BW Broadcast Ariane Encore User Manual

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Summary of Contents for BW Broadcast Ariane Encore

Page 2: Table Of Contents
Contents The Encore Family The Ariane Encore Warranty Safety Front & Rear Panels User Interface Installation & Operation System Configuration Presets Configuration Menu Structure Routing and Block Diagram Technical Specification...
Page 3: The Encore Family
About Encore Welcome to the Encore family! Encore is a modern, high-quality range of products designed around a common hardware and software platform. The Encore family includes: Audio processors § RDS coders § Stereo generators § Rebroadcast receivers § Audio backup devices §...
Page 4 All product-specific settings are contained within the ‘Presets’ menu – providing an automobile radio -like interface which works just as well for profiles in an RDS encoder as it does for settings in an audio processor, a modulation monitor or rebroadcast receiver. The web remote control interface is common across all products, as is the API and the internal language, so it’s simple to interface the whole Encore range of products with your common monitoring and telemetry system.
Page 5: The Ariane Encore
Designed to offer the competitive broadcast a new tool in the arsenal of audio processing, the Ariane Encore is like no other audio processor in the world. Built on the success of the legacy Ariane Sequel, the Ariane Encore is the natural progression of the product, combining its legendary, transparent audio levelling with modern DSP technology.
Page 6: Warranty
Broadcast shall, at its sole discretion, either repair or replace the product. If the warranty claim proves to be justified, the product will be returned to the user. The freight will be paid by BW Broadcast within the first 2 years, thereafter freight will be the responsibility of the customer. Warranty claims other than those indicated above are expressly excluded.
Page 7: Safety
WEEE COMPLIANCE BW Broadcast Ltd is registered with Northern Compliance PCS number WEE/P3438PR/ SCH and has been issued with WEE/FA0268RX as its unique producer ID by the appropriate environment agency. BW Broadcast Ltd full comply with it explicit responsibilities, subject to WEEE Collections Policy outlined in their General Terms and Conditions of Sale, when it sells Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) to B2B customers in the UK and EU.
Page 8 DETAILED SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS: All the safety and operation instructions should be read before the appliance is operated. Retain Instructions: The safety and operating instructions should be retained for future reference. Heed Warnings: All warnings on the appliance and in the operating instructions should be adhered to. Follow instructions: All operation and user instructions should be followed.
Page 9: Front & Rear Panels
Front & Rear Panels The Encore range uses several versions of the front panel, each using similar components and featuring the same method of operation. Headphone OLED displays for Multicolour LED Scroll knob, LED ring and output for high matrixes for level menu system and buttons for control and quality audio...
Page 10 Note: Some connectors on the rear panel are non-functional where appropriate to the product 5 - 2...
Page 11: User Interface
User Interface NAVIGATING Encore products have an intuitive interface based around a pushable scroll knob, surrounded by a ring of LEDs, with a series of buttons. Some products have three buttons, some five and some six. The buttons can be ‘soft keys’, and perform various functions denoted by icons shown adjacent to them in the displays, or may be function-specific - in which case the buttons are illuminated with the following symbols: ONLINE...
Page 12 The icons that can be shown against the softkeys are as follows: If the ‘scroll screen left’ or ‘right’ icons are displayed, this indicates that there are additional screens available. Pressing these buttons slides the displays to and from these other screens. ‘Back’...
Page 13 EDITING A PARAMETER To edit a parameter, navigate to it in the menu using the knob - square brackets [ … ] will surround the currently highlighted parameter. Press the knob to select the parameter, then rotate the knob to change it. Changes happen immediately as you turn the knob;...
Page 14: Installation & Operation
Installation & Operation Ariane Encore is extremely versatile, and be used in a number of ways: As a pre-processor before a multiband broadcast audio processor; § As protection before a studio-transmitter link; § As a processor for a webstream; §...
Page 15 OFFLINE buttons operate a hardware bypass in the Ariane Encore. As this bypass is via relays which are ON when the unit is powered and online, if power to the unit fails, it will still pass audio. Beware, though! If your audio is fed to the Ariane Encore via the analog inputs and the...
Page 16 The DB-9 ‘GPIO’ connector is used for preset switching and/or to interface with other remote control equipment or telemetry. The RJ-45 Ethernet connector allows the Ariane Encore to be controlled over a network using the built-in web interface. TCP/IP network settings are contained in the system|communications menu.
