The PRO knobs are the touchscreen members of the WVC knob family. They keep the precision encoders of the Dual and Quad knobs and replace the small monochrome displays with a 2.41" AMOLED touchscreen, so live system data sits under your hand alongside the volume control. This guide covers the PRO knobs only. For the Single, Dual, Concentric, and Quad knobs, see the Knob Guide.
Overview
A PRO knob is a controller, not a standalone device. It pairs with one WVC, WVC-LITE, or WVC-PRO base station over an encrypted AuralSync wireless link, and shows what that base station reports.
Compared with the other knobs in the family, a PRO knob adds:
- A touchscreen you can swipe and tap, in addition to the encoders
- A live supply-voltage readout with a scrolling trend, permanently on screen
- A lower panel you can switch between amplifier temperature, per-group volume faders, and (on a WVC-PRO base station) live spectrum, oscilloscope, and waterfall views
- A rechargeable battery with USB-C charging and an automatic sleep timer
- Over-the-air firmware updates performed by the knob itself
What the PRO knobs do not currently offer, and the other knobs do: the on-knob Smart Home menu. Configure Home Mode from the base station or the LF Audio AuralSync app instead. See Smart Home Integration.
PRO Knob Variants
| Variant | Encoders | Channel groups | Push buttons |
|---|---|---|---|
| WVC Dual PRO Knob | 2 full-size encoders | 2 | Both encoders press |
| WVC Quad PRO Knob | 2 stacked concentric encoders, giving 4 independent rings | 4 | The inner shaft of each stacked pair presses |
Both variants use the same touchscreen, the same battery, and the same firmware. Both are compatible with every WVC base station model. See Channel Groups and Multi-Unit Control for how groups are defined on the base station.
On the WVC Quad PRO Knob all four rings turn, but only the inner shaft of each stacked pair presses. The push switch on a stacked concentric encoder acts on the centre shaft, so the outer ring is rotate-only. This matches the Quad Knob.
The Main Screen
The main screen is split into three fixed areas.
The top bar shows the wireless signal strength to your base station, the battery level, and a compact readout of what your base station reports and the lower panel is not already showing: master volume and amplifier temperature. Supply voltage is not repeated up here, because the voltage readout below it is permanent. Protection status icons appear in the top bar too when they apply. A shield shows while the Intelligent Drive System is armed, a crosshairs while Competition Mode is on, and a flashing warning icon if IDS reports a low-voltage or high-temperature condition.
The upper half is a permanent supply-voltage readout over a scrolling trend graph. This never changes, on any panel, so system voltage is always one glance away. A smaller readout beside the voltage number shows the minimum and maximum seen, either over the visible window or over all time, depending on the Min/Max setting.
The lower half is the panel you choose. The bottom strip below it carries the volume bars and the panel dots.
The Volume Strip
The bottom strip sits under the panel and is always live. It shows one bar per channel group your base station reports, laid out in two rows. Each bar is colour-coded to its group.
Each bar carries two values at once:
- The solid fill is the level actually playing on that group.
- The dimmer band behind it is that group's own set point.
On a system with no slaved groups these are the same. If you have slaved one group to another, the difference between the two is exactly the amount the parent is holding it down by. See Channel Groups and Multi-Unit Control.
The bar you have just turned is outlined for a couple of seconds. Bar colours repeat after four groups, so on a larger system that outline is how you tell which group your hand landed on.
Tap any bar to open the large volume dial for that group.
Changing the Lower Panel
Swipe left or right anywhere on the main screen to move the lower half to the next panel. Only the panels your base station can actually feed are offered. The dots along the bottom edge show how many there are and which one you are on; they are indicators, not buttons.
You can also let the knob cycle panels for you. Turn on Auto Swap in Settings and set Swap Time to how many seconds each panel should hold.
Panels
| Panel | Shows | Available when |
|---|---|---|
| Oscilloscope | Live left and right waveforms, combined or split | Paired with a WVC-PRO base station |
| Spectrum | Live frequency bars per channel | Paired with a WVC-PRO base station |
| Waterfall | Scrolling spectrum history, as a 3D range or a flat heatmap | Paired with a WVC-PRO base station |
| Temperature | Amplifier temperature, one reading per probe input | Paired with a base station that has probe inputs. The panel is offered whether or not a probe is plugged in; an unused input shows no reading |
| Volume | Full-height faders, one per channel group, with set point and slaving shown | Always, on a WVC base station |
On the analysis panels, a control in the top-left corner switches the view style: 3D or flat for the waterfall, combined or split traces for the oscilloscope. On a 6-channel WVC-PRO a second control on the right picks which channel pair you are looking at. Your choice of panel, view style, and channel pair is remembered and comes back after a restart.
