Well-designed monitoring facilities have transparent, wide-frequency response, high headroom and low noise and show you what your music production actually sounds like. They also should provide the "switching" between all the disparate audio sources--CD, VCR, DAT, mixer, cassette or analog tape decks that are common in the studio. The Central Station, to minimize noise and maximize signal integrity, uses 34 sealed silver relays for this purpose.

Accompanying the three sets of monitor outputs, each with their own set of trim pots, are three sets of analog stereo analog inputs to accommodate DAW/Mixer, Tape/CD or Keyboard/Sampler. Two of these inputs feature balanced, TRS jacks and the third has RCA jacks all with trim controls for matching signals at different levels. It also accommodates two digital inputs via S/PDIF or TOSLINK, providing a common D/A converter (up to 24Bit/192kHz) for DAW, CD or DAT player. A common D/A eliminates the different converter sound issue when A/Bing your mix to CD-Rs playing on a CD player and its own internal converters.

There is a 30-segment digital LED meter for monitoring input levels and there is also a talkback condenser microphone that is routed to the cue outputs for communication between artist and engineer/producer. When the talkback feature is used, the cue mix is automatically dimmed. Other features on the Central Station include two headphone outputs, Mute, Dim, Input Select, Cue select and Output select. An optional remote control is available for talkback, mute, dim, input and output selection, as well as volume control.

Selling for $699 MSRP, for more information contact PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. Visit www.presonus.com