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BW DSPXmini Encore User Manual

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Summary of Contents for BW DSPXmini Encore

  • Page 2 The Encore Family The DSPXmini Encore Warranty Safety Front & Rear Panels User Interface Installation & Operation System Configuration Presets Configuration Menu Structure Routing and Block Diagram Technical Specification V0.3 Jul 17...
  • Page 3 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 Comprehensive control of every processing parameter is available to the user both from the front panel control system and by remote, web-based control. At a fraction of the size, weight and price of its rivals, the DSPXmini Encore is a small but serious FM processor.

  • 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 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 And 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

    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 DSPXmini Encore can be installed in a number of ways, for example: At a combined studio/transmitter site; § At a studio location before a studio-transmitter link; § At a transmitter site, fed from a studio-transmitter link; §...

  • Page 15: Quick Setup

    The analog audio inputs and outputs are balanced XLR connectors (pin 2 +ve) and can range from peak levels of -10dBu to +24dBu. The menus in the DSPXmini Encore will be used to calibrate the audio levels to suit your facility.
  • Page 16 THE DISPLAYS When the DSPXmini Encore is powered up, the OLED screen will show the ‘home screen’: The three buttons available on the home screen are ‘system’, ‘sleep’ and ‘presets’. The ‘system’ and ‘presets’ menus are described sections 7 and 8 of this manuscript.

  • Page 17: Multiband Agc

    7.2.3 MULTIBAND AGC The first four meters show the gain reduction of the multiband AGC. There is one meter per stereo channel, and the value is that of the largest gain reduction of either left or right channels. Due to this you may see strange results if the L/R input channels are not well balanced in level.

  • Page 18: The System Menu

    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 19 8.1 AUDIO I/O (Certain menu items are omitted in some other 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 20: Mpx Generator

    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 21 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 22 off/on Traffic Programs carried; music/speech Optional parameter; ptyrds: Program type for rds (non-US) standard; ptyrbds: Program type for rbds (US) standard; ptyn: Optional extra pty name; Radio Text – 64-character field; Alternative frequencies. In an imminent firmware release, dynamic RDS will be implemented, to allow controlled changing of the station name (PS), the RT data and switching of the TA flag.
  • Page 23 Next is the list of the 8 available events, each of which can perform a variety of actions when triggered. Please highlight and select one of the events. To set up an event: 1. For now, leave the ‘active’ setting ‘off’. 2.
  • Page 24 Exit from the ‘events’ menu by repeatedly pressing ‘back’ until you reach the home screen. 8.5 TIME This menu allows you to set the unit’s time and date, or if it has network access to an ntp server, to use that. The following parameters can be accessed: uptime: A display of the time, in hours, minutes and seconds that the...
  • Page 25 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; (if ‘SMTP’ is selected, further settings will appear allowing you to specify the name of this server, it’s authentication method and if necessary the...

  • Page 26: Restart And Factory Reset

    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 9.1 THE PRESETS MENU The DSPXmini 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: Loading A Preset

    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 OK with that. The factory presets present a useful starting point – you can quite happily get your DSPXmini Encore on the air using one. However, you may become emboldened enough to want to modify the presets and tailor the sound exactly how you’d like.
  • Page 30 9.2 INTRODUCTION TO AUDIO PROCESSING Most audio processors use a combination of compression, limiting and clipping to 'funnel' the dynamic range down, reducing the peak to average ratio in each stage. A cascaded arrangement of compressor, limiter and clipper produces the best results. The first stage of processing usually operates in a slow manner, the processing getting progressively faster and more aggressive as the audio passes through the chain.

  • Page 31: Source Material Quality

    Encore processing. 9.2.6 PRE-EMPHASIS If you are using the DSPXmini Encore to process for FM broadcast you will need to enable the pre-emphasis system in the DSPXmini Encore. Even though your STL or transmitter may contain pre-emphasis, we recommend disabling it - letting the DSPXmini Encore handle the pre-emphasis for the transmission system.
  • Page 32 The exception to this rule is when the DSPXmini Encore is feeding discrete left and right outputs to a compressed audio STL. Bitrate reduction codecs do not cope with pre- emphasis very gracefully and artefacts will be generated. The best option in this case is to de-emphasise the output of the DSPXmini Encore prior to the STL system.
  • Page 33 Stereo encoder: The DSPXmini Encore's DSP stereo encoder takes its inputs after peak processing. The stereo encoder is highly over-sampled and offers superb stereo performance. A composite clipping function is provided for those who wish to use it, as well as a pilot protection filter.
  • Page 34 9 - 8...
  • Page 35 Each preset menu allows access to all of the processing blocks that make up the DSPXmini Encore. There are further sub-menus inside each ‘preset’ menu. The submenus follow the signal path through the DSPXmini Encore, as shown in the block diagram above.
  • Page 36 -3dB to +3dB of level adjustment is available. The 'Clipper' menu contains the clipping controls that form the final peak limiting stages of the DSPXmini Encore: Bassclip: Controls the clip level of the mix of Bands 1 and 2. The clip level range is -6dB to 0dB referenced to the main clipper’s output level.
  • Page 37 DSPXmini Encore’s final clipping system. The range of the multi-band clipping control is 1 to 10. Setting this control to 1 virtually defeats the process, while higher numbers will progressively work on reducing the distortion and keeping the sound clean.

