Studio Technologies 45DC - Manual (Page 15)

Model 45DC User Guide Issue 1, January 2015
Studio Technologies, Inc. Page 15
How to Identify a Specific
Model 45DC
The Dante Controller software application
offers an identify command that can be
used to help locate a specific Model 45DC.
When identify is selected for a specific
unit the SYS and SYNC LEDs on that unit
will together light slowly on and off green.
This makes it a simple task to observe the
selected Model 45DC unit.
Level Meters
The Model 45DC contains four 5-segment
LED level meters. These meters are pro-
vided as a support aid during installation,
configuration, operation, and troubleshoot-
ing. The meters represent the strength of
the audio signals going to and coming
from the two party-line intercom interfaces.
General
Each interface has two meters associated
with it, one represents audio being sent to
the party-line circuit and the other repre-
senting audio coming from the party-line
circuit. The meters are calibrated to reflect
the level in dB relative to the reference
(nominal) level of the party-line circuit. In
the case of the Model 45DC the nominal
level of the party-line was selected to be
–14 dBu since that matches that of the typi-
cal single-channel party-line circuit. (Very
early single-channel Clear-Com systems
had a nominal level of -20 dBu but that’s
no longer true for contemporary units.)
As an example of how the meters function
let’s review the situation where the channel
A TO meter has its bottom three LEDs
(–18, –12, and –6) lit solid and its 0 LED
just barely lighting. This would indicate
that a signal with an approximate level of
–14 dBu is being sent to the associated
party-line intercom circuit. (Also note that
this –14 dBu signal on the party-line in-
tercom circuit will translate to a –20 dBFS
digital audio signal on the Dante interface.
This is due to Studio Technologies select-
ing –20 dBFS as the reference (nominal)
level for Dante.)
Each level meter contains four green LEDs
and one yellow LED. The four green LEDs
indicate party-line circuit signal levels at or
below –14 dBu. The top LED is yellow and
indicates a signal that is 6 dB or greater
than the –14 dBu nominal level. An audio
signal that causes the yellow LED to light
doesn’t necessarily indicate an excessive
level condition, but it does provide a warn-
ing that at some stage reducing the signal
level may be prudent. Typical operation
with normal signal levels should find the
meters lighting near their 0 point. Signal
peaks may cause the yellow LEDs to flash.
But a yellow LED that lights fully during
normal operation will typically indicate ex-
cessive signal level and/or a configuration
problem with associated Dante-enabled
equipment.
Non-Optimal Signal Levels
If the meters consistently display levels
that are lower or higher than the 0 (refer-
ence) point it’s possible that a configura-
tion issue exists. This would typically be
related to incorrect settings on the equip-
ment connected to the associated Dante
input and output channels. (This situation
is almost impossible to occur if two Model
45DC units were configured “point-to-
point” as no Dante digital audio level
adjustment is provided.) With a digital
matrix intercom system this problem could
be due to an incorrect configuration hav-
ing been made to a specific channel or
port. For example, the RTS ADAM system