OPTICAL CABLES
The Hosa/Livewire OPT-100 series (Standard) latches solidly into my H8000FW (OPT-102, OPT-103, OPT-106, etc.). However, most other cables will NOT latch solidly – – in fact, the Hosa/Livewire OPM-300 series (Premium) does not come close to latching because the metal headshells around the ends of those cables prevent them from reaching inside my H8000FW back panel where my optical jacks are recessed.
The problem I am describing here is not the H8000FW optical in/out jacks being too close together. The problem is that TOSLINK/ADAT cables are designed assuming the back panel plastic jacks pass out through the back panel so the jack ends flush with the outside of the back panel (or protrudes slightly). But on my H8000FW (upgraded from Orville to H8000A to H8000FW), the optical jacks are set back inside the back panel by two steps: One step is the steel sheet of the 17? wide back panel, the other step is the steel sheet of the OPTIONS panel that includes the ADAT jacks. Consequently, almost all TOSLINK/ADAT cables I have tried or seen in catalogs online will hit one of the steel sheets before they can reach far enough inside the back panel and latch into the plastic jack.
I?m glad synthtrumpet posted success with Monster THX because I might like to use one cable with a thicker jacket than the Hosa/Livewire OPT-100 series. From what I see online, the Monster Standard THX headshell ends with a plastic circular cone tapered toward the polygonal plug, so it looks close to fitting into my recessed jack, maybe with some light filing or carving of the conical shape to clear my back panel. However, the Monster Ultra Series THX looks like it will not fit without significantly more filing or carving of the headshell.
One point I learned here is all the optical cables I have seen agree on the polygonal configuration of their plugs and latches, and the H8000FW jacks have the standard configuration inside to latch onto all the polygonal plugs. My problem is my H8000FW jacks being recessed from the back panel, so most cable headshells hit the back panel before getting the proper depth of plug penetration into the jacks. To make a long story short, the Hosa/Livewire OPT-100 series always latches solidly in my H8000FW (OPT-102, OPT-103, OPT-106, etc.). I am confident they will work for everybody.
ADAT CLOCKING
Having said that about optical cables, if you hear clicks or pops on otherwise continuous audio, that problem is most likely confusion about routing/clocking, not cables or jacks. I say ?routing/clocking? in that order because the H8000FW routing presently loaded determines details of the clocking behavior, as I describe below.
To debug a problem, you want to experiment with states you can reproduce. For Flich, I recommend the following steps in this order: 1) Clear your setup (using the SETUP [service] page, or by powering up with the SETUP key depressed). 2) Load a factory routing that involves only ADAT as digital input, like ?12 ADAT A-B? (using the PROGRAM/ROUTING key). 3) Set clock Source to ADAT (on the first clock page of the SETUP area).
Now, after steps 1-3 in order, if your RME is the ADAT clock source (not using word clock in this experiment), and you have a cable sending ADAT to the H8000FW, then your H8000FW should have two yellow LEDs lit solid: One LED lit solid for the sample rate (44.1 or 48.0), and the LED marked EXT lit solid, which means all digital inputs involved in the present routing are locked. On the clock page, the other digital inputs appear ?(unlocked)? in parentheses to mean they are unlocked but they are not involved in the routing. Their status appears in parentheses instead of making them disappear from the clock page because disappearing would have added much confusion to the clock page!
In writing this post, I found a minor bug in my H8000FW (5.2): If I have ADAT arriving constantly at the H8000FW back panel jack while I follow the 3-step procedure I wrote above, then my clock page displays ?ADAT unlocked?, even though the two yellow LEDs are lit solid. I believe this inconsistency is a minor bug in the software feeding the clock page display, not a problem with the audio lock or the yellow status LEDs. In this case, I can add a step: 4) I can turn the H8000FW knob right to select any other clock Source, then I turn the knob back left to Source: ADAT, then the clock page properly reports ?ADAT OK?. Other solutions are to power cycle the H8000FW, or to stop and restart the flow of ADAT to the H8000FW. That might give the factory some clues where the inconsistent state is hiding.
I learned much writing this post. With the H8000A, I was able to draw a routing worksheet that Eventide has posted on their web site. But after upgrading to H8000FW, the routing/clocking behavior is too complicated for me to capture in a similar worksheet, at least as far as I can imagine. It took me a while to figure out my new approach, but here?s what I do with the H8000FW now: A) I have the H8000FW manual pages that show the factory routings printed out for quick reference close at hand, B) I think about what I want my H8000FW to do, C) I set my routing first, D) I set my clocking second. That works for me.
Flich, I?m confident the steps I wrote above should work for you.
Regards,
Dave
