Do you have a question about the MobileConnect and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers
Kiran Vyas
May 9, 2025
Hi There,
I'd like to request the possible methods to integrate Mobile connect logs to a SIEM.
Please guide how to configure the logging at Mobile connect to send the logs to a Syslog server, or write the log files to a particular location.
Thanks,
Kiran
Increasing the number of clients per ConnectStation (In- tegrated Mode) 18 Requirements/Recommendations towards your network (Integrated Mode) 19 Traffic Structure to expect with a MobileConnect/Ci- nemaConnect installation 20 Important recommendations towards WiFi 21 General network requirements 21 Switches, Access Points and QoS 22...
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Discovery via hostname “sennheiser-connect” 28 Discovery via hostname “local.connect” 28 DHCP and DNS Search Domains 28 Setting a single Search Domain with DHCP Option 15 Setting multiple Search Domains 29 WiFi planning 30 WiFi coverage 30 Antenna pattern Ruckus Zoneflex 7273 30...
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Connecting to the Internet for service and support ac- cess 80 Troubleshooting 81 Apps 81 Mobile device does not see the MobileConnect/Cine- maConnect WiFi (Standalone Mode) 81 MobileConnect/CinemaConnect WiFi is visible but mobile device does not connect 81 Mobile device is frequently disconnecting from Mobi-...
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The admin interface cannot be accessed or shows “Configuration problem” 86 The user enters a wrong static IP for LAN2 in Integra- ted Mode 86 A ConnectStation cannot join or rejoin a cluster in In- tegrated Mode 86 Client Balancing or Client Monitoring are not visible on the admin interface page 86...
Product overview Product overview MobileConnect - Sennheiser's WiFi based system for your venue that en- ables low-latency transmission of audio content to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. With our real time audio streaming server and the MobileConnect App, you can easily provide assistive listening for hea- ring impaired, audio description for blind people, interpretation channels or audio for silent screens to your venue as well as movie subtitles.
Features Features Bring your own device ► The streaming system adheres to the “bring your own device” (BYOD) phi- losophy. That means that all the people in the audience can use their own smartphones as receivers with their own headphones, and do not need any additional hardware.
Components Components The MobileConnect system consists of these components. ConnectStation The ConnectStation is the central unit for integrating different audio streams and transmitting them vie WiFi access points to any personal mo- bile device.
MobileConnect App ► Available for iOS / Android – and for free. The MobileConnect App is easy to use and convenient for everyone. It is fully compatible with iOS and And- roid accessibility modes where visual impairment support is required. Its...
Components Access Point (optional) ► The Ruckus WiFi Access Point is used for wireless transmission of the au- dio signals to the users‘ personal devices. It is only necessary if the system is used in Standalone Mode. The access point is only delivered with the +WiFi country variants (see "Country variants").
The following sections can help you with your system planning. You will find Information on the following topics. A list of country variants of the MobileConnect and CinemaConnect sys- tems including the delivery contents of the different variants. See "Country variants"...
Before purchasing you can refer to the list of country variants to find the system suitable for you. Country variants for Standalone Mode ▷ Select your country variant: ► MobileConnect +WiFi EU Article no. 506733 MobileConnect +WiFi UK Article no. 506734 MobileConnect +WiFi US Article no. 506735 CinemaConnect +WiFi EU Article no.
Country variants Country variants for Integrated Mode Select your country variant: ▷ ► MobileConnect EU Article no. 506888 MobileConnect UK Article no. 506889 MobileConnect US Article no. 506890 CinemaConnect EU Article no. 506885 CinemaConnect UK Article no. 506886 CinemaConnect US Article no.
Network integration Network integration The MobileConnect&CinemaConnect product can be used as a standalone system or can be integrated in your existing network infrastructure. To choose the most suitable configuration please read this section carefully. Selecting the network mode The ConnectStation allows for two different network modes. The mode is selected during initial setup of the ConnectStation in the Admin Interface.
Network integration Standalone Mode Standalone Mode is the easiest to configure if you do not need the ConnectStation to integrate into an existing WiFi infrastructure. Any Ru- ckus Access Point connected to LAN1 is considered to be the “delivery sub- net”, and is assumed to be there for the sole purpose of delivering the streams of a single ConnectStation.
Network integration Using multiple Access Points ► ▷ Instead of a single AP, you can add up to 8 APs via an external network switch to extend the range of the delivery WiFi. ▷ The APs can be associated and configured via the administration inter- face of the ConnectStation.