See Signal Analysis Features for what the analysis views measure, and Temperature Probe for the probes themselves.
Playback Controls
If your base station is connected to your phone as a media remote, a small previous / play-pause / next cluster floats above the volume strip. Turn it off with the Playback setting. The cluster is hidden automatically when your base station cannot provide it, or when nothing is connected.
Encoder Controls
Each encoder ring controls one channel group. Every ring behaves the same way.
Rotate
Rotate to change the volume of that ring's channel group. One detent is one step, at any speed. The volume strip updates as you turn, and the bar you are turning is briefly outlined.
If Fast Mode is on, each detent moves the volume four steps instead of one. See Volume Modes.
Short Press
A short press runs the action set by Click Function in the Knob settings:
- Speed (default): toggle between normal and fast volume steps. A brief message confirms which mode you switched to.
- Mute: sets every channel group and the master output to zero. A brief message confirms it, and every bar in the volume strip drops to zero. It is not a toggle, so turn an encoder or use the volume dial to bring the level back.
Double-Click
A double-click nudges the rings on to the next channel group. What moves depends on Group Mode:
- In Linear, the default, every ring steps together, so the rings keep their spacing.
- In Dynamic, only the ring you double-clicked moves.
- In Manual, nothing moves. Your assignments are pinned.
The volume strip briefly outlines the bar the ring now drives, so you can see where it landed.
In Linear and Dynamic this is a temporary nudge rather than a new setting: the automatic layout is re-derived when you next close the menu or when your base station's group count changes. Manual is the mode that sticks. Double-click does nothing if you have only one channel group.
Long Press
Press and hold to open the menu. From a menu screen, a press activates the highlighted row and turning the encoder moves the highlight, so you can work the whole interface without touching the screen.
Touch Controls
| Gesture | Where | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Swipe left or right | Main screen | Change the lower panel |
| Swipe up from the lower half | Main screen | Open the large volume dial |
| Tap a volume bar | Volume strip | Open the large volume dial on that group |
| Tap the gear | Top bar | Open the menu |
| Long press | Main screen | Open the menu |
| Swipe right | Any menu screen | Go back |
| Tap a row | Any menu screen | Select or change that setting |
The swipe that opens the volume dial has to start in the bottom half of the screen. An upward swipe that begins in the top half is treated as an ordinary gesture instead.
The volume dial closes on its own after a few seconds of no input. It shows one channel group at a time; tap a selector dot to switch groups. Turning an encoder while the dial is open keeps the dial in step.
Volume Modes
Two independent settings affect how the encoders move the volume.
Fast Mode is the short-press toggle described above. Normal steps one level per detent; fast steps four. It is not stored per ring, so it applies to whichever ring you turn.
Volume Mode, in the Knob settings, controls whether the encoders respond at all:
- Normal: every detent counts.
- Vib Guard: the knob ignores isolated detents and only starts moving the volume once it is sure you are deliberately turning it. Use this if heavy bass makes the encoders creep on their own.
- Locked: rotation does not change the volume at all. Presses still work.
Mapping Encoders to Channel Groups
Group Mode, in the Knob settings, decides how rings map onto the channel groups your base station reports:
- Linear (default): the rings are spread evenly across your groups and re-balance automatically when a group is added or removed. A double-click steps every ring on together.
- Dynamic: the same automatic spread, but a double-click steps only the ring you clicked.
- Manual: you assign each ring yourself, and it stays there.
Linear and Dynamic produce the same at-rest layout. They differ only in what a double-click does, and in both of them the automatic layout is restored when you close the menu or when the group count changes. Manual is the only mode whose assignments persist.
In Manual, a Knob row appears for each ring, letting you pick its channel group. These rows only appear when you have more than one group, and a Dual PRO shows two of them rather than four.
For example, on a WVC Quad PRO Knob with two channel groups, two rings drive each group; with four groups, each ring drives its own.
