Daisy Chaining

What is Daisy Chaining?

Daisy Chaining is when you connect multiple stand-alone units together, so that they can work in unison as one solution.

Why do you need it?

When you have a room that is larger than the coverage range of a single unit, you can simply add more units in a chain to increase your coverage. The ability to daisy chain not only reduces cost by eliminating the need to install expensive and complex devices, it also gives you flexibility when it comes to room shapes and sizes that don’t do well with a central unit concept (such as U shaped tables or long panel podiums).

One stand-alone unit can cover a 15 foot radius, however, by daisy chaining multiple units, you can cover almost any sized room. Fifteen units would equal 450 feet!

How does Daisy Chaining work?

Units can be Daisy Chained by simply connecting two or more units to each other via a standard Ethernet cable (CAT5). When units are daisy chained together, all of the microphones in the chain will participate in a Beamforming process, picking up the best audio available amongst all the units.

Central Powering

For the Daisy Chain to work, each unit must be connected to a power source. However, with our central powering scheme, one unit can power the entire chain via the Daisy Chain links. This eliminates the need for multiple power outlets and cumbersome wiring. To use a central power scheme the Phoenix Audio 48V Power Supply (MT320) is required. Each 48V power supply can power up to 8 units, however multiple power supplies can be used.

NOTE: The Daisy Chain details on this page refer to the Spider and Quattro3 family. The Octopus family as well as the Duet Executive also offer a Daisy Chaining scheme, however it is different than the description above.

Click here for a step-by-step video on Daisy Chaining