Glensound MinFerno/1 - Single Commentator's Box For Dante Audio Networks

MinFerno is a new, smaller, and even easier to use version of our exceptionally popular Inferno network audio commentary box.

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 our exacting, rugged & robust standard to make it a reliable piece of broadcast equipment for the busy engineer.

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 
Our 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

Part Numbers & Variants

MINFERNO: Simplest version just programme go and return & sidetone 

MINFERNO/1: MINFERNO plus 1 x talkback go and return

MINFERNO/2: MINFERNO plus 2 x talkback go and returns

MINFERNO/3: MINFERNO plus 3 x talkback go and returns

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 our 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

We 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 we 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. We 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 our commentary units, the MinFerno features our 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 we hadn’t paired it up with the best analogue to digital converter. The ADCs job is fairly simple, and if you look at our tech spec you’ll see that we’ve made ours work incredibly well.

Unique Headphone Amplifiers

The commentator’s headphones are a vitally important tool so we take as much care with our headphone amplifiers as with our on air microphones. Our 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.

Specs

AUDIO INPUT

Input Type: Neutrik 3 pin XLR

Input Impedance: Mic: 2k4
                              Line 100k

Equivalent Input Noise: 127dBu (22Hz-22KHz) RMS A weighted Terminated with 300 Ohms

Frequency response:  Mic -2dBu @25Hz flat @50Hz till 22kHz (+/- 0.25dBu).
                                   Line flat till 22kHz

Distortion at +8dBu:  100Hz = 0.023%
                                   1kHz =0.012%
                                   10kHz = 0.014%

Line Up Gains:            Dynamic Mic: 58dB
                                   Mic + Phantom Power: 35dB
                                   Line: 0dB

Gain Range:                Mic: -30 to +15dB
                                   Line: +/-15dB 

Max Input Before Clipping (@line up): 
                                  Dynamic Mic: +10dBU,
                                  Mic+phantom: +18dBu
                                  Line: +18dBu

HEADPHONES

Headphone Impedance: 16-1000 ohm (auto output level to match impedance)
Headphone Noise:  -76.6dB @ line up (residual noise)
Headphone Frequency Response:  >-0.1dB 22Hz to 22kHz
Headphone THD + Noise (Ref +8dB): 0.008% @ 1kHz
Connection: 6.35mm & 3.5mm stereo jack plugs
Headphone Volume Pot Range: +10dB to Off (can be configured +10dB to -30dB)
Maximum Headphone Output: +16.8dB into 600 Ohms

DANTE/AES67 NETWORK INTERFACE

Physical: 2 x Neutrik Ethercons Cat6 RJ45s & 2 x SFP slots
Type: Fully redundant Primary & Secondary circuits
Sample Frequency: 48K
Resolution: 24 Bit
Control & Routing: Via Free Dante Controller
AES67: Compliant (Can be configured for AES67 via Dante® controller)

NETWORK TYPE: Gigabit Ethernet

POWER

PoE: Can be powered by PoE on either Copper network interface
PoE: Complies to IEEE 802.3af-2003 classification class 0
DC Input: 2.5mm Barrel, Centre +Ve, 9 - 15 Volts
Consumption: Front Panel Power On LED: Bright Blue
Rear Panel Power On Indicators: 1 green LED showing presence of each of the above power sources

PHYSICAL

Size: 144 x 179 x 76mm (WxDxH)
Weight: 1.01Kg (2lb3oz)
Mechanics: All aluminium construction, anodised and laser etched, powder coated sides
Shipping Carton: Rugged Export Quality cardboard carton 610 x 420 x 170mm (WxDxH)
Shipping Weight: 2.5kg

ENVIRONMENTAL

Operating Temperature: 0 to +50°C (32 to 122°F)
Storage Temperature: -20 to +70°C (-4 to 158°F)
Relative Humidity: 0 to 95% non-condensing

INCLUDED ITEMS

Handbook: Physical A4 (Soft copy can be downloaded)
Mains Cable: UK & EU only, 2 metre mains plug to IEC
RJ45 Network Cable: 1 of 2 Metre

OPTIONAL ITEMS

Carrying Case: Polypropylene Carrying Case
SFP Fibre Modules: Multi Mode, Single Mode and Bi-directional on single Fibre available
External DC Power Supply: Switch mode (100 - 250VAC) desktop style with IEC mains input & 1.5 metre DC output cable