Adding an amplifier stack to your design

If you are working with multiple amplifiers that are located in the same local area of the network, you can create an amplifier stack and specify settings for these devices at the same time.

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

To add an amplifier stack to your design

1. Drag a Crest Amplifier Stack object from the device tree over to the page.

   The Crest Amplifier Stack Control Properties dialog box is displayed.

   

2. In the Amplifier Model list, click the amplifier model name.
3. In the Number of amplifiers box, type the number of amplifiers in the stack.
4. If you want to make it easier to make fine adjustments at higher gain levels (by decreasing the rate at which the gain changes when it is near the maximum), leave the Live Taper check box checked.
5. Click OK.

   The CKi Amplifier Stack block or Ci Amplifier Stack block will be created on the page.

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

   

7. On the toolbar, click the Emulate button.
8. Open the CKi Amplifier Stack block or Ci Amplifier Stack block.

   Here is a summary of the available fields for each individual amplifier.

   Main
   Field name	Meaning
   Amp	The amplifier number in the stack.
   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.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the amplifier 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.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   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.
   Mute (number/letter)	Mutes the channel output. The LED is lit (red) when the channel is muted.

   Channels
   Field name	Meaning
   Amp	The amplifier number in the stack.
   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.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the amplifier 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.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   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.
   Chan	Channel letter or number.
   Channel Name	A name for the channel. This label can be used to improve the clarity of the user interface for the end user.
   Cobranet Sub Channel	The subchannel numbers for the audio channels.
   Input Level (Ci amps only)	Input level in dBu.
   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.
   Output Level (Ci amps only)	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.
   Temp	Channel heat sink temperature.
   Ther	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.
   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 Alert	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 Alert	Lit (yellow) when the Active Clip Limiting (ACL) circuit is active because a channel has reached the clipping point.

   RTLM (CKi amp)
   Field name	Meaning
   Amp	The amplifier number in the stack.
   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.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the amplifier 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.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   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.
   Chan	Channel letter or number.
   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.
   Train	Starts the training process. 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. Note: If the load level is too low, the training process will not complete.
   Abort	Aborts the training process. 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.
   Training	Lit (green) when Training is in progress.
   RTLM (Ci amp)
   Field name	Meaning
   Amp	The amplifier number in the stack.
   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.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the amplifier 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.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   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.
   Chan	Channel letter or number.
   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.
   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.
   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.
   Train	Starts the training process. 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. Note: If the load level is too low, the training process will not complete.
   Abort	Aborts the training process. 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.
   Training	Lit (green) when Training is in progress.
   Advanced
   Field name	Meaning
   Amp	The amplifier number in the stack.
   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.
   Link	Lit (green) when a link is established between NWare and the amplifier 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.
   Rmte (Remote)	Lit (green) when the amplifier is running in remote mode.
   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.
   Subnet	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.
   Input (Line / Cobra)	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.
   Gain/Sensitivity (CKi amps only)	Position of the Gain switch at the rear of the amplifier. This can be set to give constant sensitivity, or a constant gain of x20 (26 dB) or x40 (32 dB). Display only.
   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.
   Version	Firmware version running on the amplifier. Display only.

9. Type the amplifier ids in the Id boxes.

   These are shown at the back of each unit.

10. Type the IP addresses in the IP Address boxes.

    These are shown at the back of each unit.

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

    If the network settings are correct, the Link lights will be lit (green) and information will be received from the amplifiers, including the gain settings, temperature etc., and displayed in the fields of the Crest Amplifier Stack block.

11. Click the Advanced tab.
12. Under Input, click each D button to select digital audio input from the CobraNet network (via the NION).

    

13. In each Bundle Num. box, type the bundle number that will be used to transmit audio to the amp.

    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.

    Tip: If you are using four channel amplifiers, a single bundle number can be used for two amplifiers. Specify bundle numbers for either multicast or (multi-)unicast (as described above), and then specify the require settings for the NioNode CobraNet configuration, as described later in this procedure.

14. Click the Channels tab.
15. In the CobraNet Sub Channel boxes, specify subchannel numbers to use when referring to the amplifier channels.

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

16. Open the NioNode block and, in the first available Bundle boxes in the Transmitters section, specify the bundle numbers you specified in the CKi Amplifier Stack block or Ci Amplifier Stack block.

    Tip: To use multicast, so that two amplifiers can receive audio via the same bundle number, make sure the bundle number is in the range 1-255. The Unicast Mode and Max Unicast settings can be set to the default values. Be aware, however, that multicast is not recommended, as it will result in excessive processing for all network nodes that receive the transmitted data.

17. In the corresponding Sub-Channel Mapping boxes to the right of the Bundle boxes, 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.

18. 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.
19. In the Num Chan (number of channels) box, type the number of audio channels to be included in the bundle.

    The Num Chan setting, which has a default of 8, controls how many audio channels are sent in a bundle. The value should be set to the number of contiguous channels that will be used, as defined in the Sub-channel Mapping boxes. If Num Chan is set to a value that is greater than the number of channels used, then the bundle will be larger than necessary and will result in wasted bandwidth and processor time. Unused channels with a value of 0 are represented in the bundle by header data only (and no audio data will be included). If the bundle contains subchannel numbers that are not used, they will be sent as full audio channels and consume 1 Mbit of bandwidth per channel.

    

    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.

    Tip: If you want to use multi-unicast, so that two amplifiers can receive audio via the same bundle number, set Unicast Mode to 2 and Max Unicast to 2. For more information on these settings, see Routing audio on CobraNet networks.

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

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