Network integration Increasing the number of clients per ConnectStati- on (Standalone Mode) In order to increase the number of clients per ConnectStation: ▷ Add two or more Access Points via LAN1 (see "Using multiple Access Points"). This is necessary in order to ensure the quality of the audio. A single AP cannot provide low latency unicast audio stream to 100 liste- ners.
Sennheiser does not implement or provide the Network structure and components for this implementation mode (network integrati- on). MobileConnect will be included into an existing network struc- ture. To ensure network functionality, please keep your responsible IT department, consultant, supplier or administrator involved in all steps of...
Network integration Increasing the number of clients per ConnectStati- on (Integrated Mode) In order to increase the number of clients per ConnectStation in Integrated Mode: ▷ Make sure that your network and WiFi infrastructure can handle the in- creased number of clients. Otherwise enabling more clients may lead to audio and connectivity problems for all listeners.
The following application note on the Sennheiser website gives a short and comprehensive overview of the network requirements: Application Note Network Requirements in Integrated Mode (PDF)
3. Service Discovery, Registration and Control Connection WiFi Clients with the MobileConnect/CinemaConnect App will use a dis- covery method as described above, and cause some registration traffic via http on port 8000, and keep a TCP control connection open in the 8000- 9000 range.
Network integration Important recommendations towards WiFi With the Access Points delivered with the MobileConnect/CinemaConnect System (Ruckus ZF7372), we’ve seen the best results with 40MHz channel width in the 5GHz bands, but 20MHz on 2.4GHz. In order to ensure best possible streaming quality, we recommend to have...
Network integration Switches, Access Points and QoS 1. Use Quality Equipment We strongly recommend to use enterprise-grade switches and WiFi equip- ment and keep a close eye on the delivery of our data especially when the installation needs to support a large amount of simultaneous listeners. 2.
Network integration Cluster discovery (Integrated Mode) When integrating multiple ConnectStations into a network, they need a way to find each other to set up the cluster. There are two options: 1. Explicit server selection via DNS SRV records 2. Automatic discovery by multicast announcements (with the opti- on to override the default multicast address and port) Order of methods for Cluster Discovery The discovery process follows a strict order:...
Network integration Explicit server selection You can explicitly set any of 1, 3 or 5 ConnectStation(s) as a server for your cluster. For that purpose, create a SRV record for _cnct._tcp pointing to the IP (or, if set in your DNS, hostname) for each of the ConnectStations you want to select as a server.
Network integration Overriding the default multicast group address and port for multicast an- nouncements You can override the default multicast group address and port for announ- cements by adding a _cnct._udp SRV entry into your DNS. ConnectStations will then use the specified address/port for cluster discovery via multicast announcement (as well as for Client’s Discovery).
Service discovery (Integrated Mode) Similar to the discovery process between the ConnectStations, the smart- phone clients running our MobileConnect/CinemaConnect App (“the App”) need a way to find at least one ConnectStation in your network. The pro- cess is roughly similar to the cluster discovery described above, except the DNS SRV records are accompanied with a single PTR record to adhere to the DNS-SD specification more closely.
Network integration Example: 1. Let‘s assume that you want to register a cluster of three ConnectSta- tions in your DNS. They discover each other with any of the Cluster Dis- covery methods described above. 2. Your DHCP hands out IP addresses to the ConnectStations connected via their LAN2 port- we’ll assume they are: 192.168.0.101, 192.168.0.102 and 192.168.0.103.
Discovery via hostname “local.connect” The final service discovery was used by ConnectStation releases prior to 3.0.0 supported mainly for legacy installations. Similar to the “sennheiser- connect” hostname, a single ConnectStation serves as the entry point for Apps. It has to be registered with hostname “local” under the top-level do- main “.connect”.
Windows-based clients seem to ignore any domain after the first entry in this list. On Android, our Apps (MobileConnect and CinemaConnect) correctly use the full list of search domains passed via Option 15 to look up PTR and SRV records.
Network integration WiFi planning Please observe the following information when planning the WiFi setup of the ConnectStation for Standalone Mode. The same recommendations can also be taken into consideration for WiFi planning with different Access Points or in Integrated Mode. WiFi coverage The system‘s WiFi coverage is determined by the access point, the recep- tion quality of the connected devices and the environmental conditions.
Network integration WiFi Design For designing the WiFi system, please observe the following steps: ▷ Define the number of access points (max. 50 clients per each Ruckus ZoneFlex 7372 AP recommended). ▷ Determine the room size, shape and RF conditions of the facility. The best performance is achieved: ▷...
