IT WORKS

Ethernet networks are most often used for computer systems; a typical application would be in an office with servers, workstations, and shared printers. These devices use the Ethernet medium in an unregulated, nondeterministic way. This means that they transmit data messages (called “packets”) only when necessary, and the length of the messages may vary depending on the sending device and on the type and amount of data being sent. When it has a message to send on the network, a device, or node, waits until there is no traffic, then sends it. If two or more nodes try to send messages at the same time, a collision occurs; each node then waits a random length of time before trying again. In this type of application, reasonable latency (the length of time from when the transmitting node has a message ready to send, to when the receiving node actually receives it) is not a

problem, since a second or two delay in the transmission of a print job or an e-mail message won’t have any noticeable effect.

Audio signals (especially multi-channel), however, generally can’t tolerate a delay of even a significant fraction of a second, or even worse, a varying, unpredictable delay. This would cause glitches, dropouts, noise, and other nasty and undesirable artifacts in the final audio signal.

Internal block diagram of a RAVE unit; chief difference among the different models is the audio I/O (below)

RAVE 80: 8 AES3 outs RAVE 81: 8 AES3 ins RAVE 88: 4 AES3 ins + 4

AES3 outs

RAVE 160: 16 analog outs RAVE 161: 16 analog ins RAVE 188: 8 analog ins + 8

analog outs

Therefore, the CobraNet™ technology used in a RAVE system employs a regulated, deterministic system of packet timing to ensure consistent and reliable transmission without dropouts or glitches. The RAVE devices on a common network will automatically negotiate the time slots among themselves. For efficiency, the sample data from eight audio channels are grouped together in each packet.

RAVE units will synchronize themselves over the network, and they have BNC connectors on the rear panels for sending sync signals. This allows them to synchronize external digital audio equipment to the RAVE network.

Channel routing

A RAVE network handles routing in groups of eight audio channels, and each group of eight transmitted on the network makes up one network channel. Each RAVE device handles two network channels—two sent, two received, or one of each. For example, a RAVE 161 unit, with 16 analog audio inputs, represents two transmitted groups, and thus two separate network channels; one comprises audio channels 1 through 8—the other, channels 9 through 16.

Similarly, a RAVE 80, with eight AES3 digital outputs, represents two receiving groups (each AES3 channel carries two audio channels). Either one can be configured to receive any network channel—even the same one, if you needed what would essentially be a digital “Y” cable.

A RAVE device that both sends and receives, such as the RAVE 188 (eight analog inputs and 8 analog outputs) or RAVE 88 (4 AES3 inputs and 4 AES3 outputs), transmits one network channel and can receive another. It can receive the same network channel that it transmits, but only if it is connected to a hub or another unit, on a valid network.

Behind a removable cover on the front panel of a RAVE unit are four hexadecimal rotary switches for selecting the network channels of the device’s two groups. The two switches on the left set the address of the device’s first group (channels 1 through 8 on the RAVE 80, 81, 160, and 161; inputs 1 through 8 on the RAVE 88 and 188), while the two on the right set the address of the device’s second group (channels 8 through 16 on the RAVE 80, 81, 160, and 161; outputs 1 through 8 on the RAVE 88 and 188). Detailed instructions on setting network channel numbers follow later in the Operation chapter.

II. Network Design

There are several ways to configure a RAVE network, from very simple to relatively complex. The number of RAVE units in the network, where they are located, and your future expansion plans will determine what net topology would be best. The same techniques you would use in designing a conventional 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet will assist you in designing a RAVE network.

RAVE units can use unshielded twisted pair wiring, but it must be at least Category 5 (or CAT-5, for short) quality. Anything less may cause unreliable operation of the network, if it runs at all. Fortunately, most new Ethernet cable installations in buildings use Category 5 cable.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY EXAMPLES

Two nodes with a direct cable connection

Advantages: very low cost; very high reliability; simple to implement Disadvantages: limited to 100 meters (328 feet) total network size; no expandability; uses non-standard

wiring of RJ-45 connectors on Ethernet cable

The simplest and most direct RAVE network comprises two RAVE units connected by a single crossover cable. This network has only one segment, so the 100-meter limit applies to the segment and thus to the entire network. There are no hardware costs other than

the RAVE units themselves and the cable for the interconnection. Also, there are few potential failure points. However, there is no way to connect additional RAVE units without resorting to adding a hub, and because a crossover cable isn’t usually an off-the-shelf item, you’ll probably have to wire it yourself.

Two nodes with a 100baseTX hub

Advantages: greater network size—up to 200 meters (656 feet); high reliability; readily expandable; uses

standard Ethernet patch cables

Disadvantages: higher cost

This network is similar to the previous one,

but with a hub in between, breaking up the

network into two segments which can each

be up to 100 meters long. Yes, there is the

added expense of a hub, and you are adding

the slight possibility of a hub failure, but the

net media can be simple off-the-shelf patch

cables, and you can easily expand the network by connecting additional nodes to the hub. Astute observers and those who read ahead in the manual will notice that this network configuration is really just a star topology with only two nodes.

Star topology

Advantages: greater network size—up to 200 meters (656 feet); high reliability; readily expandable; uses

standard Ethernet patch cables

Disadvantages: higher cost

Add nodes—i.e., RAVE units—to the previous net layout and you have the classic star topology. This name comes from the hub being at the center and the nodes radiating out from it like the points of a star. It doesn’t matter if the nodes are actually right next to one another while the hub is in another room—it’s still a star topology. You can connect as many RAVE units as there are ports on the hub.

Distributed star topology

Advantages: greater network size; high reliability; readily expandable; uses standard Ethernet patch

cables

Star network topology

Disadvantages: higher cost

What do you do when you have more RAVE units than available hub ports? Add more hubs, of course. Most Fast Ethernet hubs now are stackable, either through an uplink port that lets you connect an additional hub to one already in the network, or through a backplane connection. The resulting network topolgy is called a distributed star, because it is made up of interconnected multiple stars. The maximum UTP cable length from hub to hub, or from hub to RAVE unit, is 100 meters (328 feet).

The example shown on the following page uses three hubs. The maximum size of this particular CobraNet network would be 400 meters (1312 feet), allowing two 100-meter cable runs among the three hubs, plus 100-meter cable runs on the end hubs.

You can expand the distances even further by daisy-chaining more hubs and cable segments. There are technical and practical limits to this strategy; see the section on network limitations for further information.

LONGER DISTANCE THROUGH FIBER

Sometimes a network may span long distances without any practical need for hubs distributed along the way. The computer networking industry, on whom we’re already relying for an economical and rugged transport medium, has an answer to this need also: fiber optics.

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