Knob Settings
Open the menu, then Settings > Knob.
| Setting | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Click Function | Speed, Mute | Speed |
| Group Mode | Linear, Dynamic, Manual | Linear |
| Volume Mode | Normal, Vib Guard, Locked | Normal |
| Knob 1, Knob 2, and so on | The channel groups your base station reports, up to 8 | Spread across your groups |
The Knob menu appears only on a knob whose encoders are configured. If the whole menu is missing, see Troubleshooting.
Settings Menu
The main Settings screen carries the display and system preferences.
| Setting | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | 10% to 100% | Applies immediately |
| Volume Units | dB, % | Changes the volume readouts and faders |
| Temp Units | °F, °C | Shown only on a base station with temperature probe inputs |
| Min/Max | All-Time, Window | Source for the voltage minimum and maximum readout |
| Playback | On, Off | The media transport cluster |
| Auto Swap | On, Off | Cycle the lower panel automatically |
| Swap Time | 2 to 60 seconds | How long each panel holds |
| Sleep | On, Off | The inactivity sleep timer |
| Sleep After | 30 seconds to 2 hours | How long before the knob sleeps |
| Knob | Sub-menu | Encoder behaviour, see above |
| Colors | Sub-menu | Theme presets and per-element colours |
| WiFi | Sub-menu | Saved networks used for firmware updates |
| Camera | Sub-menu | Camera picture settings |
Base Settings, on the main menu, controls the base station rather than the knob: IDS mode, minimum voltage, maximum temperature, Competition Mode, RCA gain, volume curve and volume floor. See Intelligent Drive System and RCA Gain.
Status Lights
Two small indicator lights sit under the top face.
| Light | Means |
|---|---|
| Dark | Connected to your base station and working normally |
| Slow purple flash | Searching for a base station, connecting, or the link has dropped |
| Slow red flash | A fault the knob cannot recover from |
There is no light for charging state here, no light for a firmware update, and no light confirming a successful pairing. Once the knob is set up, a dark knob is a healthy knob. Both lights are also dark during first-run setup, before the search begins.
The charge indicator is separate; see below.
Both lights may glow briefly at power-on, until the knob takes control of them. This is normal.
Battery and Charging
The PRO knobs run from an internal rechargeable cell and charge from the USB-C port on the knob body.
- The USB-C port is charge only. It carries no data, and it is not how firmware is updated. See Firmware Updates.
- A charge indicator on the knob shows charging in progress and switches when the cell is full.
- The knob charges whether it is switched on or off, so you can leave it on a charger overnight with the power switch off.
- The cell is protected against over-charge, over-discharge and over-current.
The battery level appears in the top bar. For a fuller view, open the menu and choose Battery, which shows the current level, the pack voltage, and a graph of the recent discharge.
The knob estimates its battery percentage from pack voltage, so treat the percentage as an indication rather than a measurement. The pack voltage on the Battery screen, and the discharge graph, are the readings to trust.
Do not store or charge the knob in a vehicle in direct summer sun. Lithium cells degrade rapidly above roughly 140°F (60°C). See Temperature Care.
Sleep
The knob blanks its screen after the period set by Sleep After, then drops into a deeper sleep shortly afterwards. Touch the screen, turn any encoder, or press any button to wake it. You come back to the panel you left.
Two things are worth knowing:
- The knob sleeps even while it is charging. This is deliberate: it is a battery device with a bright screen, and there is no reason to keep the panel lit on a charger.
- The gesture that wakes the knob does nothing else. The tap or press that turns the screen back on is not passed through, so waking the knob can never change your volume by accident.
While the knob is sitting in the WiFi setup screens the screen still blanks on the same timer, but the network activity carries on. While the knob is searching for a base station, the search is stopped when the screen blanks, so an unpaired knob left next to a base station that is switched off does not flatten its battery hunting for it. It does not resume by itself when the base station comes on: touch the screen, or plug the knob in, and the search restarts.
Turn Sleep off if you want the display to stay on permanently.
Unlike the other knobs in the family, the PRO knobs do not stay awake automatically in Competition Mode. Use the Sleep setting instead.
Pairing
On first power-on the knob walks you through a short setup, then searches for base stations in pairing mode.
- Put your base station into pairing mode.
