Radial Catapult Mini RX
Radial·Model Catapult Mini RX·radial-catapult-mini-rx
Photos
Manufacturer product photography — the drawn faceplate above stays true to panel layout; these show the hardware itself.
About the Radial Catapult Mini RX
The Radial Catapult Mini RX converts four channels of audio carried over a single Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. cable back to individual XLRThe standard 3-pin locking connector for mics and balanced line signals — pin 1 is the shield, pins 2 and 3 carry the balanced pair. outputs, making it the receive end of a lightweight analog snakeA multicore cable bundling many channels into one stage-to-console run. A sub-snake collects one corner of the stage into a drop box. solution. This approach replaces heavy multi-pair audio cables with inexpensive and readily available Cat5 cable, dramatically reducing cable weight and bulk for stage runs. Pair it with a Catapult Mini TX at the other end for a complete four-channel analog snake.
The Catapult Mini RX is the stage end of a passive analog snakeA multicore cable bundling many channels into one stage-to-console run. A sub-snake collects one corner of the stage into a drop box. built on Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. cable. You run a single Cat5 from your rack-side transmitter — the Catapult Mini TX — and this box converts those four channels back to individual XLRThe standard 3-pin locking connector for mics and balanced line signals — pin 1 is the shield, pins 2 and 3 carry the balanced pair. outputs at the source. The idea is straightforward: Cat5 is cheap, light, and available at any hardware store in any length, which makes it a genuinely practical replacement for a traditional multi-pair snake on runs where you're sending a handful of channels and don't want to drag a heavy loomSeveral cables bundled and run as one — keeps rack interconnects tidy and makes load-in one grab instead of eight. across the stage.
Because it draws zero power and has no active circuitry, there's nothing to fail electrically, nothing to patch into your power distribution, and no rack space consumed — the unit is not rack-mounted in the traditional 1UThe standard slice of rack height: 1U = 1.75″. A 3U box takes three slices; half-rack gear pairs two units side by side in one. sense. At load-in that means one less thing to troubleshoot. The four male XLRThe standard 3-pin locking connector for mics and balanced line signals — pin 1 is the shield, pins 2 and 3 carry the balanced pair. outputs feed directly into whatever is at that end of the run: in-ear transmitters, playback gear, a wedgeA floor monitor speaker angled up at the performer — the thing IEMs replace, and the thing you fall back on when they die. amp, whatever you need signal at. The single RJ45 input takes standard Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. or Cat5e, and because the cable is passive, signal quality lives and dies on the quality of your terminations and cable run length, so use properly made, tested cable.
This belongs in a fly rig or a compact IEMIn-Ear Monitor — earpieces that replace floor wedges, feeding each player their own mix. The reason this whole rack exists. rig where you're trying to minimize cable weight and bulk for a short-to-medium stage run. Touring engineers who already carry a TX unit will find the RX an inexpensive and reliable second end. It is not a replacement for a full analog snakeA multicore cable bundling many channels into one stage-to-console run. A sub-snake collects one corner of the stage into a drop box. on a complex show with many channels, and it won't help you if you need more than four channels through a single run — for that you need multiple pairs or a different solution entirely. If you're working in digital and already running Ethernet for audio, you don't need this at all.
In the rack
- Test every Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. run with a proper cable tester before the show — a miswired pair means a missing channel, and passive boxes like this will tell you nothing about why signal isn't arriving.
- Velcro or zip-tie the RX to the back of a monitor wedgeA floor monitor speaker angled up at the performer — the thing IEMs replace, and the thing you fall back on when they die., a transmitter rack, or a drum riser leg rather than leaving it loose on the floor where it becomes a trip hazard and a connector stress point.
- Label your Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. runs at both ends with the channel map (e.g., 'L/R mix + click + guide') so any sub or local crew can trace a signal problem without you.
- Keep a spare pre-made Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. run of the same length in your bag — at $125 for the RX and a few dollars for cable, the whole snakeA multicore cable bundling many channels into one stage-to-console run. A sub-snake collects one corner of the stage into a drop box. is cheap enough to carry a backup without guilt.
4-channel Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. receive module — converts Cat5 back to XLRThe standard 3-pin locking connector for mics and balanced line signals — pin 1 is the shield, pins 2 and 3 carry the balanced pair..
I/O Ports (5)
| Port | Connector | Direction | Signal | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat5 In | RJ45 | input | analog audio | — |
| XLR Out 1 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| XLR Out 2 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| XLR Out 3 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| XLR Out 4 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
Deciding between two?
Rack space, watts, weight and every connector, side by side.
Related gear
Related articles
Guides from our library that cover planning around analog snake gear.
A plain-English guide to writing the input list, stage plot, and patch sheet that house engineers want — without the jargon, with examples, and with a free way to generate one.
How to split mic signals between FOH and your IEM rack: transformer-isolated splitters, phantom power rules, and where to place the split in the chain.