Meet the Astral Family of Receivers and Transmitters from Sound Devices

Sound Devices have been designing industry-leading equipment for film, television and broadcast for over 20 years, best known for their range of location mixer-recorders and high-end wireless systems. Their latest Astral family of wireless systems offer unlimited flexibility, wireless engineering excellence, and unparalleled power and control options for any application – TV & film, live events, theatre, worship, broadcast – anywhere the purest sound quality is required.

All receivers and transmitters in the Astral range use Sound Devices’ SpectraBand, a proprietary circuitry that enables greater access to legal RF frequencies: an unprecedented 169-1525MHz global tuning range. That means more operating frequencies are available in a given location alleviating the problem of no open spectrum to operate wireless mics. The SpectraBand hardware includes exceptional filtering that improves immunity from strong interfering signals (for example, a local DTV transmitter) or other transmitters close to the receiver (IFBs, 2-way radios, camera hops).

There are many wireless protocols from which to choose for controlling transmitters remotely, such as Zigbee, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. All of these are excellent technologies for many applications but are not ideally suited for wireless transmitter control. Either the operating range is too short, the power draw is too great, or the link reliability is not solid enough. This is why Sound Devices developed NexLink, their proprietary protocol for remote-controlling wireless mics. NexLink was written from the ground up by Sound Devices with wireless microphone systems in mind, and achieves what hasn’t been done before: a remote-control protocol which outperforms the range of the audio RF signal by a wide margin without the use of cumbersome repeater devices.

Receivers:

A20-Nexus

The half-rack receiver with an entire rack’s worth of features. The next-generation A20-Nexus is expandable from 8 channels up to 12 and 16 with additional software and features forward-thinking technologies like SpectraBand, the powerful NexLink remote-control link, real time spectrum analysis, and more. With multiple options for audio outputs, powering, and remote control, the A20-Nexus can seamlessly adapt to your workflow, both now and in the future. Visit the A20-Nexus product page for more info.

A20-Nexus Go

When you need to be mobile and on the go, packing a bag of audio gear on location, you need a high-quality, high-channel-count audio receiver that won’t weigh you down. The A20-Nexus Go true diversity wireless receiver was made with portability in mind. It comes with four receiver channels, and can be expanded to six and eight channels via software license, without additional hardware. Need to transition to a rack or cart? The A20-Nexus Go receiver’s half-unit size will save you space there, too. It’s ready for anything. Visit the A20-Nexus Go product page for more info.

A20-RX

The A20-RX two channel true diversity receiver features industry-exclusive SpectraBand technology, which delivers a tuning range of 470 – 1525 MHz in a single unit. Superior low-loss, brick-wall SAW filters deliver excellent performance in noisy RF environments, while the AutoAssign feature makes frequency selection and setting quick and easy. Experience ultimate flexibility as you find open spectrum away from the crowded UHF TV band. Visit the A20-RX product page for more info.

Transmitters:

A20-TX

Digital Wireless Bodypack Transmitter with GainForward and SpectraBand. Features up to 12 hours of battery runtime with built-in battery charger via USB-C. Full 10 Hz – 20 kHz audio bandwidth. 8-Series, fully balanced mic preamp built in (140 dB dynamic range) with ultra-quiet lavalier mic preamp (130+ dB dynamic range). Built-in 32-bit float, 48 kHz recorder with removable micro-SD card.  Visit the A20-TX product page for more info.

A20-Mini

Sound Devices’ first miniature transmitter incorporates state-of-the-art features such as full remote control via the A20-Remote app and NexLink, long range modulation, GainForward Architecture, SpectraBand’s 470 MHz – 1525 MHz tuning range, internal 32-bit float recording, and more. The A20-Mini is fully compatible with the A20-RX and the A10-RX. Visit the A20-Mini product page for more info.