General
Housed in an all-steel, powder-coated chassis equipped with a Kensington-style lock, the Qswitch 4-channel stereo switcher is the latest addition to ARX's popular Audibox range of precision-audio gear. This smart unit offers four stereo inputs that can be linked up to a single stereo output or vice versa and comes with a bank of four latching, interlocked switches which means you can only select one switch at a time. Thankfully, scribble-strips have been stuck above each switch so you can mark them using a china marker and never flick the wrong switch.
The innovative precision design allows you to use the Qswitch in one of four modes:
- 1 : 4 for ending each of the four sets to active speakers, subs, etc
- 4 : 1 to route one of the four signal sources to a single output in a broadcasting, fixed installation or studio set-up
The Qswitch is equipped with TRS jacks that are compatible with both balanced and unbalanced signals. On the right side of the rear panel, you'll find a left+right pair of jack sockets marked IN/OUT. When these are used as inputs, the four jack pars on the left side of the white line serve as outputs and, by engaging the switches on the front panel, one of these pairs can be rendered active. However, when these four pairs of jack sockets are used as inputs, the signal will be routed to the pair of jack sockets on the right, which then become outputs. Operating this patch bay is actually really simple: there are no mode switches to activate and there's no software to install - it's just plug and play.