Page 17 The metering being in AGC mode is indicated by the illumination of the red ‘AGC’ status LED to the upper right of the metering grid. The Ariane Encore’s AGC metering mode directly indicates gain in the unit’s eight individual AGC bands. The amount of gain is indicated by the number of LEDs that are lit.
Page 18 The frequency bands are, from top to bottom: High (B4), HiMid (B3), LoMid (B2), Low (B1) The lower four rows indicate L–R (Matrix mode) or the right channel (Stereo or Dual Mono modes), from top to bottom: High (B4), HiMid (B3), LoMid (B2), Low (B1) 7 - 5...
Page 19 THE SYSTEM MENU This menu contains all the fundamental unit configuration settings, and should be the first place you go after taking the Encore out of its box! These settings are peculiar to the installation, perhaps the transmitter site itself, as opposed to the following ‘Presets’...
Page 20 8.1 AUDIO I/O (Certain menu items are omitted in some products in the Encore range). Within this there are two submenus – ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’. ‘Inputs’ allows you to set the operating level of the unit when referenced to the rest of your installation.
Page 21 MPX 2 source: none mpx in 1* tuner 1 mpx* tuner 2 mpx* mpx generator pilot tone MPX 2 out level: 0dBu to +12dBu** Headphones source: none analog audio digital audio tuner 1 audio tuner 2 audio test tone diversity Headphone level: 0 to 100% For convenience, the headphone source and headphone level settings are duplicated...
Page 22 Source: none analog audio digital audio tuner 1 audio tuner 2 audio diversity test tone Preemphasis: 50uS, 75uS, off. Pilot level: 0 to 12% in 0.1% increments RDS level: 0 to 5% in 0.1% increments Audio clip drive 0 to 12 O-sh compensate drv -3 to 9 (overshoot compensation drive)
Page 23 The other option available in this menu is ‘polarity’ – where you can set each pin to output either active Hi-Z (high impedance) or active low (i.e. connected to 0v). The Events and Triggers port pinouts are: Next is the list of the 8 available events, each of which can perform a variety of actions when triggered.
Page 24 both tuners, so in this case there’s no way the Encore can know when or if the event trigger has ended. When you’re happy with the event setup, return to the top of the event menu, and switch it to ‘active’. Exit from the ‘events’...
Page 25 Encore: Sender: the email address of the Encore, e.g encore- 01@stationname.com Mail method: ‘BW’ to allow the unit to send emails via the BW Broadcast monitoring system; ‘SMTP’ if you wish to send the emails via your own SMTP server;...
Page 26 This submenu shows values of current hardware parameters: PSU voltage; PSU current; PSU power; fan voltage; fan state; temperature; plus fan speed control – which should be left set to ‘auto’ unless otherwise advised by a BW Broadcast support technician.
Page 27: Presets Configuration
Presets Configuration …and processing setup. 9.1 THE ‘PRESETS’ MENU The Ariane Encore features 10 factory presets, and up to 10 user presets. The factory presets can be used as a starting point in creating your own customised user preset. The presets are accessed as follows: From the home screen, highlight the ‘presets’...
Page 28 If multiple statuses are active, the priority is: A, S, *, In addition, in this screen, softkey 2 shows the symbol. Pressing this will display extra information about the highlighted preset, such as and date/time the preset was created and last used. The factory presets cannot be overwritten, however they may be used as good starting points for you to create your own presets, which can then be saved in one of the user preset locations.
Page 29 Once you have acquainted yourself with the physical layout and the system configuration of the Ariane Encore , you’re ready to customise the unit’s settings. We recommend you first load one of the factory presets, then adjust the parameters inside that preset to suit your needs.
Page 30 The unit’s basic processing adjustments are the IDR, Gate, Release and Mix settings, which are common to all three modes. They set up the general static operating parameters which the Ariane Encore will use to determine how best to dynamically control your audio.
Page 31 9.2.5 RELEASE The Release Time adjustment sets how quickly the Ariane Encore will add gain to the incoming audio signals that fall in the area below the lower threshold of the window but above the Gate threshold. The adjustment is from 1 to 10, with 1 being more aggressive, and 10 being very open and natural.
Page 32 –25 or even lower, and typical background noise is not a problem. But should the traffic rumble go above the Gate threshold it would be considered by the Ariane Encore to be valid audio, and could potentially be increased nearly to the level of the other audio.