- On the knob, follow the setup prompts and tap when ready.
- The knob lists the LF Audio devices it can find. Tap your base station.
- The knob negotiates its encrypted link and lands on the main screen.
The list refreshes while it is open, so a base station you switch on afterwards appears on its own within about ten seconds, without rescanning by hand. Swipe right to force a rescan.
To unpair, open the menu and choose Advanced > Forget Base. This clears the pairing and restarts into setup, and keeps your other settings. Factory Reset, on the same screen, erases every setting as well.
See Wireless Security for how the link is protected, and Antenna Options and Range if the knob struggles to reach the base station.
Firmware Updates
The knob updates itself over the air. It needs a WiFi network with internet access for the download; it does not use the USB-C port.
- Open the menu and choose Advanced.
- Choose Update Firmware.
- If the knob does not already know a network, it offers a list of nearby WiFi networks. Pick yours and enter the password.
- The knob downloads and installs, showing progress, then restarts.
Three related entries live on the same screen:
- Update Firmware: install a newer version if one is available.
- Repair Firmware: reinstall, for a knob whose last update was interrupted. On a knob already on the newest version this reinstalls that version; on one that is behind, it installs the newest.
- Update Base: start a firmware update on the connected base station. This appears only when the base station supports it. On a multi-unit mesh the row reads Update All Bases and one tap updates every unit.
Networks you enter are remembered for next time. Manage them under Settings > WiFi.
See Firmware Updates for the base station side, and check the current published versions at help.lf-audio.com/firmware-updates.
The PRO knobs have their own firmware, separate from the other knobs in the family. On the firmware updates page they appear as WVC Dual PRO Knob / WVC Quad PRO Knob.
System Information
Open the menu and choose System Info for the knob's own diagnostics: firmware version, hardware version, connection state, signal strength, message counters, and free memory. Base Info, on the same menu, reports the base station it is connected to: model, hardware version, firmware versions, uptime, name, and Bluetooth pairing PIN.
Have both to hand when contacting support.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Screen says "Signal lost / Reconnecting" | The base station is off, out of range, or on a different wireless channel | Confirm the base station has power. The knob re-finds it automatically, including after a channel change. If it never recovers, see Antenna Options and Range |
| Purple lights flashing, stuck searching | Not paired, or paired to a base station that is switched off | Switch the base station on, or re-pair via Advanced > Forget Base |
| Left unpaired overnight, still not paired in the morning | The pairing search stops when the screen blanks, and does not resume on its own | Touch the screen to restart the search once the base station is on |
| Rotating does nothing, but the touchscreen works | Volume Mode is set to Locked, or the knob left the factory without its encoder configuration | Check Settings > Knob > Volume Mode first. If the Knob menu is missing entirely, contact support |
| Volume creeps on its own at high output | Vibration is reaching the encoders | Set Settings > Knob > Volume Mode to Vib Guard |
| An encoder controls the wrong group | Ring-to-group mapping | Set Group Mode to Manual and assign that ring, or set it to Dynamic and double-click that ring alone. In Linear a double-click moves every ring together |
| A ring goes back to its old group after you leave the menu | Expected in Linear and Dynamic, where a double-click is a temporary nudge | Use Manual if you want the assignment to stick |
| No spectrum, oscilloscope, or waterfall panels | Those panels need a WVC-PRO base station | Expected on WVC and WVC-LITE |
| No temperature panel | The base station has no temperature probe inputs | Expected on WVC and WVC-LITE. The panel comes from the base station model, so connecting a probe to a base station without probe inputs cannot add it |
| Temperature panel is there but shows no reading | No probe connected to that input | Connect a temperature probe |
| Screen goes dark while you are watching it | The sleep timer | Raise Sleep After, or turn Sleep off |
| Firmware update fails to start | No usable WiFi network | Check the password under Settings > WiFi, and confirm the network has internet access |
| Battery percentage looks wrong | The percentage is estimated from pack voltage | Use the pack voltage in the Battery screen as the reading to trust |
For base station faults rather than knob faults, see Troubleshooting.
Related Articles
- Knob Guide covers the Single, Dual, Concentric, and Quad knobs
- Channel Groups and Multi-Unit Control
- Signal Analysis Features
- Intelligent Drive System
- Firmware Updates
- Troubleshooting