Roland RSS M-48 Review

Dec 4, 2009 12:00 PM, By Kevin Becka

This compact personal mixer system offers powerful, scalable individual monitoring and simplified wiring/powering via Cat-5e cable.

Personal Mixing Made Easy

Roland designed this product to work in a wide range of studio and live applications. The system is impressive in its design and implementation, easily meeting the needs of stage or installed settings, whether in a house of worship or recording studio.

The only real fault I found was the lack of a channel polarity switch in the software or on the box, which would be nice in an over/under-miking scenario. Also keep in mind that the S-4000 digital snake ($7,995) is an essential part of the network, so figure that into the price.

Other than that, the M-48 personal mixer is a beautiful system that sounds excellent, is full-featured, flexible, and scalable. It may just be the answer to your distributed mixing dreams.

Product Summary

Company: Roland Systems Group
www.rolandsystemsgroup.com
Product: M-48
Pros: Setup is via PC (software included) or RSS V-Mixer; integrates easily into wedge or in-ear monitoring systems.
Cons: No per-channel polarity-flip control onboard or in setup software.
Price: $6,995 (M-48/S-4000D bundle includes five M-48 personal mixers and a S-4000D splitter/power distributor)

Specifications

Minimum system requirements: Roland S-4000 digital snake or PC computer (if no V-Mixer is present)
Number of input channels: 43 (40 via Cat-5e, 2 aux inputs [stereo pair], 1 ambient mic input)
Number of output channels: Four (stereo pair line outs plus stereo headphone feed)
Sample rate: 96/48/44.1kHz
Resolution: 24-bit
Connections: RJ-45 EtherCon-type REAC port; L/R aux input on stereo miniature phone jack; L/R line outs on 1/4in. TRS jacks; record line output: stereo miniature phone type.
Headphone outputs: Stereo 1/4in. and 1/8in.
Power supply: +48VDC, supplied by S-4000D
Dimensions: 11.75"x6.75"x2.7" (WxDxH)
Weight: 22oz. (single M-48)