Max digital volume and Monitors

"My Akai disk recorder is 220-volt, yet has a 120-volt plug on it : )"

That ^ is not supposed to happen here in UK* and is in fact 'illegal' . Does not stop certain off shore suppliers sending gear with the wrong mains plug though. Pisses me off when 'certain' (cough!) amplifier manufacturers go to great lengths to supply the RIGHT mains lead and connector at the RIGHT local mains voltage to every country in the world. Such care and the exhaustive testing that goes with it is a cost the penny-pinching consumer does not see and is avoided by many.

*Though WHERE we shall be in 5 years time C, Alone Knows!

Dave.
 
jimmys69 said:
What did you have for lunch? :)
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Usually whatever I ordered at the Camden Brasserie plus several bottles of wine and a brandy or two to finish. My secretary knew not to book any afternoon meetings on days I was meeting the Ampex rep.
 
ecc83 said:
"My Akai disk recorder is 220-volt, yet has a 120-volt plug on it : )"

That ^ is not supposed to happen here in UK* and is in fact 'illegal' . Does not stop certain off shore suppliers sending gear with the wrong mains plug though. Pisses me off when 'certain' (cough!) amplifier manufacturers go to great lengths to supply the RIGHT mains lead and connector at the RIGHT local mains voltage to every country in the world. Such care and the exhaustive testing that goes with it is a cost the penny-pinching consumer does not see and is avoided by many.

*Though WHERE we shall be in 5 years time C, Alone Knows!

Dave.
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Remember the days when anything electrical you bought just had bare wires and you had to install your own plug...because there were at least three "standard" sockets in the UK?
 
I agree G but I think the newcomer to these matters can be forgiven for gaining an impression of simplicity? The fact is Pinkertel, there are no standards about this and in any case 'balanced' comes in various forms.

The 'classic' balanced output uses a amplifier per 'leg' (pins 2 and 3 of an XLR). This has the advantage of a 6dB level boost when driving a proper balanced in out but is a bit dodgy for the home bod who might UN balance it because shorting the 'cold' side to ground can cause problems. The signal is still 'tied' to a ground and so does little to help ground loops.
Almost gone now is a fully 'floating' transformer output. Pretty bombproof, full galvanic isolation and very resistant to RFI but no 6dB lift and expensive to do with high quality. Very common these days is the 'impedance' balanced source. No signal gain and no better ground isolation than twin amps but very cheap to implement and no signal degradation as per the transformer. Z balance also has the great advantage that you cannot get the polarity wrong (aka, improperly, 'phase') since if you do you get buggerall!

Now, +4 (dBu) Mr P! This Operating Level has been snaffled from truly 'pro' gear and is often quoted where it really does not belong. You see, saying OP is +4dBu IMPLIES pro levels and that means a headroom of 18 to 20dB above +4dBu but a very great deal of otherwise really very good kit, AIs mostly, can only muster around +12, maybe +14dBu at most.

It is as you can see, a complex and varied subject and, as you rightly point out, MANY people do VERY good work and know Jack S about decibabble!

(and we have not even STARTED on ground cancelling systems!)

Dave.
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Hmm ok interesting.

I think my question/issue and answer has gotten more complicated than it has to be.

I don't have engineering expertise. But comsumer/prosumer products follow basic rules. Like audio gear or any gear that runs on electricity and is modular it is made to work together(within their own contexts like pro mixing or making waffles). So I don't really get the lack of standards.

People don't read up on headroom and db scales before buying headphones or ipods.

Only thing that maybe I am guilty of is mixing standards, right?

I bought active monitors.

Farview pointed out that like I already thought you should leave your fader on 0db on your computer. Can we all agree this is common practice?

Running a balanced +4 or a unbalanced -10 both result in clipping in the monitor.

Quote Originally Posted by Pinkertel View Post
Do we all agree this is normal because there isn't a standard and buying other active monitors won't matter. And I just have to cut 15 db with a mixing board between the monitors or a pot in a tin?
No, I think most of us think that the monitors you bought are junk. There is no reason in the world that the soundcard would put out a signal that a standard monitor wouldn't take. It should be one of the line levels.
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I tried two different sets of these. They both clipped. How do I know what monitors of different brands don't do this. Are these monitor more like for hooking up to your tv and not made to run of a standard line level with the fader set on 0db on your computer? How the frick do I know what monitors will clip with the computers fader set on 0db and which won't?


From this thread. I heard two different comments "shit monitor/these are not meant for running of line level with the computer fader set on 0db" (meaning I guess buy others) or "there are no standards/not enough headroom in some active monitors just put a pot or AI in between".

So which is it? If I have to buy other monitors fine. What do I check for If I buy them?
 
Well, I'm not using active monitors, 'cept for the dinky computer monitors. But I can tell you that even consumer sound that would be -10, I've had plenty of instances of reducing computer level

Now, my own take on this, years ago, is that computer 0 isn't relevant for any of my purposes. I've got meters and gain on anything taking this signal
 
"Remember the days when anything electrical you bought just had bare wires and you had to install your own plug...because there were at least three "standard" sockets in the UK? " Indeed I do Bobbs! But you have seriously miscounted. There were SEVEN variants if you included the emerging 13A plug and EIGHT if you included the deeply dangerous 'bayonet' plug!

The law eventually required retailers to fit properly fused plugs. Problem was, although they could charge IN THEORY the customers bitched badly. Eventually it fell to mnfctrs to fit the plugs (and din't THEY bitch!!) I was however to their advantage since it was surely cheaper for them to do it than the importers?

That advantage has been eroded now and off shore firms just supply WTF they like because the present incumbent cannot fund JACK SHIT properly and so Trading Standards are sorely depleted of man power and resources.

Dave.
 
The problems we are running into when trying to answer your question are:
1. You are using monitors that no one has heard of and have never used in the context of hooking up to an audio interface and being used for recording. There is no experience to be drawn on.

2. No matter how well you describe what you are hearing and what you are doing, none of us are there actually seeing/hearing the setup. These are all just guesses based on what you have described.

The only thing I can tell you is to stay away from anything that says DJ on it. Most of that stuff will be cheap garbage that's pretending to be actual DJ equipment. DJ equipment being relatively inappropriate for recording/mixing purposes, you will have two things working against you. (stuff that is only pretending to be equipment that is inappropriate for your needs in the first place.
 
Well, you can find stuff shopping online with big names on it with questionable specs. hahaha A distortion rating a 1k might be tossed out the window with a Skrill-bot source. What were the -10 and +4 1k distortion ratings, anyway : )
 
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