Glensound MinFerno/1 – Single Commentator’s Box For Dante Audio Networks Glensound

MinFerno is a new, smaller, and even easier to use version of Glensounds’ exceptionally popular Inferno network audio commentary box. The MinFerno/1 also has plus 1 x talkback go and return. MinFerno is designed for a single commentator/ announcer to use, and like its big brother the Inferno, it provides the very best possible commentary microphone amplifier and compressor limiter circuit for amazing on air sound. The MinFerno is easy to use for commentators who would rather be talking about the game than figuring out how the equipment works. It is built to Glensounds’ exacting, rugged & robust standard to make it a reliable piece of broadcast equipment for the busy engineer.

Features:

• MinFerno Commentator’s Box
  • Single user Dante commentary box
  • System is scalable with multiple commentators as part of a Dante network
  • Can connect to any Dante compatible network
  • Single low noise mic/line/48v input
  • Glensounds’ popular Referee compressor/limiter keeps even the loudest commentator sounding natural
  • Headphone mixer has up to 4 inputs supplied from the Dante network, plus the local input (sidetone)
  • Each headphone input has left/both/right headphone switching
  • Up to 3 talkback circuits
  • Large illuminated on air and talkback switches
  • Multiple power options including PoE, & External DC
  • Network connections on Copper (Cat5) and Fibre (SFP slots)
  • Primary & Secondary network connections allowing completely transparent network redundancy
  • Large bright PPM level meter
  • Inbuilt web server for setup and remote control via web browser of mic gain & mic on/off switch
• DANTE® Audio Network
  • AES67 Compliant
  • Multi channel, digital media network technology
  • Offers compatibility with hundreds of systems from other manufacturers
  • Scalable from a pair up to thousands of channels
  • Fully redundant glitch free audio transport
  • Easy, reliable & free routing software for point to point, or point to multipoint audio routes
  • Works across standard network switches

Redundant Powering Options

The MinFerno can be powered from any of 3 different sources:

1. PoE on the Primary CAT5 Network link
2. PoE on the Secondary CAT5 Network link
3. External 12V DC

Four of rear panel LEDs show the availability of the 3 power sources.

Primary & Secondary SFP Slots
The SFP (Small Form-Factor Pluggable) fibre slots are standard networking ports that accept standard SFP modules. This means that you decide what type of fibre and connector style you want to use just by the SFP module that you insert. The primary & secondary network circuits allow for glitch free redundancy across both the Fibre & Copper network interfaces.

Primary & Secondary Copper Network Connections with PoE
Two CAT6 connections on Neutrik Ethercons (that accept standard networking cables) are provided to allow copper connections to local network switches to carry the Dante/ AES67 audio. Two connections are fitted to allow redundant circuits to be used if required. Both of these connectors can accept a PoE power source for providing the power to the MinFerno.

Input Mode & Gain
One pair of push buttons selects the input type of the front panel XLR to be either microphone, line or microphone with 48V phantom power. 3 LEDs indicate which input mode is selected. Two push buttons are used to alter the gain of the input. LEDs indicate if the gain setting is above or below Glensounds’ pre-configured ‘lineup’ levels. The front panel PPM of course provides an accurate indication of the input level. The gain can also be altered remotely by a web browser pointing at the MinFerno’s web page.

Up to 4 of Incoming Audio Volume Controls
On the top panel are up to 5 rotary headphone volume controls. 4 of these are connected to 4 incoming audio circuits from the Dante/ AES67 network. These are normally used for such sources as mixed programme or cue, talkback to director, talkback to producer, talkback to engineer etc.

Sidetone Volume Control
The 5th front panel rotary headphone volume control is ‘sidetone’. Sidetone is the commentator’s own voice in their own ears.

Headphone Routing
Each of the 5 headphone volume controls has an associated left ear, right ear, both routing switch located next to the volume knob. This single push button switch routes the associated source to just the left, just the right or both channels of the stereo headphone amplifier. To enable the commentator to know how they are routing a circuit the first time a routing switch is pressed, a pair of LEDs on the front panel indicate its current routing arrangement. The next time the routing switch is pressed then the next routing option is selected.

Robust Mic On and Talkback Buttons
There are up to 4 of large bright illuminated buttons (1 for programme and up to 3 for talkback). These switches route the outgoing microphone circuit onto up to 4 different Dante/ AES67 network audio circuits. The operation of these switches (momentary, latching etc) and the interaction of these switches (i.e. pressing a talkback switch mutes the main mic) can be fully configured via the web page.

15 segment LED PPM Meter
Audio input level is indicated on the 15 segment PPM meter.

Low Noise Microphone Amplifier With Remote Gain
Glensound spent a long time optimising the performance of the THAT corporation microphone amplifier used in the original Inferno and used again on the MinFerno. It features very low noise & distortion circuit that Glensound remote control the gain of in 1dB steps, which allows us to provide the remote webpage gain control as well as the rear panel gain push buttons. Glensound also optimised the circuits to allow correct source impedance switching depending on whether the input has been set as a mic or line input.

Referee Compressor Limiter
As with all Glensounds’ commentary units, the MinFerno features their very popular Referee compressor limiter circuit. This circuit starts to compress the commentator’s voice gradually and slowly increases the compression ratio as the input level becomes overly high, resulting in a very natural sounding and distortion free audio output capable of taming even the loudest of commentators.

High Quality Analogue To Digital Converter (ADC)
Dante/ AES67 network audio is a digital circuit and as such the best analogue microphone amplifier would be wasted if Glensound hadn’t paired it up with the best analogue to digital converter. The ADCs job is fairly simple, and if you look at Glensounds’ tech spec you’ll see that Glensound have made theirs work incredibly well.

Unique Headphone Amplifiers
The commentator’s headphones are a vitally important tool so Glensound take as much care with Glensounds’ headphone amplifiers as with our on air microphones. Their unique headphone amplifier provides the correct output level regardless of the impedance of the attached headphones, meaning that broadcasters can now pick and choose between low impedance ‘cheap’ headphones and high impedance traditional broadcast ones.

Web Page Remote Control
The MinFerno has an internal web server that provides web pages for an operator to view when pointing a web browser at the MinFerno’s address. The MinFerno uses a very useful network protocol called DNS (Domain Name System) allowing just ‘MinFerno and the unit’s serial number’ to be entered in a browser’s address bar to connect. This is very useful if the IP address is not known.

Mic ON/OFF, Gain & Meter
One of the web pages allows access to the gain of the microphone meaning that the input gain can be adjusted completely remotely. The same page also provides the ability to turn the microphone on/off (and of course see its current state). A level meter is also provided on the same page so as any gain adjustments can be accurately monitored.

Channel Operation Configuration Page
Full control of how each of the 4 (3 talkback & 1 main mic) switches operate is provided. Each switch can be set to operate in the following modes: off, momentary on, latching, intelligent, momentary off (cough). The routing of the associated headphone input can also be forced or locked and the ability to fully attenuate the incoming source is also available.

Channel Effect Configuration
The MinFerno’s channel effect page allows the interaction between the talkback & mic switches to be set. Each channel can be set individually to either temporarily or permanently suppress (or not) any of the other channels that are already active when it is operated.