By Phil Garfinkel
A catapult is an old-time device that’s designed to project objects a long distance without propellants or explosives. The Catapult Series from Radial Engineering is designed to do the same with audio signals passively via Cat-5/6/7 cable.
For this evaluation, the company recently sent me a Catapult Rack, a new 12-channel, 1RU XLR-to-Ethernet connection box, and like every product from Radial that I’ve seen or used, it has excellent build quality and attractive graphics.
A while back, I worked with the original Catapult 4, so I wasn’t unfamiliar with the platform. I employed it with a folk duo, three channels total, plugging their microphone cables into the transmit box and bringing out a Cat-5 EtherCON cable. It made for a very visually clean stage and, since it’s all analog, zero latency. A whole lot lighter than a traditional sub-snake as well.
Radial also offers a unit called the Catapult Mini, which provides three I/O choices: XLRM, XLRF and 1/4-inch TRS (which, depending on the application, can either send or receive).
Read the full review at https://www.prosoundweb.com/road-test-radial-engineering-catapult-rack/
www.radialeng.com
Australian Distributor: Amber Technology www.ambertech.com.au
