SOUND DEVICES ASTRAL A20-NEXUS GO (01) PDF Document

To set up your SOUND DEVICES ASTRAL A20-NEXUS GO, please follow these steps:

1. Connect a 10-18V DC power source to either or both TA4-M DC inputs. Alternatively, you can connect PoE+ to Ethernet port 1.

2. Connect suitable passive, bias-powered, or smart antennas to either the front or rear BNC A and B antenna ports.

3. If using NexLink to control and monitor A20 transmitters, connect 2.4 GHz antennas to both rear panel 2.4 GHz SMA ports.

4. Connect the required rear panel audio outputs (Analog, AES, and/or Dante) from the Nexus to external devices.

5. Connect headphones to the front panel 3.5 mm headphone output.

6. Press the front panel triangle button to power up. Press and hold the button to power down. When powered up for the very first time, receiver channels 1-8 are displayed in the 8RX View. All RX channels default to Off.

To set the country on your SOUND DEVICES ASTRAL A20-NEXUS GO, follow these steps:

1. Press the triangle button to display the Main Menu.

2. Tap the System icon to enter the System menu.

3. Ensure the Country setting is set to the country that you are in.

This setting is important because it determines which Tuning Bands and RF frequencies are legally unrestricted and available for selection in the A20-Nexus. If you are using A20 transmitters, you must also ensure that the A20-Remote app they are paired to is set to the same country.

1. From the Main Menu, select the Audio Out icon.

2. In the Audio Output menu, you can select and configure the audio output routing options. This includes settings for Sync Ref, Sample Rate, Top D-Sub, Bottom D-Sub, HP Out, Tone settings, and Global RX Out Gain.

1. Press the triangle button to return to the Main menu if you are not already there.

2. Tap the RF icon to access the RF menu.

3. Select Front or Rear antennas by tapping the button at the bottom of the second screen. When ‘Rear’ is displayed, the rear antennas are selected. When ‘Front’ is displayed, the front antennas are selected.

4. If your antennas require bias-power, tap the A and B antenna gear icons to display their respective settings and set both of their Power (Bias) settings to On. The antenna icons will show a lightning bolt icon next to them when bias power is enabled.

Pairing adds A20 transmitters to the A20-Nexus TX List, which is an inventory of available transmitters for wireless remote-control via NexLink.

1. From the Main Menu, tap the TX List icon.

2. To pair an A20 transmitter, ensure it has a charged battery or batteries installed.

3. Connect the transmitter’s USB-C port to the A20-Nexus USB-A port.

4. The A20 transmitter will appear in the TX List after a few seconds. The SOUND DEVICES ASTRAL A20-NEXUS GO will then automatically establish a NexLink connection between the transmitter and the next available receiver channel. This can take up to a minute. Once the connection is established, the NexLink RSSI icon is displayed in the TX List’s NexLink column.

No, A10-TX transmitters cannot be paired or NexLinked with the SOUND DEVICES ASTRAL A20-NEXUS GO. To tune to an A10-TX, you must manually set the RF frequency, Modulation, and Privacy of the Nexus receive channel to be the same as the A10-TX.

From the TX List screen, rotate the front panel knob to highlight a receiver channel. Then, press the knob to jump to its 1RX View, from which the receiver and its NexLinked transmitter can be configured and monitored.

In the 1RX View for a specific transmitter, you can check the NexLink RSSI indicator in the leftmost screen to ensure the transmitter is within NexLink range. A good signal strength will be shown on the indicator.

If an A20 transmitter is paired but not currently on, navigate to its 1RX View. Tap the Power ON button in the third screen of the 1RX View to turn the transmitter on.

1. Press the triangle button to access the Main Menu, then tap the RTSA icon.

2. In the RTSA view, rotate the Control knob or tap the top half of the plot to move the blue vertical frequency marker to a clean frequency, which is a location with low background RF noise.

3. Press the Control knob to display the ‘Assign Frequency To:’ list.

4. Tap the desired receiver channel (e.g., RX1) to assign the clean frequency to it. The frequency is automatically pushed to the transmitter, and its RF signal will appear in the trace.

5. Alternatively, you can select ‘Auto Assign All’ at the top of the list to automatically deploy clean frequencies to all active channels.

Before assigning frequencies, it is highly recommended to perform a scan of the local RF environment using Scan Mode. This helps to identify and choose a clear Filter Range to apply to the Tuning Band.

1. While in the RTSA view, tap the orange number below the transmitter signal to jump to the 1RX View for that channel number.

2. In the 1RX View, tap the Gain button.

3. Rotate the Control knob to bring up the gain until you see the desired audio signal from the lavalier microphone connected to the A20 transmitter.

4. Press the Control knob to store the gain value.

1. Connect your headphones to the 3.5 mm headphone output on the front panel.

2. Put your headphones on and listen.

3. Rotate the Control knob clockwise to increase the headphone (HP) gain.