Radial Catapult TX4L
Radial·Model Catapult TX4L·radial-catapult-tx4l
Photos
Manufacturer product photography — the drawn faceplate above stays true to panel layout; these show the hardware itself.
About the Radial Catapult TX4L
The Radial Catapult TX4L adds line-levelThe strong signal that runs between pieces of gear (about a volt) — hotter than mic level, far below speaker level. isolation transformersA magnetic coupling that passes audio between two windings with no wire contact — isolates splits and kills ground-loop hum, no power needed. to the Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. 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. system, letting you split playback tracks or console outputs to two destinations with the isolated side immune to ground loopsHum from gear seeing two ground paths at slightly different voltage — the classic buzz when two racks share audio and power.. It is built for playback rigs feeding both FOHFront Of House — the main mix the audience hears, and the console position out in the room where it gets mixed. and a broadcast or recording split, where hum from tied grounds is the classic failure. Works with any Catapult receive module over one shielded Cat5 run.
The Catapult TX4L is the transmit end of Radial's Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. 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. system, purpose-built for running four channels of line-levelThe strong signal that runs between pieces of gear (about a volt) — hotter than mic level, far below speaker level. audio down a single shielded Cat5 cable to a matching receive module. It sits at the source — typically your playback rig or console output — and does two things simultaneously: it sends all four channels down the Cat5 run to wherever the RJ45 lands, and it provides four transformer-isolatedA magnetic coupling that passes audio between two windings with no wire contact — isolates splits and kills ground-loop hum, no power needed. 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 locally. That local ISO split is the reason you reach for the TX4L specifically rather than a simpler Catapult transmitter. The transformer breaks the ground path, and that's the whole point.
Passive and unpowered, the TX4L draws nothing from your rack's power strip and adds 1.8 kg to your case weight — both non-issues. The isolation transformersA magnetic coupling that passes audio between two windings with no wire contact — isolates splits and kills ground-loop hum, no power needed. on the output side mean that when your playback rig's ground ties to a broadcast truck sitting on a different ground reference, the hum that would otherwise ride your split simply doesn't appear. On the Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. side, you're trusting the cable run to carry analog audio, so use shielded Cat5e or Cat6 and keep it away from power cable bundles. The system is passive end-to-end, so there's no active circuitry to fail mid-show — what you load in is what you get all night.
This box belongs in a playback rig that feeds two destinations: FOHFront Of House — the main mix the audience hears, and the console position out in the room where it gets mixed. and a broadcast, recording, or IEMIn-Ear Monitor — earpieces that replace floor wedges, feeding each player their own mix. The reason this whole rack exists.-world split where ground relationships are unpredictable. If you're only sending to one place and grounds are controlled, a standard Catapult TX without isolation costs less and makes sense. If you're running monitors-world with a standalone console that shares ground cleanly with FOH, same story. But the moment a broadcast truck or a recording interface from a different power leg enters the picture, the TX4L earns its keep immediately. It's not a general-purpose DIDirect Injection box — converts an instrument’s unbalanced signal to a balanced mic-level XLR so it can run long cables without noise. box — it's a specific solution for a specific and recurring live-audio headache.
In the rack
- Pair the TX4L only with a compatible Radial Catapult receive module — the Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. carries analog audio in Radial's proprietary pin arrangement, not standard Ethernet signals, so patching it into a network switch or generic breakoutA cable that splits one multichannel connector (like a DB25) into individual plugs — the octopus that turns 8 channels into 8 XLRs. will not work.
- Use the transformer-isolatedA magnetic coupling that passes audio between two windings with no wire contact — isolates splits and kills ground-loop hum, no power needed. 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 for the destination most likely to have a ground problem — broadcast truck, recording interface, or anything on a separate power feed — and let the Cat5Standard network cable grades. In an audio rig one cheap Cat5e run can replace a 48-channel copper snake; AES50 wants it shielded. run carry the signal to the other destination.
- 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. cable at both ends at load-in; a single unmarked Cat5 on a busy stage floor looks identical to a network or intercom run, and pulling the wrong cable during a set change is a real risk.
- Because the unit is passive with no depth listed, confirm your rack drawer or shelf depth before the gig — mount it on a half-rackThe 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. shelf or recessed panel and secure the 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. loomsSeveral cables bundled and run as one — keeps rack interconnects tidy and makes load-in one grab instead of eight. so strain on the connectors doesn't shift the unit mid-show.
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. transmit with line-levelThe strong signal that runs between pieces of gear (about a volt) — hotter than mic level, far below speaker level. transformer-isolatedA magnetic coupling that passes audio between two windings with no wire contact — isolates splits and kills ground-loop hum, no power needed. outputs.
I/O Ports (9)
| Port | Connector | Direction | Signal | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLR In 1 | XLR FEMALE | input | analog audio | — |
| XLR In 2 | XLR FEMALE | input | analog audio | — |
| XLR In 3 | XLR FEMALE | input | analog audio | — |
| XLR In 4 | XLR FEMALE | input | analog audio | — |
| ISO Out 1 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| ISO Out 2 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| ISO Out 3 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| ISO Out 4 | XLR MALE | output | analog audio | — |
| Cat5 Out | RJ45 | output | analog audio | — |
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Rack space, watts, weight and every connector, side by side.
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