Glensound Beatrice R16 – 16-Channel Dante / AES67 Intercom Station (5-Pin XLR Female) Glensound

The Glensound BEATRICE R16 is a versatile and fully featured 16 channel rackmount intercom with crystal clear audio designed for broadcast, theatre and professional audio applications.

It is part of our Beatrice intercom system that utilises the reliable and proven Dante network audio transmission protocol to allow real time distribution of uncompressed audio across standard networks. It is also AES67 compliant. As such the BEATRICE R16 is fully compatible with other manufacturers’ equipment using the Dante and/ or AES67 protocols.

This 1RU rackmount intercom was designed to be very easy to use for the operator and simple to set up for the technician. It includes all the basic functionality required for small intercom systems and none of the overly complex installation requirements normally associated with large systems.

16 Channels Of Intercom
One single user connected to the unit can listen to and communicate with 16 separate locations on the network. Depending upon how the Dante network has been routed, the incoming audio circuits and outgoing circuits can be different locations.

Configurable Speak Switches
Each channels’ speak switch can be user defined to operate to your preference. The options are: Momentary, Latching or Intelligent Lever Key.

Dante® Routing and Partyline
Audio routing to/ from other devices is setup using Dante controller which allows for point to multipoint routing on outgoing circuits (but only 1 single incoming circuit for each of the 16 channels). Therefore we’ve included an inbuilt fixed ratio 11 input 11 output mixer matrix with inputs and outputs connected directly to the Dante / AES67 network which allows for setting up partyline and group circuits.

Onboard Mic and External Mic Input
A good quality, clear sounding microphone amplifier, designed for communication purposes, is fitted which also has the benefit of a compressor/ limiter circuit to help keep levels and intelligibility consistent even when the operator gets overly excited. This microphone amp has two microphone sources, either the inbuilt front panel mounted electret capsule which provides good voice intelligibility from normal working distances, or a balanced XLR input for connecting external gooseneck microphones. Twelve Volt Phantom power is also available and can be turned on/ off as required via an internal link.

High Output Intelligible Loudspeaker
What’s the point of an intercom unit if the onboard speaker is so cheap that you can’t understand what is being said to you? We tried hundreds of different drive units before settling on the one used in the Beatrice R16. We chose it because it had a much cleaner sound and better frequency response for vocals than any other speaker on the market that would fit in a 1RU subrack.

Mains or PoE Powered
An inbuilt wide range switch mode mains power supply is fitted for powering the Beatrice R16. It is terminated with a standard IEC plug, making it easy to plug in wherever you are in the World.

The unit can also be powered via the Ethernet cable by standard PoE (Power over Ethernet) on either of the copper Ethernet ports. The PoE power can be supplied by an external PoE switch or a midspan power injector.

Redundant Twin Copper and Twin Fibre Ethernet Interface
When ultra reliable communications is needed for the utmost important jobs, glitch free redundant network circuits can be set up using the primary and secondary Dante network ports.
There are 2 copper Ethernet ports on RJ45s and also 2 fibre Ethernet ports presented as SFP slots (SFP modules not included). Redundant networks can be set up across any of these ports. These ports can also be set up as a network switch.

GPIO
A solid state relay output is provided and is triggered when any speak key is on (useful for dimming external loudspeakers or red light controls).
In total there are 12 loop closure inputs. 10 of these control the first 8 talk keys and talk to group and talk to all.
The other 2 loop closure inputs provide internal and external LS cuts.

IFB/ AUX Sources
Four different IFB/ Aux audio sources are received from the Dante network. Each of the four sources is associated with four outgoing talkback channels. If audio is routed to the(se) IFB/ Aux sources in the network then they are mixed in with their associated outgoing talkback channel circuit.
If a talkback key is on then the associated IFB/ Aux source is ducked by a user definable amount. If the talkback is not on then the IFB/ Aux source is routed to the channels’ output with unity gain.
IFB/ Aux sources are very useful for distributing programme audio around an intercom setup whilst the ducking facility allows talkback to be heard over it.

Microphone Level Meter
An eight LED front panel multipurpose indicator is used to indicate the outgoing microphone level.

Channel Input and Output Gain Controls
For maximum flexibility, gain can be applied to incoming audio signals and outgoing signals separately. A row of LEDs indicate the current gain setting when a channels input or output is being adjusted.

Monitor
All incomming talkback channels are mixed together to the headphones/ loudspeakers.

Presence Indication
Front panel LEDs located next to the talk switches are used to indicate the presence of incoming audio on that channel. When audio is detected on the channel the LED is illuminated. The LED then stays on for a short period after the incoming audio stops to help the operator identify who has been talking to them.

4-Wire Connectivity
Two traditional analogue 4-wire circuits can be connected to two of the R16’s intercom channels by utilising the versatile analogue inputs and outputs.

Speak To All and Speak To Group
Two useful front panel controls are fitted. When pressed, the ‘Speak To All’ button will enable the operator to talk to all the outputs simultaneously and the ‘Speak To Group’ button allows the operator to talk to an easily assignable set of outputs.

Speaker Output
As well as the front panel internal loudspeaker a balanced analogue output is provided for connecting to an external powered loudspeaker.

Local Input and Output Circuits
For increased versatility there are 2 local balanced analogue audio inputs and 2 local balanced analogue outputs.
The inputs are routed directly to two output channels on the Dante/ AES67 network.
The outputs are fed directly from two input channels from the Dante/ AES67 network.

Mixer Matrix For Partyline
For setting up simple groups and partyline circuits that could not be achieved via Dante controller or your AES67 router, an inbuilt fixed ratio mixer is supplied. It has 11 audio inputs direct from the network and 11 mix outputs to the network.