Allen & Heath ZED-XB14 14-CH. Broadcast Console w/Dual Telco Inputs
The XB-14 is designed for a broad range of applications from small radio or internet broadcast studios, to larger studios with multiple rooms, hospital radio, university radio and community radio. The XB-14 is equipped with a wealth of features specifically for broadcasters, including telephone communication modules for telephone callers, mic fader start sensing for external connection and internal automatic muting of the speaker outputs, stereo channel start/cue outputs for CD deck transport control, separate headphones mix & outputs for guests, an audition bus, and much more.
Multi-application:
The XB-14 is great for a range of applications from small radio or internet broadcast studios, or for larger studios with multiple rooms, forhospital radio, university radio and community radio broadcast applications. The XB-14 has a wealth of features specifically designed forbroadcasters, things like telephone communication modules for telephone callers, mic fader start sensing for external connection and internalautomatic muting of the speaker outputs, stereo channel start/cue outputs for CD deck transport control, separate headphones mix & outputsfor guests, an audition bus.. The list goes on!
Mic/Line Pre-amps:
The XB-14 pre-amps use a two stage design, with carefully controlled amounts of gain in each stage. When amplifying the signal from theXLR input, the gain range is huge (69dB of range to be exact) and is very evenly distributed around the gain control, meaning better controlof signal level. Most of the gain comes from the first stage, so unwanted noise is kept to a minimum. There is no "pad" switch, or pad circuit- line level signals are simply plugged into the second stage of the pre-amp by using the line input jack socket. This has the great advantageof lower noise when using the line input. (It is common to attenuate line level signals, then amplify them back up again which can give morenoise or hiss).
EQ:
The XB-14 is equipped with a 3-band equaliser circuit on each mono input and a 2-band EQ on the Telco & stereo channels. The frequencyand response of each has been carefully chosen to give the maximum performance when using the EQ on a variety of sources.
AUX bus:
XB-14 has a single Auxiliary bus that can be used for external processing, effects, recording or auditioning.
MIX B:
A separate stereo mix bus is provided for recording an independent mix to the main program mix, or creating a clean feed source with selectedchannels.
The mono mic/line channels have fader start logic switching enabling them to control external equipment or automatically mute the speakeroutputs to prevent acoustic feedback in localised or self-operated applications. The stereo channels have start & cue logic outputs availableto hook up to external equipment like CD players. There are also options to mute the mono inputs remotely using an external "cough"switch or similar.
USB:
Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for sound and music production and broadcast applications. Theway we have implemented this on XB-14 is super-flexible and super-easy! No longer do you need to fiddle around the back of your computerto get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that the levels are all wrong and noisy. Just plug in a USB lead to your XB-14, select theUSB routing on the mixer and the device on your computer and that's it! Quality audio to and from your PC or MAC.
Self operation or Producer operated:
Whether you need a mixer for a self operated broadcast situation, or whether you have a separate studio and engineer, the XB-14 has thefeatures to fit. Separate monitor mixes can be created for operator and guests or presenter so the engineer can check levels and cue sourceswhile the presenter or guest can listen to a different source. The engineer/producer can communicate to the guest or presenter using theTalk feature, as well as off-air communication to telephone callers.There is also the facility for remote control of channel mutes from the studio using the remote interface connectors, ideal for studio situated mute switches.
