I meant control room circuit. I was talking about the switch located above the headphone level knob.
The manual isn’t very well-written, and there’s no block diagram…there’s a ton of key info missing from the specifications. Reading closer and reading between the lines, it appears maybe the control room out jacks always source the main mix? Along with the main outs and the 2-track outs? They all source the main mix? The difference with the control room outs is you can also assign the 2-track input jacks and USB input to the control room out jacks or the main mix. And then your headphones can source either the main mix or the control room out. I’d have to have the console in front of me to confirm because the manual isn’t clear…there is conflicting information between the poorly-written manual and the labeling on the console itself.
So you can feed your speakers and master recorder with whatever jacks you want to use apparently (2-track out, main mix out, control room out), it’s just I don’t see how you control the output level of the 2-track out and control room out, because the manual isn’t clear. Normally with console like this I would expect there to be a control room out level control. The labeling on the control surface alludes that the headphone level control also controls the control room out level, and that’s what I would expect, but that’s not what the manual says. They also intermix the terms “cue” and “control room”…They are the same. They also intermix the terms “AUX” and “MONITOR”. They are the same. Does the level at the control room out jacks change as you adjust the phones level control? And then I guess the 2-track out level is controlled by the main fader?
FYI, a “phono” jack is traditionally a term for a 1/4” TS plug. So when you say “phono 2-track” output I believe you are talking about the “pin-jack” or “RCA” 2-track output jacks right?
And also I’m going to suggest you adjust your thinking to not try and make the mixer functionality fit what cabling or adapters you have available, but determine what outputs (and inputs) are the most appropriate to your need, and get ahold of whatever cabling and/or adapters are necessary to use those most appropriate outputs. I’ve never taken the approach of “I don’t want to/can’t use those outputs because I don’t have the right cable/adapter. I’ll use the outputs that match what cables/adapters I have on-hand instead.” Step 1 is identify the best connections by virtue of the functionality that fits your circumstance, and I know that’s part of what you are trying to do…better understand what those connections are…and maybe once you know and understand that piece you’re considering you may need some additional cabling or adapters, but that’s not clear from your posts, so I wanted to mention it here.
Assuming the “speakers” you have connected to the main outputs are your control room monitor speakers, if it was me I’d have those speakers connected to the control room out jacks (and I hope the phones level knob also controls the output level at the control room out jacks…again, the labeling on the console indicates that’s the case, the manual indicates otherwise but is not clear…), and I’d then connect my 2-track recorder to either the 2-track output jacks or the XLR main output jacks, whichever set best matched my recorder’s inputs. If the recorder is unbalanced input -10dBv nominal I’d use the 2-track outputs because I think that’s what they are (I know they are unbalanced, I’m just not positive about the level standard because, again, terrible manual, the specification is listed nowhere), and if my recorder inputs were balanced +4dBu standard I’d use the XLR main out jacks. Again, I’m assuming the 2-track out jacks and main out jacks are controlled by the main fader, but I don’t really know because the manual doesn’t say. That’s another question you could answer: does the main fader control the level at the 2-track out jacks as well as the XLR main out jacks? Anyway, by doing it this way, assuming there is level control of the control room output jacks, you then have independent control of your level to your control room speakers and your level to your 2-track recorder, and furthermore if ever you need to or want to you have access to the full functionality of your special 2-track returns and the assignability of those to the main mix or to the control room buss. I suppose it’s setup to use either the main mix or control room buss for those returns (the 2-track and USB inputs), but because the control room out jacks are tied to the phones jack it’s best to use the control room out jacks for monitoring and not a 2-track feed in case you want to use headphones while mixing down…your headphone level control will also adjust your 2-track feed if your 2-track recorder is connected to the control room out jacks.