Lawo has announced the end for several of its radio/audio products. In the announcement, the company said, “We always aim to maintain the availability of our products for as long as possible; however, the discontinuation of key components and other factors inevitably lead to the end of product life.” The company assured customers that it guarantees a full repair service for product components during the two-year factory warranty period and long-term product support according to its terms and conditions of sale.
The affected products are the crystal surface MKII, crystalClear, Compact Engine, Nova 29, KSC Eth panels, KSC T20 panel, KSC TB-12 panel and A_OnAir4.
Lawo AG presented the Compact Engine in 2008 and the crystal console MKII to the public for the first time in 2014 at the Broadcast Asia Show in Singapore. Since then, the crystal surface and Compact Engine have been used in many applications and are well accepted by users across the globe.
The crystal surface, designed for radio and on-air applications, offered frame sizes of four, eight, 12 and 16 faders using table-top or counter-sunk frames. The combination of crystal, Compact Engine, and the optional Ravenna I/O card introduced in 2015 was one of Lawo’s first implementations of Ravenna/AES67 that later became a native feature across Lawo’s product portfolio.
Lawo introduced the A__OnAir4 was introduced in 2016. It is a Ravenna-based audio I/O device, configurable for portable or stationary applications in combination with R3LAY VRX or as a stand-alone product.
The Nova 29 is a 1RU MADI router introduced in early 2010, and the KSC panels are 1RU key extensions for legacy base units and mixing consoles.
The replacements
With the introduction of a new crystal surface at NAB/AES in New York in October 2023, crystal MKII, A_Onair4, Nova 29, KSC panels, Compact Engine and its related components approached product end-of-life.
For existing installations or ongoing projects that utilize crystal MkII modules and frames, Compact Engines and A_OnAir4, a last-time purchase window will close on May 15th, 2024.
Lawo’s service team will continue to support all crystal MKII, Compact Engine and A_OnAir4 installations based on the following software releases:
- A_OnAir4 — software version 7.0.2.103, Ravenna version 1.6.0 r12467 (103)
- Compact Engine — software version 6.0.27
- crystal — software version 5.0.1
- Compact Engine Ravenna I/O expansion card — software Version 10-2-0-127, Ravenna software version 1.16.0 r12348 (127)
Lawo says it will offer support according to its terms and conditions of sale and will only be able to service components still in stock; supplies of replacement components will be limited to stock on hand.
Should you have any questions, you can contact your closest Lawo office here.
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