The benefits of audio networking are significant. There are far fewer cables to run—a 70% reduction in speaker wire, 50% fewer connections, and 30% less conduit, according to sources at Attero Tech, provider of cost-effective networked AV solutions based in Fort Wayne, Ind.
For all their focus on the next life, houses of worship have to contend with the technical exigencies of this one, especially when it comes to audio. That includes higher channel counts, as church sanctuaries and worship spaces today have to be able to host a much broader range of functions and events as part of efforts to deepen engagement with local communities. What’s making that easier lately is the growing ubiquity of audio networking—digital platforms that move audio as data packets rather than as streams of signals, using IP protocols similar to those used to transport data on other network systems. Audio has been digital for more than two decades now, of course, but the shift in its transport, from the need for one cable for each channel to the concept of combining up to 16 channels of discrete audio on a single Cat-6 cable routed through Cisco-type data switches, represents a sea change in how audio gets from one point to another.
Of [proprietary systems], the Dante system has garnered the lion’s share of the market in North America, its name approaching synonymy with the idea of networking itself, much like Xerox once did for photocopiers.
House of worship technical directors and the AV systems integrators who work with them have seen a lot of choices spring up around them in recent years, starting with the granddaddy of them all, CobraNet. That networking platform remains available and viable, although its use has declined due to latency and transmission-scheduling (i.e., data-traffic control) issues compared to the current generation of networking systems. Broadly, network types can be divided into two categories: proprietary formats, which work only within a manufacturer’s own ecosystem or are available for inclusion in various manufacturers’ products; these include Audinate’s Dante, Q-SYS from QSC, Harman Professional’s HiQNet, WheatNet from console maker Wheatstone, and Livewire from Telos Systems. Open-standard formats, available for inclusion into any product, include the AES67 interoperability protocol, Audio Video Bridging (AVB), and Ravenna from ALC NetworX and which has been heavily supported by Lawo’s product ecosystem. Of these, the Dante system has garnered the lion’s share of the market in North America, its name approaching synonymy with the idea of networking itself, much like Xerox once did for photocopiers. Ravenna has gotten especially good traction in Europe and in broadcast. Personal preference among AV systems integrators will play a large part in determining which networking platform is ultimately chosen, as does the nature of the other components in a sound system. For instance, a system comprising exclusively QSC components would make it an apparent candidate for the use of the Q-SYS network. But Dante’s rapid ubiquity has led most major audio systems manufacturers (including developers of other networking systems) to make their products compatible with Dante, with more than 250 licensees reported in 2015. While the exact brand of networking system used in a house-of-worship sound system may be utterly transparent when in use, broad inter-compatibility is important to ensure that any future upgrades to the system are also compatible with the network.
“Wide compatibility is crucial for future-proofing a sound system,” observes Ryan Knox, senior consultant at Dallas-based AV consultancy and design firm Idibri. “If we have to switch out amplifiers or other components down the line, it’s critical that they be able to work with whatever networking platform we designed the system with.”
Big Benefits
The benefits of audio networking are significant. There are far fewer cables to run—a 70% reduction in speaker wire, 50T fewer connections, and 30% less conduit, according to sources at Attero Tech, provider of cost-effective networked AV solutions based in Fort Wayne, Ind. Other advantages are improved sound quality, since the network connections are simpler and less exposed to ground faults and loops; fast and simple changes for channel assignments, using only a mouse click instead of physically reconfiguring assignments; lower costs in the form of far less cabling; the elimination of analog components including soldered connectors, isolation transformers, distribution amps, and equipment racks for them; channel counts can be increased, with longer runs between endpoints with no loss of signal; and finally, simplified troubleshooting. In addition, the network switches used in networking are the same ones used in a local-area network (LAN); some of the shopping can be done at Best Buy instead of specialty pro-audio stores. “The cost savings are the No. 1 reason to go with networked audio,” says Adam Barnes, who does sales and systems design at Featherston Media in the Dallas area, listing the cost of a couple of runs of Cat-6 cable that can hold the same 32 channels of audio that previously required 32 individual copper wires to carry. “That’s not just the cost of the cabling but also the cost to install and maintain and troubleshoot all of that copper,” he notes.
Barnes adds that networked audio’s simplicity also makes it easier to work around when it comes to maintaining the aesthetics involved in a sound system installation. The proliferation of networked amplifiers, from companies like Bose Professional and L-Acoustics, is further reducing the connectivity footprint of networked audio. “We’re now designing more systems where we can consolidate all of the amplifiers in one rack in a single location, which further reduces complexity and cost,” he says. Networked audio has impacted equipment decisions. Barnes says that they often specify Yamaha products, such as the Nexo sound system they’ve just installed in the Tyler Street Methodist Church in Dallas, because of the company’s extensive and native integration of Dante connectivity.
Red Flags
It’s not all that simple, however. Idibri’s Knox cautions that while digital networking can offer a lot of flexibility and configurability, those same qualities can create problems because, ironically, they also tend to encourage a certain kind of complexity. That, he says, is a particular problem for houses of worship. In a typical network, he explains, a particular mix or configuration of audio channels will remain intact as they’re distributed from room to room. But in a large church, for instance, overflow rooms and other destinations outside of a sanctuary may have very different acoustical requirements, necessitating their own mixes, of either individual channels or of stems.
“The danger is that in changing a patch or anything else in one node on the network could change it for every location,” Knox warns. “You might recall a scene on one console that winds up changing that scene for every console [on the network]. Dante and other networks prefer to see one master control computer that changes are made on. If that computer is in another room, it can create issues along the rest of the network. Sometimes, there can be so much flexibility in a network that it’s both hard to anticipate and difficult to document for the system integrator.” That last part is especially trenchant. In the days of analog, system designers and installers worked from a common batch of semiotics on schematic charts that were very clear about signal path. Today, says Knox, “Everything connects to a network switch—something the schematics don’t show. What happens as a result is that the integrator has to figure all that out on site as they go along. What the industry is doing now is trying to come up with better documentation for everyone.”
Like any technological sea change, the migration to networked audio distribution and transport brings with it advantages and challenges, and both are often magnified in a worship environment—the benefits allow church tech teams to work smarter but their inherent complications can be exacerbated when the IT knowledge base isn’t yet up to speed. But what’s undeniable is that networked media is where AV is going in the future, and the future is pretty much here now.
[Editor's note: This feature was originally published in December 2016.]