  • Page 38: Advanced Processing

    9.5.2 MULTIBAND AGC The multiband AGC in the DSPXmini Encore employs an RMS based level detector for superior performance. This enables the DSPXmini Encore to control input level variations based on the true loudness of the input waveform - unlike other simpler average responding peak detectors used in other digital audio processors.
  • Page 39 The AGC stages in the DSPXmini Encore are gated. This slows down the release time of the multi-band AGC when the program material drops below a certain level, which prevents noise suck up and gain hunting from occurring during quiet periods or lulls in the audio.
  • Page 40 2, 3 and 4. Gain reductions of 2-6dB are a good compromise between loudness and quality. The multi-band limiters in the DSPXmini Encore are of the dual time constant variety. There is an attack and decay setting to handle the peaks and a similar pair of settings to handle the average level of limiting.
  • Page 41 few milliseconds will reduce the level of the waveform for hundreds of milliseconds, reducing loudness and creating audible pumping effects. The solution is multiple time constants, where one set of time constants can be set to handle the fast peaks and another to handle the average level of limiting. Fast transients will release in a faster less noticeable way and won't punch holes in the sound in a way that single time constant limiters can.
  • Page 42 9.5.4 MIXER The post limiters mixer in the DSPXmini Encore is not strictly a mixer, but a band output level control where small EQ changes can be made. Be careful when making large EQ changes at this stage, because there is no peak control prior to the clipping system.
  • Page 43 9.5.6 BASS CLIPPING The DSPXmini Encore, like most competent broadcast audio processors, has a bass clipper prior to the final clipper. The purpose of the bass clipper is to keep low frequency energy to a pre-determined level to allow for the summation of the other bands. Without the bass clipper the bass signal can push the mid and HF audio waveforms into the final clipper, creating audible IMD, the worst type of distortion.

  • Page 44: Composite Clipper

    9.5.9 LISTENING TO INDIVIDUAL STAGES OF PROCESSING When setting up the DSPXmini Encore, it is sometimes useful to hear the effects of the adjustments on that particular processing stage. By setting the other processing blocks up in a certain way you can make it easier to hear the effects of the one you are adjusting.

  • Page 45: Getting The Sound You Want

    9.6 GETTING THE SOUND YOU WANT While the DSPXmini Encore can help you obtain the sound that you want we must always take into account the limitations presented to us by the transmission channel. The biggest problem we have is the maximum peak level that can be handled by that transmission channel: For FM broadcast this is +/- 75 KHz for 100% modulation.
  • Page 46 You are likely to generate excessive distortion in the final clippers and cause a fatiguing sound if you're not careful. Less can be more. Make small changes and compare against the settings of the factory presets if you find you have lost your way somewhere. 9.6.2 MORE CLARITY We can obtain extra clarity and ‘quality’...
  • Page 47 9.6.4 MORE TREBLE (HF) There are several ways of increasing the HF content of the audio. When processing for FM we need to use distortion controlled clipping to preserve as much of the high frequency content as possible, which will be removed by the de-emphasis curve in the listeners’...

  • Page 48: Menu Structure

    Menu Structure DSPXmini Encore menu structure PRESETS > Bypass General light General heavy Talk Talk heavy News Sports Music Music open Music bright Loud Classical-jazz U1 to U10 user presets. [each preset contents identical] Name [qwerty] bass peak freq (60Hz - 120Hz) bass peak q (-0.4 –...
  • Page 49 BAND 3 drive (6dB – 12dB) peak attack (1-10) peak release (1-10) compr attack (1-10) compr release (0-10) BAND 4 drive (6dB – 12dB) peak attack (1-10) peak release (1-10) compr attack (1-10) compr release (0-10) MIXER band 1 level (-3 –...
  • Page 50 … name (qwerty) save to (U1 – U8) SCHEDULER (future firmware release) SCHEDULE (1…8) (never/once/repeat) days (su/mo/tu/we/th/fr/sa/smtwtfs/mtwtf/ss) start time (hh:mm:ss) load preset (F1-F12, U1-U8) EVENTS GPO PIN CONFIG PIN 1…4 mode (ana/dig) analog output (input level/hp level) polarity (HiZ/low) EVENT 1…8 active (off/on) trigger...
  • Page 51 1 dns 2 link (down/up) EMAIL sender mail method (bw/smtp) smtp server authenticated (yes/no) smtp password TEST recipient (admin/user1/user2/user3) send test test WEB REMOTE active (off/on) port SNMP enable (off/on) port community read only (off/on) name description TELNET active...
  • Page 52 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 53 11 - 2...

  • Page 54: 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 55 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.

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