Adding a Ci amplifier to your design

1. Drag a Crest Ci Amplifier object (4 channels or 8 channels) from the device tree over to the page.

   It is assumed that your project already contains a NioNode or nControl node. This procedure uses a NioNode as an example.

   

2. Display the NioNode properties, then specify CobraNet CM1:Advanced as the Audio Network Configuration setting.

   

3. On the toolbar, click the Emulate button.
4. Open the Ci Amplifier block.

   Here is a summary of the available fields.

   Channels
   Field name	Meaning
   General
   ID	The two octets of the amplifier ID number in hex format. This is shown on the display at the back of the unit.
   IP Address	The IP address of the amplifier. This is shown on the display at the back of the unit.
   Power	Lit (green) when the amplifier is switched on. If remote mode is selected on the amplifier, you can switch it on or off using the Power button within NWare.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the device across the network.
   Fault	Lit (red) when a fault condition, e.g. thermal or short circuit, has been detected by the amplifier. Please refer to the amplifier documentation for information on fault conditions.
   CobraNet
   Input (A / D)	Selects either analog audio input using Phoenix connectors or digital audio input from the CobraNet network.
   Bundle Num.	The audio bundle number for the device. This must correspond with the bundle number specified for the NION associated with the amplifier. You can then make connections to the amplifier using the NION flyoffs.
   Channel x
   Fault	Lit (red) if the amplifier enters ACL or IGM or experiences a thermal, DC voltage, or short circuit fault.
   Input level	Input level in dBu.
   Output level	Full scale output level in dBu. Zero dB on the meter is reached at full amp power (assuming an 8 Ohm load). When in 70V mode, full power is reached at about 5dB on the output meter.
   Name	A name for the channel. This label can be used to improve the clarity of the user interface for the end user.
   Gain	Adjusts the amount of amplification or attenuation to be applied to the channel. Range is -97 to 0 dB.
   Mute	Mutes the channel output. The LED is lit (red) when the channel is muted.
   Alerts
   User Temp	The user-specified upper limit for the channels' heat sink temperature. If the limit is exceeded, the light will be lit (yellow).
   IGM	Lit (yellow) when the Instantaneous Gain Modulation (IGM) circuit detects a load that overstresses the output stage. The channel gain is automatically adjusted to a safe level.
   ACL	Lit (yellow) when the Active Clip Limiting (ACL) circuit is active because a channel has reached the clipping point.
   Cobranet
   Subchannel	The subchannel numbers for the audio channels.
   Faults
   Temperature	Lit (red) when a channel’s heat sink temperature reaches 75°C (which may indicate an obstructed air supply). The channel will independently protect itself by disconnecting its load and shutting down until it has cooled.
   DC	Lit (red) when the amplifier channel detects DC voltage or subsonic frequencies at a channel output. The respective output relay will immediately open to prevent loudspeaker damage.
   RTLM (Real Time Load Monitoring)	Lit (red) when the load for the channel exceeds the upper or lower limit. If this indicator is lit, and the RTLM training process has successfully completed, it indicates that the load on the amplifier has altered significantly. This could be because a loud speaker has blown, for example.
   RTLM
   Upper	The upper limit for the load level. If the limit is exceeded, the Fault light will be lit.
   Lower	The lower limit for the load level. If the limit is exceeded, the Fault light will be lit.
   Advanced
   Field name	Meaning
   Subnet Mask	The subnet mask for the Ethernet / CobraNet network.
   Gateway	The IP address of the router. If there is no router, this will be set to 0.0.0.0.
   Version	Firmware version running on the amplifier. Display only.
   AC Power Info
   Volt	Voltage provided to the amplifier. Display only.
   Amp	Current provided to the amplifier. Display only.
   Watt	Input power provided to the amplifier. Display only.
   RTLM
   Channel	The channel number.
   Norm Load	Impedance of the channel normalized to 100 ohms.
   Char Load	Full spectrum load impedance. The value can change (along the impedance curve) according to the dominant frequency content of the program material. However, if you feed a sine wave into the amplifier, a more accurate impedance can be measured (at that frequency and level).
   Enabled	Lit (green) when RTLM reporting is enabled.
   Active	Lit (green) when training is in progress and the load on the channel is actively being checked.
   Below Threshold	Lit (green) when the channel voltage is below the minimum threshold required to measure load data.
   Progress	Indicates the percentage completion of load data collection during training and after a reboot.
   Enable	Switches RTLM reporting on. Enables collection of RTLM data points.
   Disable	Switches RTLM reporting off. Stops the training process, keeping previous training data intact.
   Train	Starts the training process for a channel. Used once speakers have been connected to the outputs and audio is running through the amplifier. The process takes between 5 and 10 minutes. The Training light will switch off automatically when the process is complete. Notes: If the load level is too low, the training process will not complete. If you are using a Ci amplifier, the training process will not complete successfully unless all the channels are loaded and driven appropriately.
   Abort	Aborts the training process for a channel. Use this button to stop the training process if more than 10 minutes have elapsed since the process was started, and the Training light is still lit.

5. Type the amplifier id in the Id boxes.

   This is shown at the back of the unit.

6. Type the IP address in the IP Address boxes.

   This is shown at the back of the unit.

   Tip: The subnet mask and gateway settings are read from the amplifier automatically when it is contacted by NWare. These can be changed on the Advanced tab if necessary.

   If the network settings are correct, the Link light will be lit (green) and information will be received from the amplifier, including the gain setting, temperature etc., and displayed in the fields of the Cki Amplifier block.

7. Under Cobranet / Input, click the D button to select digital audio input from the CobraNet network (via the NION).

   

8. In the Bundle Num. box, type a bundle number.

   Each bundle can manage between 1 and 8 channels. The range is 0 to 65,535 (0 is off). For multicast bundles, the number must be in the range 1 to 255. For unicast bundles, the number must be in the range 256 to 65,279. Numbers in the range 65280 to 65535 are reserved and cannot be used.

9. In the Subchannel boxes, specify the subchannel numbers to use when referring to the amplifier channels.

   The channel numbers can simply be 1, 2, 3 etc.

10. Open the NioNode block and, in the first available Bundle box in the Transmitters section, specify the bundle number you specified in the Ci Amplifier block.
11. In the corresponding Sub-Channel Mapping boxes to the right of the Bundle box, specify the CM-1 output numbers (1-32) you want to send to the amplifier.

    Note: Ci and Cki amplifier default sub-channel mapping is one for one. Sub-channel 1 matches amplifier channel 1, sub-channel 2 matches amplifier channel 2, sub-channel 3 matches amplifier channel 3, and so on.

    Any of the NION CM-1 audio output numbers may be entered in any sub-channel box. Click the sub-channel box and type the CM‑1 output number you want to use.

12. In the Num Chan (number of channels) box, type the actual number of audio channels in the CobraNet bundle.

    Specifying this value avoids overloading the network with unnecessary data.

    

    Tip: Values in the Sub-Channel Mapping boxes may be changed on a dynamic basis. This allows any hardware channel number to be mapped to any bundle sub-channel(s) at any time, greatly expanding signal routing flexibility. However, only users familiar with advanced CobraNet practices should use this feature.

13. On the toolbar, click the Disemulate button.
14. In the utility frame, click the Flyoffs tab, then drag flyoffs for the CM-1 output channels you are using over to the page.
15. For test purposes, wire the flyoffs to an audio generator - a sine generator, for example.
16. Save the project, then deploy it.

    Audio can now pass between the NioNode and the Crest amplifier(s).