Network audio and control are two separate things on our cabinets. This page covers the audio side; the protocol reference covers control.
Inputs on every S-Series cabinet
- 1 × XLR3 analogue line in and 1 × XLR3 line out as standard.
- Optional digital input: 1 × XLR3 AES3 (stereo) or 1 × RJ45 Dante.
- Sydney Central Station uses the Dante input with network daisy-chaining for installation and expansion.
How the network channels work
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How many network-audio channels? | Two, carried over Dante or AES67 |
| How do they map to the beams? | Either channel can be assigned to any of the four beams. The assignment is per beam, so one channel can feed all four, or the two can be split across them in any combination |
| Is AES67 supported? | Yes. AES67 and Dante are the same two receive channels, not separate inputs |
| Does control share the RJ45 with Dante? | Not by default. Control and monitoring run on a separate network port, on UDP 12128. If your project needs control and Dante on one RJ45, talk to us before you specify the cable infrastructure |
| Can analogue and network audio run together? | Yes. The analogue XLR input stays available, and the network channels are additional sources a beam can be assigned to |
Designing the network
Plan two network audio channels per cabinet, not a channel per beam. If a room needs four genuinely independent programme feeds from the network, that is not what a single cabinet does — it takes two and routes them to four beams with independent shape, level and delay. Where you need more sources, address cabinets separately on the network.
Plan two runs to each cabinet: one for Dante, one for control. Where that is impractical — long heritage cable routes, existing conduit — talk to us before you assume a single-cable installation will work.
For your project
Dante Controller naming, sample rate and clock configuration, redundant networks and Dante Domain Manager all depend on the firmware build and the switch fabric you are specifying. Send us the project and we will confirm the settings for the cabinets you are using rather than have you design around a generic answer.