NAV-TV® IS FIRST TO MARKET WITH AN AFTERMARKET A2B INTERFACE: INTRODUCING ZEN-A2B
Advanced Amplifier Interface for Ford and Lincoln Vehicles with Bang & Olufsen®, Revel® and Revel Ultima® Sound Systems
May 9, 2018 — NAV-TV Corp., a leading innovator and manufacturer of OEM integration and safety products for the automotive aftermarket, announces the ZEN-A2B amplifier interface for select Ford and Lincoln vehicles with the Bang & Olufsen®, Revel® and Revel Ultima® Sound Systems.
Ford and Lincoln’s new Premium Sound Systems use Automotive Audio Bus® (A2B)[1] digital audio bus technology, which delivers high fidelity audio for automobiles while significantly reducing weight. A2B is a high bandwidth (50 Mbps) digital bus capable of transferring audio and control data with clock and power using a single, 2-wire, unshielded, twisted pair cable over distances up to 32 feet (10 meters) between devices. It supports multiple microphone arrays in vehicles to enable applications such as voice recognition, active noise cancellation, and in-car communications. However, due to the complex nature of A2B audio systems, vehicles utilizing the technology have been difficult to integrate with, leading to poor sound quality, reoccurring come backs and customer dissatisfaction.
NAV-TV is proud to announce that there is now a solution for A2B audio integration! The ZEN-A2B allows the seamless addition of aftermarket amplifiers into compatible vehicles, delivering audiophile-quality sound without compromising the vehicle’s factory fit, finish or features.
Utilizing the same processing power as NAV-TV’s competition proven M650-GM, the ZEN-A2B produces a completely flat audio output without any factory time delay or equalization, eliminating the need for summing devices, an audio correction DSP or the removal of the factory audio compensation microphones. Volume, Fade[2], Balance and Bass/Treble tone controls are retained through the factory radio and echo cancellation for the factory Bluetooth hands-free system is supported.
Traditional audio integration devices convert a high level output from the factory radio or amplifier to low level, or manipulate a fixed preamp level audio signal. However, this method relies on the factory radio or amplifier to perform the digital to analog conversion (D/A) and may lead to less than ideal sound quality. Unlike traditional devices, the ZEN-A2B extracts the audio directly from the A2B digital audio stream and performs the D/A conversion internally. Utilizing a 128 bit floating point DSP and 384 kHz 32 bit DAC, the ZEN-A2B produces a 12 channel analog output with an extremely low noise floor and a S/N Ratio of 114dB.
For use with 3rd party digital sound processors[2], the ZEN-A2B includes a variable TOSlink digital output which may be used simultaneously with the analog outputs, or by itself. The variable digital output allows for the system volume to be controlled via the factory radio and steering wheel controls without the need to access any 3rd party controller.
For ease of use, the ZEN-A2B is configurable through dip switch settings. User selectable features of the ZEN-A2B are:
- Full scale audio or -12dB attenuation
- Loudness on or off
Pre-orders of the ZEN-A2B (NTV-KIT873) are being accepted now with a shipping date of May 15th, 2018. To place a pre-order, or for more information on the ZEN-A2B, please contact your NAV-TV sales representative at (866) 477-3336 (USA and Canada toll free) or +1(561) 955-9770 (International), or email our sales staff at sales@navtv.com. European customers with inquiries may contact NAV-TV UK at +44-333-700-1515 or by emailing info@nav.tv.
[1] A2B is a registered trademark of Analog Devices, Inc.
[2] Please refer to the operation and installation manual of your 3rd party DSP or device, or contact the manufacturer directly. Although NAV-TV has tested numerous 3rd Party DSP devices for compatibility with the ZEN-A2B, we cannot provide technical support on 3rd party products.
