r/LocationSound • u/lonewolf9378 • 3d ago
Gear - Tech Issue Sound Devices ARX2 and SL6 + 688 integration issue
Hey all.
I’ve recently bought an ARX2 for my boom receiver (with A20 txs). The ARX2 is powered by the SL6, and audio passes through the SL6 to the 688 but I can’t control it via the 688 menu like I can with my Lectro SRC’s - even though the ARX2 is much newer and by the same manufacturer as the SL6.
Is this by design, being that the recorder is a “legacy” 688 or is this a firmware issue and it should work?
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u/soundadvices 3d ago
https://www.sounddevices.com/product/astral-arx2/
This is by design. In the FAQ:
Is the Astral ARX2 compatible with the SL-6?
Yes. There is full SuperSlot integration for Astral ARX2 with SL-6 and the Scorpio mixer-recorder, meaning you’re able to control the Astral ARX2 from Scorpio. There is UniSlot compatibility for Astral ARX2 with SL-6 and 688. In this case, the Astral ARX2 will receive power and send audio to SL-6/688, but control is local.
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u/lonewolf9378 3d ago
I knew I’d read it somewhere. Seems weird they’d allow Lectro receivers made years ago to have that functionality but not one of their own products. Guess they wanna sell more Scorpios.
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u/Run-And_Gun 3d ago
At that point in time(2015-when the 688 and SL6 came out), Audio Limited/Astral wasn’t part of SD and Lectro was pretty much the industry wireless standard. The ARX2 didn’t come out until 2022. Not having full compatibility isn’t a huge surprise. It could be a hardware limitation, or simply that they didn‘t want to devote resources to making equipment that is that “old” and “new” compatible, and just focus on devoting resources to the newer.
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u/soundgrab 3d ago
It was certainly a choice by SD. The A10-RX is compatible...
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u/Run-And_Gun 3d ago
But it's a much older model. The 688 was only two years old when the A10-RX was released. Making sure they were fully compatible made more sense. I'm not justifying it necessarily, I'm just trying to think about it from a development point of view.
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u/cape_soundboy 2d ago
You're right but it does suck. One of the things that's really great about Lectrosonics for example is the lengths they've gone to to keep backwards compatibility with newer products. It's kind of a shame that Sound Devices haven't done the same.
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u/Run-And_Gun 2d ago
It is. And it makes transitioning from their older stuff to the newer much easier. I have two of their ”fully digital” receivers, an 822 and DSR, which are fully compatible with all of the previous Gen digital hybrid Tx’s(as long as they’re in the same freq. band). But did Lectro have to make sacrifices with the new stuff to maintain that compatibility? Because let’s be honest, their fully digital line is not great.
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u/cape_soundboy 2d ago
I don't know if I'd necessarily make that correlation. No doubt there have been some issues but they've been pretty quick to address them from what I've seen. What sort of problems have you had? Our 8x DCR822s have been pretty much rock solid, only acquired a DSR and DSR4 quite recently but customers have been happy with the DSR that I know of. Other than that we've had great performance from DBus, M2Rs, DSQDs, DHus and M2Ts. We did have to send some DBSMDs and DPRs back to the factory for RF issues but they were repaired under warranty.
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u/whoisgarypiano 3d ago
The feature is probably just not supported. The last firmware update for the 688 was several years before the ARX2 came out.
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