ClearOne RAV 600 Brochure & Specs

John McJunkin
Product Review
RAV 600/900
Teleconferencing titan
Business requires sophisticated communication, and vir-
tually every kind of communication technology has been
adapted and enhanced to accommodate the business
world. Teleconferencing has been practiced for decades,
and the technology that enables it has become quite so-
phisticated. Until recently, however, a would-be purchaser
of teleconferencing equipment had only two options—inex-
pensive lower-quality units or expensive high-end custom-
installed systems. ClearOne Communications, Salt Lake
City, has fi lled the middle niche with its RAV 600/900
audioconferencing systems. These are sophisticated
systems that provide high-quality teleconferencing for a
reasonable price.
COMPONENTS
The center of the RAV (pronounced "rave") system is the
rack-mountable audio mixer to which all other compo-
nents—the mic pods, speakers, telephone lines, Ethernet,
and an RF antenna—connect. The antenna enables com-
munication with a controller interface. The audio mixer also
features connections for recording, playback, external am-
plifi cation, and voice tracking for the control of a motorized
PTZ video camera for videoconferencing. Two internal 15W
amplifi ers drive the speakers, and Bose 161 Articulated
Array speakers are included.
An included wireless RF controller for system operation
during teleconferences allows the call leader to control user
preferences and settings to various degrees and, most
important, to manage calls. ClearOne deliberately chose
to base this controller on a standard telephone keypad,
ClearOne Communications
RAV 900 teleconferencing system
making it intuitive, regardless of a user's technical aptitude.
Its operational range extends to 50ft. from the audio mixer,
more than enough for most applications.
The RAV system features mic pods (two with the RAV
600, three with the RAV 900). Each pod contains three
mic elements that work in concert to provide 360-degree
coverage. The pods are daisy-chained from the mixer with
Cat-5 cables terminated with RJ-45 connectors. The pods
feature a mute button and LED indicators that glow green
when the pod is active and red when muted.
The pair of Bose 161 speakers provides aural output
for the system, driven by the audio mixer's internal 15W
amplifi ers. As with the Cat-5 for the mic pods, speaker
cabling is included.
The fi nal system component is the RAV-Ware software,
which works on Windows systems and provides advanced
system control. Although the system is intended to be
completely functional out of the box, this software enables
extended control over such things as speaker levels,
equalization, and the levels of input and output devices.
The user's computer can interface with the audio mixer via
USB, RS-232, or remotely via LAN.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
The RAV system initially appears to simply be a connected
mixer, controller, mics, and speakers. There is, however,
some pretty high science at work. First, the system uses
what ClearOne calls "adaptive modeling," which actively
"listens" for changes in the boardroom environment. Ex-
amples of such changes would be the cycling on and off of