The new system accomplishes all three goals while still coming in under budget. On the stage, a new multi-pin snake with pre-labeled inputs for the live band connects to three Yamaha SB168 input boxes that present an EtherSound signal to a wall plate.
A Yamaha M7CL digital mixing console plugs into the plate and outputs EtherSound to a new amp rack loaded with d&b D12 and D6 amplifiers configured to drive a new left and right d&b T-series line array, with T10 center fill and B2 subs.
For Blair, the trick was to unite the school’s analog signal with the church’s EtherSound signal for AES/EBU digital input to the amps in a way that was utterly transparent to both the school and the church.
Technicians for either entity needed to be able to turn the system on and go, without worrying about switching things over “by hand.”
“Apart from Ashly,” adds Blair, “only two other companies make something that would unite those three protocols. One of them is needlessly large and costly. The other is notoriously difficult to program. All of my experiences with Ashly have been positive and I knew the ne4400 would do the trick, so we went with it.”
The Ashly ne4400 is a network-enabled DSP with four standard analog inputs and outputs. Four option bays support network audio (e.g. EtherSound!), digital AES/EBU, and microphone preamps. In contrast to his previous experiences with other manufacturers, Blair notes that programming the ne4400 was easy.
“With the unit and my laptop plugged into the school’s network, it was a simple matter to navigate to it and ‘get inside,’” concludes Blair. “And it sounds absolutely transparent. I know, because we had the system on line for a few weeks before we added the Ashly, and the ‘after’ sounds no different than the ‘before.’ I recommend Ashly for anyone who needs analog, EtherSound, and AES/EBU to ‘play nicely’ together.”