XLR vs. balanced 1/4" inputs?

O

osz

New member
I've been using my AW1600 which has 8 XLR inputs for recording a band live. But lately I've been trying to figure out my friend's AW4416 which only has 2 XLR inputs and a bunch of 1/4" inputs instead.

My question is: If I run an XLR to balanced 1/4" from various preamps to the 4416, is this the same as running an XLR to XLR?

Does this make the 4416 less useful without the XLR plugin, or does it not make any difference?

Thanks!
 
the XLR inputs on the 4416 are probably just preamps. So you will want to run line out of your external pres into line in of your 4416 (which are the 1/4" inputs). The two XLR channels on the 4416 should also have 1/4" inputs, pluging in there will prevent your signal from being over amplified. And yes, it's best to keep everything balanced.
 
Thanks, benny.

So is it actually preferable to use the 1/4" balanced inputs if I'm running from an outboard pre?
 
osz said:
Thanks, benny.

So is it actually preferable to use the 1/4" balanced inputs if I'm running from an outboard pre?
Click to expand...

As far as the cables themselves go, they are equivalent. Only the connectors are different shape. The conduction is the same: positive, negative, and ground. Electrically the units will not know the difference, except that as Bennychico pointed out XLR inputs generally indicate a preamp, while 1/4" generally indicates a line in with no preamp.
 
Quite often, 1/4" will indicate line in with something like a 20dB pad before the signal is then sent through the mic preamp anyway. It's worth checking this out in the technical documentation of your recorder. In most mixers this side of £1000, line inputs literally just attenuate the incoming signal and then reamp it, but in most PC sound interfaces the line inputs are clean straight through to the AD converters. So it's worth distinguishing what's actually happening on your unit.

Nik :)
 
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