I. introduction – QSC Audio RAVE 80 User Manual
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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.
Front view of a RAVE 161; other models are simliar
Power LED
Network channel
selector switches
(behind cover)
Network status LEDs
Audio signal level LEDs