Planning audio level and latency Planning audio level and latency The latency and audio quality of the entire system depend on the audio si- gnal coming from the audio source and the mobile device used. For the lo- west possible latency and the best possible audio quality please consider the following information.
Planning audio level and latency List of tested mobile devices To provide a quantitative and qualitative scale on the performance of the system, we measured the performance of our system in combination with various smartphones. Latencies may vary in reality depending on installed software of the respective device and reception strength within the facility.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) For US installations/usage, please refer to the ADA information provided below. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA prohibits discrimination and includes provisions to accom- modate hard of hearing people.
Installation and configuration The following sections will give you an overview on how to install and con- figure the MobileConnect or CinemaConnect system. You will find Informa- tion on the following topics. A hardware overview of the ConnectStation including all sockets and connectors and how to use them.
ConnectStation hardware overview ConnectStation hardware overview Product overview - front ► Status LEDs System is booting up or shutting down System is running System is switched off There is a warning Alert: there is a fatal error Mains power switch ▷...
Installation Installation For connecting the ConnectStation to the mains power supply and for connecting audio signals, see "Power and audio cabling". For establishing the network connection of the ConnectStation see "Net- work cabling".
Installation Power and audio cabling For the product overview of the ConnectStation also see "ConnectStation hardware overview". Connecting/Disconnecting the ConnectStation to/from the mains power supply To connect the ConnectStation to the mains power supply: ▷ Connect the IEC connector of the supplied mains cable to the mains so- cket.
Installation Connecting audio signals The ConnectStation offers various possibilities to connect audio signals. AUDIO BREAKOUT: For connecting audio signals to the 15-pin Sub-D socket please observe the following pin allocation: ► ConnectStation Cable ► Line In Left - Line In Left + Line In Right - Line In Right + Line Out Left -*...
Installation ANALOG IN: Four analog jack inputs are available. ► Stereo audio Note: Stereo audio is disabled by default. To enable and configure stereo streaming please go to the Audio Inputs ▷ section of the admin interface (see "Access and initial configuration"). For stereo audio you have to combine two mono audio inputs.
Enter the user name and password to login. ▷ • Default user name: admin • Default password: sennheiser ▷ Follow the instructions in the Admin Interface to perform the initial se- tup of the ConnectStation. For detailed information on configuring the system refer to the "Con-...
Configuration guide Configuration guide This configuration guide will give you details on how to configure the entire system using the Admin Interface. For information on how to access the Admin Interface see "Access and initial configuration". Getting started To start configuring the system: ▷...
Configuration guide Standalone Mode This section provides a detailed configuration guide for the MobileConnect and CinemaConnect system in Standalone Mode. Setup To configure the system in Standalone Mode: ► ▷ Select Set Standalone and proceed with the initial system setup.
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Configuration guide ▷ Select your country from the dropdown menu and click Set country (this will affect the Access Point configuration). ► This setting can be modified only with a factory reset (see "Factory reset"). ▷ You can scan for an Access Point connected to the ConnectStation (see "Standalone Mode"...
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Configuration guide ► ▷ Click Start Scan, wait until an Access Point is found and select Add. You can add up to 8 Access Points (see "Using multiple Access Points" in section "Standalone Mode"). ► Make sure the Access Point is connected to the LAN1 socket of the ConnectStation (see "Standalone Mode"...
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Configuration guide ▷ Once the Access Point is added successfully it is shown as Associa- ted: ► To manually add a known Access Point please provide the IP address ▷ of the Access Point: ► ▷ Click Finish to finalize the Standalone Mode setup. ►...
Configuration guide System Overview The System Overview page gives the user basic information about the system such as the following. Resetting the password. ▷ ► ▷ Finding the model, serial number, software system release and current status of the system. Checking the self-status notification to find errors in the system confi- ▷...
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Configuration guide ▷ Performing a factory reset. • This will reset the system to factory defaults. Your configuration will be lost. ► ▷ Increasing the number of clients. • The default number of clients per ConnectStation is 50, while a ma- ximum of 100 is supported.
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Configuration guide ▷ Connect 2 or more Access Points via the Wifi page. See "WiFi" in the "Standalone Mode" section of the "Configuration guide". ► When the number of clients per ConnectStation is increased to 100, a client limit is set on the Access Point: ►...
Configuration guide Network The Network page allows the user to modify the network configuration. ► In Standalone Mode the Network Interface 1 (LAN1 socket of the ▷ ConnectStation) cannot be modified. ▷ Connect your Ruckus Access Point to this socket. In Standalone Mode the Network Interface 2 (LAN2 socket of the...
