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MikeMcG 29 March 2011

Hi all,

I'm in the process of installing a new line mixer at the local grade school and I'm having a ...challenge... figuring out how to connect it to the old existing amp (which still runs perfectly.

The new line mixer is an ART MX622 - and has stereo 1/4" balanced outs. The old amp is a mono Bogen (I forget the model) that has a single RCA input. Since the setup is used for town meetings as well as plays and roller-skating for the kids, I want to sum the two outs so that none of the L/R info is lost.

Is it the connection as simple as connecting the rings on the L/R output of the mixer to the tip on the RCA while connecting all of the rings and shields together, or is additional components needed to do this safely?

Thanks,
-Mike

Comments

TheJackAttack Tue, 03/29/2011 - 10:45

Well, there are no balance adjustments on that unit so all the mic inputs (4-6) will go equally out left and right. Only the stereo RCA's will feed left/right separately. As far as connecting it, if you didn't need active volume control you could just use the recording outs. If you do need volume control just run a TS to phono cable. Most ART gear will operate the balanced connections as unbalanced however if you want to build an appropriate cable then the document you want is:
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.rane.com…"]Sound System Interconnection[/]="http://www.rane.com…"]Sound System Interconnection[/]

MikeMcG Tue, 03/29/2011 - 16:47

John,

Thanks for the info and the link to the Rane document. I hadn't realized that ARTs will run unbalanced so I'll try that first as I've already got a cable that fits the bill.

If that doesn't work, I'll make something from the Rane page as having the extra bit of volume control will work best in the long run.

...and since we're talking about Rane - who can forget: [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.rane.com…"]PI 14 Pseudoacoustic Infector[/]="http://www.rane.com…"]PI 14 Pseudoacoustic Infector[/]

Thanks again!
-Mike

Boswell Wed, 03/30/2011 - 08:44

You need to take a little care with this to get it acceptable.

Firstly, although microphone inputs will work correctly, there is the question of what happens with stereo sources such as CD and MP3 players fed through the mixer. If you can't take the L and R outputs of these devices into separate mono channels of the mixer, the usual way of getting mono out would be to mono mix the 2-track output. I'll come to how that might be done after the second point, which is that of signal levels. The new mixer output is liable to be too "hot" for the amplifier input by about a factor of 10, and so would need around 20dB of attenuation.

One solution to both these troubles is to use something like an SM Pro Audio M-Patch2 passive attenuator between the stereo output of the mixer and the mono input of the amplifier. It has has a stereo/mono switch and also gives an easy way of keeping the levels in check. You could hide it round the back set up switched to mono and the level control adjusted so that maximum output on the mixer was not damaging to ears or the other equipment. If or when you upgraded the power amp and speaker system to stereo, you would switch the M-Patch 2 to stereo output but still use it as a behind-the-scenes level control.

Big K Wed, 03/30/2011 - 09:33

No, this is ment as an interface between Mixer stereo-out and mono-in of the amp.
What in the world would bring me to suggest a B.... mixer to any member of this forum.
8-)

I go gray, but not senile, ... yet...

Getting another mixer instead of the MX622 that has mono out would be better, of course.

Big K Thu, 03/31/2011 - 03:45

Nice box, but what about the stereo to mono part?

For the Edelweiss flower on our hat and badge they called us Fleurop Devision (= send-a-flower-shop), but we were the best mountain devision on Earth, till it got closed and split up in 2001 . Sad day...

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