Dante Best Practices Part 1: First Steps
This is Part 1 in a series of articles about AudioControl Dante amps. If it's your first time setting up these amps, we highly recommend you read through this first part!
To learn about connecting your AudioControl amps using Dante, check out Part 2: Setting up Dante.
To learn more about using the Dante Controller with our amplifiers, check out Part 3: Using Dante Controller.
Before setting up Dante
When first power on your AudioControl Dante amplifier, there are a few things you'll want to do before connecting them in Dante.
Step 1: Play Audio
Connect to the amp's web interface, and send audio to a local input. Make sure hear audio at the output, and that volume controls work.
This would also be a good time to adjust the input sensitivity of the amp, if your incoming signal is coming in too hot or too quiet.
Step 2: Rename Everything
Once you have all your amps connected with Dante, it will be hard to tell the difference between them if they all have their default names.
Start be renaming the amplifier itself. The name you give them is up to you, a good idea would be to either number the amps, or name them after the location they're in.
Don't forget to click the ✔ to save the name change!
Next, rename the inputs to make it easier to know what source you're selecting:
And finally, rename the Zones to reflect the rooms they're outputting to:
Or you can name them after your favorite football players!
You'll still be able to rename inputs, outputs, and amps after everything is connected to Dante, but the other amps in the system will not automatically update to reflect these changes. You would need to select "Look For Devices" on each Dante amp on the network for them to update properly.
Step 3: Other settings
Now is a good time to make sure the firmware is up to date and speaker profiles are loaded onto the amp, and to set Static IP addresses:
Step 4: Audio Routing
If you have sources that need to be routed via the Dante Controller (usually from non-AudioControl Dante devices), create those connections in the Dante Controller App now. There are a limited number of Dante Inputs on each input, so make sure not to fill every slot if you're using a mix of AudioControl and non-AudioControl Dante products. We go into this more in Part 3: Using Dante Controller.
Additional Assistance
The AudioControl support team will gladly help you plan your system to avoid any hiccups. You can give them a call at 425-755-8461, or email techsupport@audiocontrolpro.com.
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