Ruckus Access Points. Up to 8 Access Points can be added for a single ConnectStation (see "Standalone Mode" in section "Network integration"). ► The Access Point is pre-configured to the SSID MobileConnect or Cine- maConnect, depending on your hardware variant. You can modify these settings here.
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Configuration guide WiFi recommendations: If more than one Access Point is used, make sure that they use channels which do not overlap. At 2.4 GHz, you can use channels 1, 5, 9, and 13 with a bandwidth of 20 MHz (13 is not available in some countries).
Configuration guide Integrated Mode This section provides a detailed configuration guide for the MobileConnect and CinemaConnect system in Integrated Mode. Setup ► When you are adding ConnectStations to an existing cluster you will be as- ked for the cluster password. Once it is entered, the intial setup will be skipped (as it was already performed for the cluster).
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Configuration guide ▷ First, change the password: ► This setting can be modified later or recovered with a factory reset (see "Factory reset"). Under Cluster Status you will find information about the ConnectStation cluster. In Integrated Mode, you can connect one or more ConnectStations in one cluster.
Configuration guide System Overview Click on Overview to access the Cluster Overview page. ► You can perform the following actions here: ▷ Resetting the password (applies to all ConnectStations in the cluster). ▷ Finding the cluster status, mode and a list of all ConnectStations which are connected in the cluster.
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Configuration guide ▷ Click on the name of a ConnectStation to open a specific overview for that ConnectStation: ► You can perform the following actions here: ▷ Finding the model, serial number, software system release and current status of the system. ▷...
Configuration guide ▷ Increasing the number of clients • The default number of clients per ConnectStation is 50, while a ma- ximum of 100 is supported. A minimum of two Access Points is requi- red to support 100 clients. • Before increasing the number of clients, read the information provi- ded under "Increasing the number of clients per ConnectStation (Standalone Mode)".
Configuration guide Network The Network page allows the user to modify the network configuration. ► ▷ In Integrated Mode the Network Interface 1 (LAN1 socket of the ConnectStation) is disabled. ▷ In Integrated Mode the Network Interface 2 (LAN2 socket of the ConnectStation) is used for cluster connectivity and for distribution of the audio streams.
The following configuration section applies to both Standalone and Integ- rated Mode. App Interface You can configure the text that is shown in the MobileConnect and Cine- maConnect Apps when the users connect to the network. ► German, English, Spanish and French are the four default languages of the ConnectStation.
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Configuration guide The text and title configured here will then appear in the MobileConnect and CinemaConnect Apps connected to the WiFi. ► ▷ For the channel list configuration see next section Channel Groups.
Configuration guide Channel Groups You can configure how the channels are displayed in the MobileConnect and CinemaConnect Apps. ► In Standalone Mode the maximum number of channels is 4. In Integ- rated Mode it depends on the number of ConnectStations in the clus- ter.
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Configuration guide You can rename the channel titles: ► This is how the renamed channel is displayed in the App: ►...
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Configuration guide Channels can be organized in groups: • you can add a group • you can modify the group title • you can add channels to the groups by dragging them into the group container ► ► For more information on how to drag and drop click the ? button in the Admin Interface.
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Configuration guide You can use headlines to add additional text above the channels: ► This is how the headline is displayed in the App: ►...
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Configuration guide You can remove a channel from the active list by selecting the channel and clicking on the - icon. ► ▷ Click Apply to save the changes. Channels greyed out in the active list are not enabled in the audio in- puts (see "Audio Inputs"...
Configuration guide Protected Channels To set a password for a channel or channel-group click on the Channel Groups section in the admin interface. With a click on the channel or chan- nel-group you can set a password in the password field. Don’t forget to click on the Apply-Button on the left side to activate the password.
Configuration guide Client Monitoring With Client Monitoring it is possible to analyze the number of connected clients over the last 12 months and the current number of users listening to each channel in realtime. This enables you to monitor the workload of your ConnectStation's and even to measure the marketing efforts for Mobile- Connect.
Configuration guide Audio Inputs In the Audio Inputs section you can configure the audio inputs. Make sure that all audio cables are connected before proceeding with the configuration. ▷ You can increase the input sensitivity (for analog inputs only). You can select the input connector (SPDIF or AES). ▷...
