Avantone Mixcube Active Question

Submitted by horrortone on Thu, 07/09/2015 - 10:32

Hi,

Really hope you can help but i'm having issues with the mixtone. Presumably a dumb question since I'm a newbie but.

I've tried on two different soundcards.

Using the XLR from soundcard in stereo I seem to get a side mix. If I force the soundcard to mono I get an extremely quiet mono single. Even with the volume on the back of the mixcube turned up it's still no good for mixing and if i accidently switch out of mono the volume is deafening.

Using an audiojack the audio seems to just be the left channel.

Is this how it's supposed to be?

Comments

It sounds as if your cables are wired incorrectly, probably with the speaker signals being taken between L and R instead of the L signal to ground and the R signal to ground, so you are only getting the difference information being sent to the speakers.

You mention that the sound is correct when using headphones, so it's likely you are plugging the Avantones into the stereo headphone jack. You need to check that the L speaker is wired with its XLR pin 2 going to the TRS plug tip and the R speaker wired with its XLR pin 2 going to the TRS plug ring contact. Pins 1 and 3 of both L and R XLRs should be taken to the TRS plug sleeve. An alternative is to use an insert cable connected with the TRS plug going into the headphone output and the send and receive TS plugs into the combo input connectors on the rear of the L and R speakers, respectively.

What audio interface are you using?

Hi Boswell - Thanks so much.

Yes I am plugging the Avantone into the stereo headphone jack. Apologies, I should have said I'm only using one avantone. Also I was incorrect in my first post - I get the same result from using either an XLR or TRS - I just didn't have the TRS plugged in fully and that resulted in me getting a left channel signal from the mixcube speaker.

I have an rme hdspe and also a focusrite i8i6

If you are using a TRS lead from the headphone jack of the interface going to your single Avantone, either TRS or XLR combo input, then that completely defines your problem. The headphone jack puts out L and R signals on its tip and ring contacts respectively and the differential input of the speaker is wired to receive the difference between those two signals.

If you want to continue taking the signal out of the headphone jack, using an insert cable as I described previously will completely solve the problem. Otherwise, use an XLR-XLR or TRS-TRS lead from one of the rear-panel audio outputs on the interface to your single speaker.

To hear the full content of your tracks, you will need to keep sending mono signals out of your interface until you get a second speaker.