At the NAB Show 2018 Glensound BEATRICE R8 won two Best of Show Awards by ProSoundNews and TVTechnology. BEATRICE R8 is a 1RU rackmount 8-channel intercom system with Dante/AES67 network interface.
   

The new versatile Glensound BEATRICE range of five network intercom units consists of a small 4-channel B4 Beltpack, two 4-channel units - the D4 Desktop and R4 Rackmount, and two 8-channel units – the D8 Desktop, and the R8 Rackmount. Two BEATRICE R8 racks can easily be joined, making a fully featured 2RU 16-channel intercom unit. All units in the range can be powered by PoE or internal wide range power supplies, terminated with a standard IEC plug, making it easy to plug in wherever you are in the world. Rugged and robust build quality makes them ideal for outside broadcast settings.

Beatrice Intercom harnesses the power and versatility of Dante™ network audio and has many unique features. The BEATRICE system utilises the reliable and proven Dante™ network audio transmission protocol to allow real time distribution of uncompressed audio across standard networks, it is also AES67 compliant. With crystal clear 48k digital audio, the units are designed for broadcast, theatre and other professional audio applications. Being Dante™ (and also AES67), interfacing to other manufacturers’ equipment within your AoIP infrastructure is completely trouble free as all set-up is done in Dante™. A Call function is also inbuilt in all BEATRICE units, allowing the operator of one unit to call and alert other users.

The Glensound BEATRICE R8 is an 8 key intercom panel in a 19” 1RU sub-rack unit. It connects to 32 Dante™ network audio channels and also two local analogue inputs and outputs. A high quality natural sounding microphone amplifier with compressor / limiter circuit is provided for enhanced communications. This amplifier has two sources: a front panel mounted microphone and an external input suitable for headsets or gooseneck microphones. The front panel loudspeaker carefully selected for its intelligibility is provided for monitoring purposes and a headphone jack and external loudspeaker output (both analogue and Dante™) makes connecting to external circuits easy.

The BEATRICE R8 also features 2 x 4-wire circuits and redundant copper and fibre network interfaces. The 4-wire connectivity means that two traditional analogue 4-wire circuits can be connected to two of the R8’s intercom channels by utilising the versatile analogue audio inputs and outputs. When ultra-reliable communication is needed, glitch free redundant network circuits can be set up using the primary and secondary Dante™ network ports. Redundant networks can be set up across any of the copper or fibre Ethernet ports. One user connected to the unit can listen to up to 32 separate incoming audio streams and communicate with 8 outgoing locations on the network. Each of the 8 outgoing circuits has its own associated IFB feed. For setting up more complex groups and partyline circuits, an inbuilt fixed ratio mixer is supplied. It has 14 audio inputs direct from the network and 19 mix outputs to the network. Five of the mixers have inbuilt automatic audio ducking circuits. For added versatility the R8 has a number of GPIO circuits to interface with external switches & red light systems.