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Configuration guide ▷ You can configure the streaming channels. ► By default, 4 mono channels are configured with the 4 TRS analog in- puts. You can activate/deactivate channels and change the input sour- Stereo and Automatic Gain Control: ▷ You can enable stereo for individual channels by selecting the stereo box.
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Configuration guide ► Automatic Gain Control can be very useful when the output level has large variations or is usually too small. It increases the volume of low-volume sections without affecting much the high-volume portions. It hence reduces the dynamics of audio, which is not always desirable for music, but is well accepted for speech.
Configuration guide Captions This feature is available for both the CinemaConnect and the Mobile- Connect systems with firmware versions 5.0.0 and higher. You may use LAN2 or LAN3 for providing the captions content. Make sure the network is correctly configured (Gateway address) in case of static configuration. ►...
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Configuration guide The caption channel will be added to the active channel list. For information on how to modify the order or titles of the channels refer to "Channel Groups" above. The captions will be displayed in the channel list in the App: ►...
See "Factory reset" Information on how to reset the password in case you have forgotten it. See "Forgotten password" Information on how to grant the Sennheiser service access to your system for servicing. See "Service access" A troubleshooting guide with information on various topics and how to handle them.
Usage Recommendations Usage Recommendations Powering off the ConnectStation We recommend that the ConnectStations are powered off using the but- ton. Frequency of powering on and off the ConnectStation in Integrated Mode • We recommend that you power on the Connect Stations in a cluster one by one, especially in case of cluster discovery by multicast announce- ments.
Please note: if you want to update multiple ConnectStations, always up- date them one at a time, not at the same time. Download the image here: ▷ www.sennheiser.com/download Store it to a FAT/FAT32 formatted USB device. ▷ ▷ Do not change the name of the update file.
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System update After the update has been installed, the following message is displayed: When the update is completed, remove the USB device. ▷ ► Click on Restart Now to restart the ConnectStation. ▷ ► When the update is finished the system will redirect you to the Admin In- terface.
Log into the admin interface with the default login details: • Username: admin • Password: sennheiser ▷ If the admin interface shows that the access point is not getting connected, a hard reset of the access point has to be performed. See below: "Resetting the access point").
Forgotten password Forgotten password If you have forgotten your password for the Admin Interface of the ConnectStation, you need to reset the ConnectStation to the factory set- tings. This will reset all settings of the ConnectStation and the access point. See "Resetting the ConnectStation via USB keyboard".
This is an optional feature, which is only used for service and support. The access to the ConnectStation is only possible when granted by the user. If the user does not grant access, the Sennheiser service team will not have access.
Make sure that the AP 2.4G and 5G lights are either amber or green. ▷ ▷ Make sure you are looking for the correct SSID (default: MobileConnect or CinemaConnect). MobileConnect/CinemaConnect WiFi is visible but mobile device does not connect ▷...
DNS configuration is correct. MobileConnect/CinemaConnect app shows “Client limit has been rea- ched” • The MobileConnect/CinemaConnect app channel list is greyed out and shows the following notification, when trying to select a channel. ► • The Admin interface shows the following notification.
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Troubleshooting ► Consider increasing the client limit and your WiFi infrastructure in or- ▷ der to support more clients. • For Standalone Mode: "Increasing the number of clients per ConnectStation (Standalone Mode)" • For Integrated Mode: "Increasing the number of clients per ConnectSta- tion (Integrated Mode)"...
Make sure that the mobile device's volume is turned up. ▷ Make sure that the mobile device's headphones/loudspeakers are wor- king properly. MobileConnect/CinemaConnect App does provide audio but it is distor- ted or has drop outs ▷ Check the audio source for any interference.
Troubleshooting The audio level is low Check the amplitude of the audio signal in the Input Levels tab on the ▷ Audio Inputs page of the Admin Interface. See "Audio Inputs" in section "General configuration". ▷ Make sure the amplitude is high enough. If it is always lower the -20 dB, increase the sensitivity of the analog audio input from +4 dBu to -10 dBu.
Troubleshooting Integrated Mode The admin interface cannot be accessed or shows “Configuration prob- lem” Make sure you are accessing via the correct IP address. ▷ ▷ In case of the admin interface cannot be accessed via LAN2, check if the lights on the LAN2 port are blinking. If not, remove the network ca- ble, wait 15 seconds and plug it in again.
Need help?
Do you have a question about the MobileConnect and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers
Hi There, I'd like to request the possible methods to integrate Mobile connect logs to a SIEM. Please guide how to configure the logging at Mobile connect to send the logs to a Syslog server, or write the log files to a particular location. Thanks, Kiran