Installer Series and Eurocards
BCD Audio has designed audio products since 1987, mostly to serve the Broadcast industry.
At that time, most audio was analogue, and a range of analogue audio Eurocards were introduced to matching the system requirements of the day. The 1U ‘Amplifier System’ rack box was designed to accommodate up to 4 Eurocards, with local front panel controls.
Always comfortable with microcontrollers, a two wire control system across 32 Eurocards with a common control card simplified the rack control system. Analogue and relay switcher cards to 16*8 size were designed, and a reliable RS485 control system capable of up to 63 control panels introduced. This is known as the RMOS ( Ring main & Outside Source ) system.
By 1999, Digital Audio using SPDIF and AES3 were common, and we noticed that most companies were producing one module per Eurocard and we wondered if we could pack more into each eurocard by using sub-modules. These became known as ‘Piglets’ ( Short for Piggy back cards) and a Eurocard designed to take 3 Piglets.
Piglets that required clocking uses the Installer-Full Eurocard that includes a microcontroller for booting and supervision, and a clock synthesiser for Wordclock and AES3 reference signals.
Simpler DA type and Digital to Analogue Piglets could use a simpler dumb Eurocard, and this is known as the Installer-Basic Eurocard.
The Installer-12 1U frame was designed to take up to 12 Piglets over 4 Eurocards, and the Installer-48 3U frame was designed to take up to 48 Piglets over 16 Eurocards, hence the names.
Later, the Installer-12 frame was replaced by the Installer-4 frame to reduce cost, but actually came in more expensive!
The frames included dual power supplies, and could mix dedicated Eurocards with Installer + Piglet Eurocards. The RMOS and RS485 ideas are used when required, and a common wordclock input was often used.
The PAM system is an example of the Installer-48 and uses the RMOS control system.
Eurocards
BCD’s Eurocards make constructing custom audio solutions a snap. All of the cards have compatible power requirements and share a common pinout and outline, so that the cards may be mixed to construct your audio system. A maximum of four cards are used in BCD’s Installer-4 and Installer-12 1U boxes, or 16 cards in the Installer-48 3U racks. Occasionally a 6U rack with 32 cards is needed.
Most Eurocards are still available to special order, subject to component availability and MOQ. Please contact sales for more information.
Buffer 8 mixing card for RMOS – BCD940624
Used to mix cards together to make large Analogue matrix systems.
Dual stereo headphones card – BCD930381
Build options for two and four balanced inputs.
0.5W power amplifier outputs for Headphones.
Transformer card – BCD930725
Build option for up to 12 OEP transformers.
Build option for up to 8 LL5402 transformers.
Build option for up to 8 LL1540 transformers.
NETMIX DSP Eurocard – BCD040521
Comprised of a four AES3 inputs and output with Freescale DSP56366 processor.
Used in Voiceover Compressor Limiters for Radio2 and Radio4 with DHD style control panel.
DSP mixer and tone generator – BCD121101
Four AES3 inputs and outputs with FPGA based processing system.
Used in 2:1 Program distribution switcher, and four way mixer systems.
AES to Fibre Eurocards – BCD040621 and BCD040622
These interface AES3 to ST multimode fibre, and use 4HP front panels.
The BCD040621 interfaces two channels of ST Fibre to Electrical AES3 on D9.
The BCD040621 interfaces two channels of Electrical AES3 on D9 to ST Fibre.
Compatible with the BCD FAB1 black box.
Installer Full Eurocard for Piglets – BCD990212
Carrier for three clocked Piglets. Needed for AtoD, SRC Piglets. Usable for any.
Installer Basic Eurocard for Piglets – BCD010303
Carrier for three simpler Piglets.
Dual DtoA and AES3 DA – BCD030130
Dual AES3 digital to analogue converter, with balanced audio outputs AES3 DA outputs.
Stereo monitor card – BCD061124
Analogue monitor card, with remote and VCA control.
Was part of PMU, also useful in rack based systems.
Build options for PPM and power amplifier versions.
Four channel ‘SIGMIX’ card – BCD011123
Universal analogue mixer and processor.
Stand-alone with on board processor, or compatible with Installer rack.
Superseded by 6 channel version BCD080619.
Six channel ‘SIGMIX’ card – BCD080619
Universal analogue mixer and processor.
Stand-alone with on board processor, or compatible with Installer rack.
Built in variants, to construct small systems.
Used in 6 into 1 mixer mode in PAM systems.
Dual four way analogue distribution amplifier – BCD951005
Linkable as 1 into 8 or dual 1 into 4 modes. Balanced analogue audio.
Replaced by pin compatible BCD080811.
Dual four way analogue distribution amplifier – BCD080811
Linkable as 1 into 8 or dual 1 into 4 modes. Balanced analogue audio.
Dual four way AES3 distribution amplifier – BCD041202
Linkable as 1 into 8 or dual 1 into 4 modes. Balanced AES3 audio.
Universal Distribution amplifier DAU – BCD910621
4 balanced inputs to 4 balanced outputs with resistive mixing options.
Optional level pots and signal detects.
RMOS Audio 16:2 – BCD980912
Balanced 16 into 1 or dual 8 into 1 analogue switch card.
Used in PAM system for monitor selection and in early PMU’s.
RMOS Audio 16:8 matrix – BCD970108
Balanced 16 into 8 analogue switch matrix.
Used in the OB truck talkback system.
RMOS mixed selector analogue and AES3 – BCD061014
Stereo balanced 8 into 2 analogue switch, with auto-sensing AES3 override.
Used in the PMU selector system.
Control Processor for RMOS system with Ethernet – BCD100719
Used in PAM system as the main processor.
Four channel 2:1 relay card, magnetically latched – BCD110125
Non-volatile balanced 2:1 switching on four balanced circuits.
Optional 110R termination of unswitched feed.
Eight channel GPI tally card – BCD110126
Used in PAM system as the GPI interface.
Eight GPI inputs. Eight or sixteen GPI outputs on solid-state relays.
DC-DC converter – BCD110414
Used in PAM system as external power source.
Provides +24V from +/-12V power rails.