Feeding Multiple Sets of Monitors...

floorpuncher

floorpuncher

My God Has Horns
Here's a brief rundown of my current setup:

HP Envy15 Running Windows 7: Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer Edition, Sony Acid Pro 7, Pro Tools 8, Drumkit From Hell.

Line 6 Guitar Port (upgrading to Line 6 UX2): Gearbox/POD Farm software

MBox 2

Set of Samson MediaOne 3a Studio Monitors

Set of Samson MediaOne 4a Studio Monitors

Sony 10 inch subwoofer

Basically the way everything works together is the Guitarport (or the MBox or when my UX2 comes in) takes the place of the onboard soundcard for the PC. Any monitoring system interfaces with the computer through the Guitarport. The Samson monitors are active with RCA outputs as is the subwoofer. Right now I've got RCA to 2.5mm cables running into a splitter to combine everything into the single 2.5mm output on the guitarport so that both sets of monitors and the sub all produce sound. This works and I honestly don't notice a difference in sound quality (but I'm sure some elitist audiophile is cringing reading this) but it's an eyesore and kind of embarrassing when I have other musicians over to jam or record. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a better way to accomplish this that doesn't look ghetto rigged. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
hey man, its all good. Expensive advise is still good advise, even if you cant afford it. At least you know about it now.

The Mackie Big Knob is a great addition to your studio. I first bought it and thought it was a one trick pony, but it really found a home in my studio. It is $299 brand new. Its nice having that, literally, big knob in easy reach to control the monitors instead of a small know on your interface.

Goodluck!
 
Thanks guys. These are all good suggestions. I actually found a four way distributor at Radioshack for $20. It works great and it didn't break the bank.
 
floorpuncher said:
Thanks guys. These are all good suggestions. I actually found a four way distributor at Radioshack for $20. It works great and it didn't break the bank.
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what's the model number? I'm curious - I have a zillion sets of amps/monitors I switch out all the time, and while my mains and two sets of near monitors are all covered ok, I have alternative items I want to compare against (my ghetto blaster with aux ins, stuff like that) and I always have to patch things to make 'em work.
 
ps - many more experienced engineers have commented elsewhere (including myself) that the mackie big knob, while a good device, does very very slightly color the sound. it's not the end of the world of course, but if you want a purer sound you have to jump a bit up to the presonus monitor controller (I forget what it's called) which doesn't color the sound, and then there are professional controllers that cost WAAAAAAAAAAY more but also don't color the sound.

So just offering a useful alternative, but it's still WAY more than your $20 radio shack box :-)

you're as low budget as I am LoL
 
dkelley said:
what's the model number? I'm curious - I have a zillion sets of amps/monitors I switch out all the time, and while my mains and two sets of near monitors are all covered ok, I have alternative items I want to compare against (my ghetto blaster with aux ins, stuff like that) and I always have to patch things to make 'em work.
Click to expand...

This is what I got. It was on sale in my local store for $20. I don't use the video capability but the audio portion works really well for what I paid. If you're looking for something that will let you switch between sets of monitors this isn't it... this is, more or lessm, a four way splitter.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103065
 
cool... perfect

it doesn't need to switch, and I don't care if it's 100% transparent in this case.

it just needs to take one input and give me multiple outputs which can go into the boombox and the powered computer speakers etc that I use for mix reference listening.

everything it'll output to has it's own on/off switches and volume controls.

I'll watch for something like that. good idea!
 
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