Opinions on Y splitters

[phatphuka]

I had someone ask me this morning if they could turn a 24 channel stage box into a 32 channel stagebox by using y-splitters on both ends of the last 8 channels. They wanted to do this because it seemed like less work than having to replace the entire snake and stagebox. (the cable route is particularily difficult to gain access to)

There where two ideas i had both with good/bad points:-

1). Make an xlr cable up that joins two xlrs to one xlr, joining like for like connections ( hot to hot, cold to cold, etc.)

or

2). Make an xlr cable that uses the hot as one channel and the cold as the other. Essentially turning a balanced connection into two unbalanced connections.

What do people advise (other than replacing the snake)? I thought idea two would be better as there is no chance of shorting the outputs of two units together even though it is two unbalanced connections running down the same cable.

Ta.

 

[dementedchord]

well i'm not keen on either of your ideas... though#2 might be ok ina pinch... how about a submixer??? ie a drum mixerthat then sends the drums in stereo down 2 ch on the snake...

 

[witzendoz]

I have used option 2, but only as line returns (extra fold back sends) to stage and only in an emergency.

Why not buy a second 8 channel snake (cheaper than buying a 32 channel) and stage box and run it along side the 24?

Cheers

Alan.