The Sonifex range of Dante commentary units grows with the addition of the AVN-CU1, a simple-to-use, single microphone/headphone combination with a full feature set and a low price point.
The headphone amplifier has five inputs – three talkback channels, programme and sidetone, each with an individual potentiometer for level control. Audio output routing is controlled by illuminated pushbuttons. An OLED display is used for setting up and configuration, and a high-impact LED bar graph shows metering in daylight.
The unit has redundant Primary and Secondary Dante network ports on EtherCON RJ45s as well as two SFP transceiver ports and is powered by dual PoE or a 12V DC input.
On the top control panel, potentiometers determine the mix levels of the five sources into the user’s headphones – Sidetone, Programme, and Talkback A, B and C. Each potentiometer (except for sidetone) is accompanied by an illuminated pushbutton which routes the mic/line input to the relevant Dante output (On Air, T/B A, T/B B & T/B C). The GPIO button can be used to call for technical help, identify users, or for custom remote functions. Pushbuttons have removable caps, allowing the text to be changed for a specific application. Each potentiometer is accompanied by a three-position toggle switch to route audio to the left, right or both channels of the headphone output. A scribble pad spans all buttons to allow quick and easy source or destination labelling.
An OLED display facilitates configuration and status indication (Clock, Link, PoE and DC), and also indicates the active metering scale of the bar graph meter (dBFS/VU). A rotary encoder is used to enter and navigate the menu and to make adjustments to settings, while a curved LED bar graph meter shows audio output level indicator (user selectable VU or dBFS scale).
RGB LED downlighting under the base of the unit indicates status (eg on-air), or can provide decorative lighting.
Setting up and control is via an internal web server. User selectable options include mic preamp gain, pushbutton mode/colour and metering scale.
The AoIP audio connection to the AVN-CU1 is made using either the RJ45 sockets or their associated SFP interfaces. Ember+ is used as the communication protocol for data exchange between units, with Dante Controller used to configure the four audio sources to be mixed to the headphone output – the main mono programme feed (PGM), and three mono talkback sources (T/B A/B/C).
The processed mic/line input is transmitted on four Dante channels – mono audio is routed when the On Air button is active, while the Talkback option routes mono audio to each of the three talkback destinations when the corresponding T/B button is illuminated. Activating any talkback output temporarily deactivates the on-air output, which returns once the talkback is deactivated.
