BURBANK, Calif. When asked to write an article about Lightwave System's Fibox and its uses for broadcasters, I said sure.

I thought that perhaps many folks in radio and television may not even know what a Fibox really is.  So, here goes.

It is the digital equivalent of wire.

The Fibox is really a simple little device consisting of a digital transmitter and receiver, both only one-half rack space across.

The transmitter has two female XLR connectors on the rear panel and two level controls along with the two mic/line and two phantom power switches on the front.

It comes with its own built-in stereo mic preamps.  Switching 48 V phantom mic power in or out means that you can plug in any type of mic and remember.  No losses.

A flip of the switch and there is +4dB of line level audio.  The receiver box is just as simply laid out.  The rear panel holds the two male XLR connectors, while the front has a one-quarter inch stereo headphone jack.

In between the two units you can connect two feet or two miles of fiber.  It does not matter.

At the receiver, the Fibox reconstructs the digital signal back into a +4dB analog audio output.

Or let is say that it is time to build or modify an audio production facility and interconnect a couple of rooms together.

Why use wire?  In critical areas near high RF or in large electrical fields, the Fibox allows for transporting good clean buzz, hum or SMPTE code-free audio.

Little improvement needed
The only negative aspect of the Fibox is that there is no level metering on either the transmitter or receiver units.  There are two absolute peak LEDs on the transmitter (one for each channel).

Although these are adequate, it would be nice to more accurately watch the digital audio levels.

You get the picture.  The Fibox os probably one of the best-kept secrets in broadcasting.

Whether doing a sports remote or interconnecting audio control rooms or just about anything else requiring high-quality audio signals from here to there, Fibox is the way to do it.

Applications
The actual fiber is only about a one-eight inch in diameter and is lightweight.   I would rather carry 4,000 feet of Fibox fiber than 4,000 feet of multipair cables on a sports remote any day.

Here are a couple of applications.   Suppose you need to make a 5,000 foot audio run that will have no audio loss at all.