Hi! We are potentially looking at upgrading our Midas M32R & DL32 stagebox to a SQ-6 & (2)DX168. Currently we do a single ethernet cable from the stage to the console using the aes50. I am a noob at this and just a church volunteer trying to help. Does it matter that the sample rates are different across the 3 protocols? If so, which one should we do? Or is that setup the best possible way? Would we need anything else besides those 3 things? Thank you and please forgive me as I am trying to learn and understand.
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When you connect a DX168 with an SQ, your console automatically uses the DX protocol.
You donât need to, and canât, change anything about it.
Itâs plug and play. )
Which 3 protocols?
The SQ will work with either the DX168 OR the AB168 boxes. The ethernet cable you have should work, if the 96k of the DX doesnât complain. Definitely get an âarmoredâ Ethercon cable for the cross stage connector.
Oh Interesting. So is that all weâd need, the board, stagebox, we wonât need anything else just the long cable to connect the two, right?
Do you have a good 175â shield cat5e cable? And it for sure has to be ethercon? So the ethercon for the stagebox â console which is up in the balcony. I as getting mixed up in their documentation which showed dSnake as 48khz.
The SQ runs at 96k, the DX boxes run at 96k, and the AB box runs at 48k, and is cheaper. The SQ will auto detect and adapt. The ethercon is just a fitting that goes over a regular ethernet end, which on its own is kind of fragile. If the boxes will be moved, I highly recommend it. I assumed the point of two boxes was to have one on each side of the stage, so the connector cable would be likely to get stepped on occasionally, which is why I suggested âarmoredâ.
Since you mentioned two DX168s, youâll naturally need a second CAT5 cable of the appropriate length (max. 100m) to connect the both each other.
Donât buy it at a shopping mall; instead, get a reputable and reliable cable from a specialist audio equipment retailer.
If your Midas installation was done professionally, the existing CAT5e (or higher) cable should be perfectly suitable.
And yes, itâs definitely advantageous if these cables are equipped with EtherCon connectors.
It can be confusing when you first start looking into all the different protocols that A&H has. Just keep in mind that the protocols have evolved over time and each new protocol has generally offered more capacity. A&H didnât design all of these protocols at the same time. The Dsnake protocol runs at 48k because A&H didnât have any 96k devices when it was first released. Then A&H came up with the DX protocol when they started offering 96k devices. But that protocol isnât designed for high channel counts, so they also have the GIgaAce protocol for situations that need high channel count transfers, etc, etc, etc.
The SLink port on your console is actually a multi-protocol port. There is no SLink protocol itself. Instead the port will automatically change to use whatever protocol (Dsnake, ME, DX, or GigaAce) the device being plugged in uses. However, there is obviously only one port and it can only use one protocol at a time. If you plug in an older AR/AB stage box that uses the Dsnake protocol, the SLink port will communicate with that box using the Dsnake protocol. If you plug in a newer stage box that uses DX or GigaAce, the SLink port will switch to the appropriate protocol.
The SLink port on the console can only use one protocol at a time. Generally speaking this means you cannot mix and match devices that use different protocols. However, some of the stage boxes offered by A&H have internal electronics that do allow you to plug in other devices and daisy chain them off the âmasterâ stagebox. For example, some of the older Dsnake stage boxes have a ME port on them that allows you to connect ME Personal Monitors to the stage box. The GX4816 uses GigaAce to communicate with the console, but it also allows both DX stage boxes and ME Personal Monitors to be plugged into the GX4816. The stage box handles the conversion of that data and sends it to the console over the GigaAce protocol.
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Oh very interesting. Thank you for this wealth of knowledge!
Gotcha, okay thank you! I will try to find a decent one!
Gotcha, they will be in the same spot. Our stage wiring is meh, and so everything just goes to the front corner behind a wall. But we noticed the last place we hired charged us $1500 to run an ethernet cable.. And the ethernet cable isnât even an ethercon and its very thin, and weâve been having a lot of audio drop outs, like complete audio signal lost or whatever during our services for like 1-2 second at a time. My thought was itâs potentially the cable.
With the Behringer and Midas mixers and stage boxes you need to use end to end shielded cat cable with Ethercon connectors, if not you will have the issues of drop outs. Ethercon connectors on non shielded cable still will not work well.
Good news is the Allen Heath D snake does not require end to end shield and I have seen some nasty cat cable that works with out issues on Allen Heath QU and SQ mixers and stage boxes.
Ethercon connectors / shells can be put on over RJ45 connectors.
$1500 to run a cable some distance may be in line if it is an old building with no direct path from point A to point B.
In Fact, you have several Options to connect two stage Boxes to an SQ.
Easiest Way is to âdaisy Chainâ the A&H Stageboxes. You can for example connect a AR2412 (48 kHz) to the SQ and an AB168 (also 48 kHz) to the AR2412. Same thing can be done with two AB168 or DX168 and there are several more Options.
Alernatively you can insert an Interface Card into the SQ and connect second/more stageboxes there. IIRC there are Cards for Dante, SLink, AES50 and a Bunch of other Protocols. That will be more flexible but also more expensive and require a second cable from the mixing desk to the 2nd stagebox.
As ist comes to cables:
Connectors on the SQ and Stageboxes are Standard Ethercon sockets. Basically, can plug in any CAT5, CAT6 or CAT7 Ethernet Cable with bare RJ45 or Ethercon Connectors there.
As long as you keep your Ethernet wires inside your Mixing Rack or just have to bridge over short distances (for example to a floor tank with a Ethernet Installation that can be patched from stage to FoH without bringing in a long wire yourself) Standard Cat5/6/7 Ethernet Cables may just do the Job (and can easily be exchanged if they break).
But if you have to go over longer distances, move your equipment around or have cables at places someone may step on them or other mechanical influences may happen, you donât want to use Office Cables for that. You then definitely want cable drums containing double- to triple-shielded âroad readyâ Twisted Pair Cable with PUR Mantling and Ethercon connectors. That may be a little heavier, more expensive and not as flexible but it definitely will stay much longer in the field and it will give you much less pain on outages of all kinds including electromagnetic noise disturbances (due to better shielding). If you buy a new one, at least choose Cat6 which should have much better shielding and can be used for Gigabit Ethernet, too. The Price difference is completely ridiculous compared to the stress it reduces even when avoiding a single failure detection action under typical Gig time pressure.
Before anyone gets their hopes up too soon: AES50 is unfortunately not available.