Page 33 (Relevant in Matrix mode only) While independent multiband control of the L–R signal adds to the uniqueness of the Ariane Encore, good taste and decorum dictates that there be a way to precisely limit the amount of enhancement. The maximum amount of dynamic positive gain of the L–R...
Page 34 L–R processing. 9.2.12 PROTECTION PEAK LIMITING The Ariane Encore has a built-in lookahead limiter before its output for protection purposes. Its threshold is adjustable from 0dBfs down to –10dBfs via the menu...
Page 35 Ariane Encore processing algorithm will let your audio shine! By using the Ariane Encore in one of the default settings, with possibly a few tweaks, you are in the best position to use your following processors to their fullest capabilities to modulate loudly, but openly.
Page 36 It makes it easier for the operator to mix, and much less obtrusive to control. 9.3.4 REALITY CHECK If possible, take time to listen to your Ariane Encore by itself, to familiarise yourself with the way it works on different material. Much of the time, you may not even notice it is there.
Page 37 If you hear such effects in your processing chain, it is highly unlikely the sound is coming from the Ariane Encore! 9.4 FACTORY PRESETS DESCRIPTION Here, in all their splendour, are the factory processing presets included with your Ariane Encore, arranged by Matrix, Stereo and Dual Mono modes.
Page 38 F6 Stereo Bigger Let go of the stereo coupling, and you have an AGC very similar in approach to a set of two Texar Audio Prisms. We ran up the release and IDR controls to set it loose, and added some low end and a touch on the highs. CHR and Oldies formats might want to try this one on for size! F7 Stereo Purity If you are looking for a seamless, unnoticed AGC for quality-conscious music formats, this...
Page 39: Menu Structure
Menu Structure PRESETS > matrix default matrix bigger matrix classic matrix purity stereo default stereo bigger stereo purity d mono default d mono talk d mono purity U1…U10 user presets [each preset contents identical] MODE > (stereo/matrix/dual mono) XOVER > hp filter (off/20Hz/30Hz/40Hz/50Hz/60Hz) b1-2 xover freq...
Page 40 PRESETS > PRESET > AGC cont… > channel coupling (off/15dB – 0dB) b2-1 coupling (off/15dB – 0dB) b3-4 coupling (off/15dB – 0dB) b1 release (1-10) b2 release (1-10) b3 release (1-10) b4 release (1-10) b1 mix (-5dB - +5dB) b2 mix (-5dB - +5dB) b3 mix (-5dB - +5dB)
Page 41 SYSTEM > AUDIO I/O cont… > OUTPUTS > an output level l (-12 - +22dBu) an output level r (-12 - +22dBu) headphone level (0-100%) SCHEDULER > [to be included in an imminent release] SCHEDULE (1…8) (never/once/repeat) days (su/mo/tu/we/th/fr/sa/smtwtfs/mtwtf/ss) start time (hh:mm:ss) valid from (dd:mm:yyyy) [default- current date]...
Page 42 mail method (bw/smtp) smtp server (BW/SMTP) authenticated (yes/no) smtp password test SYSTEM > COMMUNICATIONS > EMAIL cont…> recipient (admin/user1/user2/user3) sent test test WEB REMOTE > active (off/on) port SNMP > enable (off/on) port community read only (off/on) name description TELNET > active (off/on) port...
Page 43: Routing And Block Diagram
Routing & Block Diagram Please see below for an audio, RF and RDS data routing diagram. This can help you understand the enormous capabilities of the Encore family of products! 11 - 1...
Page 44 11 - 2...
Page 45: Technical Specification
Technical Specification Encore family specifications. Certain parameters are irrelevant in some products. TUNER (Dual) Inputs 2 x 50 ohm, BNC female Tuning range 65-108MHz in 50kHz or 100kHz steps IF bandwidth 56kHz - 311kHz dynamic or fixed De-emphasis 75µs, 50µs or Off SNR (Mono/Stereo) -79dB / -60dB THD (Mono/ Stereo)
Page 46 This manual was written by Andy Linton. © BW Broadcast Ltd. 2017. E&OE. Encore products are manufactured in the UK by BW Broadcast Ltd. IO Centre, Croydon Road, Croydon, CR0 4WQ, UK. Tel: +44 208 253 0290. US toll-free: 1-866 376 1612.