Designed for general talkback between studios or departments, the TB-6R from Sonifex is a 19", 2 RU, rack-mounted six-way intercom unit with with flexible routing options and the ability to provide talkback functions for up to 7 independent locations. Each unit features easy-to-read, brightly lit push-to-talk buttons with momentary or latch functions and common D-type sockets, which use simple DC signaling, making it painless to daisy-chain units together and quickly build a versatile, building-wide intercom system.

Each TB-6R sports a built-in 1W loudspeaker and electret microphone, with the option to plug in an external mic, and a 1/4" stereo unbalanced headphone output with support for a wide range of impedances, from 32 to 600 ohms. With the ability to monitor two external feeds, you can allow all seven locations to communicate to each other while maintaining independent control of monitor muting and headphone or speaker levels.

For Professional Studios and Facilities    Provide Talkback for up to 7 Locations    Brightly Lit Push-to-Talk Buttons    Momentary or Latched Buttons    Built-In Electret Mic, XLR Mic Input    D-Type I/O for Talkback Inputs/Outputs    Monitoring of Two External Inputs    Auto-Muting or Mixing of External Inputs    Supports 32- to 600-Ohm Headphones    Built-In 1W Loudspeaker

A typical application would be to distribute talkback and audio feeds around a radio or TV studio complex. The TB-6R and desktop TB-6D units are daisy-chained together from location to location and the radio station output from an off-air receiver is distributed on input EXT 1 of each unit.

The EXT 2 input could be used in the news or sales area for monitoring local sources such as a PC audio output. Linking the studios in this way allows all locations to talk to each other together with the ability to monitor two external feeds, with independent control of monitor muting and headphone or speaker levels.

Some common locations that can benefit from routing with a TB-6R intercom unit include:

• Main on-air studio 1
• Production studio/on-air studio 2
• Central technical area 
• Central apparatus room 

Up to 7 locations or studios can communicate with each other. On each panel, there are 6 front-panel buttons for talkback selection and 2 for external inputs. When a button is pressed, the button lights up and the talkback is active to that location.

The buttons work with both a momentary and latched operation. If you simply press the button, talkback will be on and can be cancelled by pressing the button again. If you press and hold the button, the selection is cancelled when released.

So, if you wanted to listen to an external input, such as the radio station feed, or off-air monitor, you could simply press the EXT 1 button. If you receive talkback from another studio when the external input buttons are also pressed, the external inputs can be either muted or mixed, depending on the setting of an internal jumper. The talkback outputs and input are balanced signals on a 15-pin male D-type plug and the talkback input can be adjusted from using a rear panel preset pot.

You can speak to the separate locations using the onboard front-panel electret mic or there is a separate external mic input on a 3-pin XLR female connector, into which you can plug a suitable gooseneck microphone.

There is a rear-panel switch to select between the electret and separate input mic. The mic input gain range is adjustable via a rear-panel preset pot.

The unit can monitor two external sources. The EXT 1 input is a balanced stereo input on a rear panel 9-pin D-type socket, while the EXT 2 input is an unbalanced stereo input on the 9-pin D-type socket as well as dual RCA sockets. EXT 1 is useful for monitoring a distributed signal, such as a radio tuner off-air feed, or an outside source routed from an ISDN codec. EXT 2 is useful for monitoring a local source, such as a portable minidisc/flashcard recorder/player, or the unbalanced soundcard output from a PC editing/playback package.

If you already use a mixer which has a talkback input and output, or continuous talkback output, or just a line-level output which you want to use, by changing internal jumpers the intercom can be configured to use these connections instead of the on-board microphone and speaker/headphones. For example, if you have a mic channel on a mixer assigned to talkback and the presenter is using headphones for monitoring the mixer talkback, the TB-6R can be used purely for talkback switching and for monitoring external inputs.

For monitoring, you can use either the built-in 1W loudspeaker, or headphones on a 1/4" unbalanced stereo jack. The headphones provide 150mW into 32- to 600-ohm headphones. When the headphones are used, the speaker is automatically muted.

Additionally, the monitor speaker can be muted via a remote contact on the 9-pin D-type External Input connector, for example, when used in an area with live microphones. Both monitor and headphone levels are fully adjustable using the front panel volume control.

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Can I send 2 independent pictures, and have the waveforms display *over each picture* (rather than on a separate monitor), just to confirm the 2 sources are receiving audio from the source?

A: Yes, the Blackmagic Design SmartScope Duo 4K Rack-Mounted Dual 6G-SDI Monitors (B&H# BLSSD42) allows for two individual video sources. It's not possible to have them showing with the video showing behind them, however.

Q: 2. These monitors are independent from each other correct? I would like to send 2 camera feeds and see each cameras waveform.

A: Yep...you can. I have 2 of these with 4 camera feeds

Q: 3. Hi, The monitor itself is 4K or the screen is HD?

A: I believe the monitors accept 4k but down res it to the screen resolution which is more like hd.

Q: 4. How many rack units does this model take up? Thanks!

A: The Smartscope Duo 4k takes up 3 rack units.

Q: 5. Does this work with 3G SDI Level A?

A: Yes. The following supports the following feeds SD/HD/3G/6G-SDI

Q: 6. Could I control the "view" of the monitors with something like StreamDeck/Companion instead of using the BMD software?

A: Yes, you can control the view of the monitors using third party apps with the Blackmagic SmartView Ethernet Protocol v1.3 information laid out in the manual.

Q: 7. Is there a way to view the scope output from our atem 2 m/e production studio 4k switcher with a regular SDI monitor instead ?

A: The ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K switcher does not output scopes. To monitor the switcher output with the scopes, you could send the ATEM's output to the SmartScope Duo 4K.

Q: 8. The SmartScope work on windows and mac?

A: Blackmagic Design SmartScope Duo 4K Rack-Mounted Dual 6G-SDI Monitors these are designed to be connected to a network, not directly connected to computers. If connected together on a network both Mac an Windows can control them.

Q: 9. Does this pass video AND audio? I'd like to put it in between my iMac and my router so I can always monitor the video and audio going to the iMac and going to the router. Currently have SmartView (HDL-SMTVDUO2) and it doesn’t loop audio.

A: The audio is passed through the loop as the SDI is not altered. You can even monitor the audio on one of the displays if you like.

Q: 10. can i use this as my source & program monitors while editing in premiere?

A: Yes, this monitor can be used with any source through SDI, but I would not recommend using it to edit as it is quite small.