please help with wiring speakers!!!

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gilbert

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Hi

I have two mackie art300a speakers and an 800as sub that I set up for monitoring in my home studio (I know they're not ideal, but the room has been treated well and they sound fine).

I'm having trouble wiring up a lead to run from my mixer to the speakers. Here's what I need:

RCA stereo out (unbalanced) of mixer. From there, the plan was to have one three core lead (mic cable) running to the first speaker. Once at the first speaker, I split the cable into a y config to run to each speaker. The sub is then connected via an output from one of the speakers (canon to canon).

I don't know the correct way to wire up the pins on the canons for this setup. At the moment, the main speakers sound fine, but then when I plug in the sub, the main speakers have a distorted signal coming through (when the mixer level is set to 0). There must be some sort of earth problem that I should be able to fix by having the correct wiring.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!!!
 
i dont think that will give you a stereo signal in both speakers
 
I don't think it matters if the earth is common, as long as you have separate hot signals going to each speaker.
 
speakers

i just had a pretty legnthy thread on wiring my pa system. i think it was in the other equipment forum.

i searched MF and Mackie site for the speakers you listed and didn't see them, so i am not sure what they are, but i am assuming that they are all powered speakers

anyway

#1. The mic cable is usually about 22/24 gauge wire. If you are going to push any kind of power, that small a cable will not do you justice. If you are just doing a line level feed, they will (should)work fine.

#2 I am not sure what a "CANNON" connector you are referring to is...i assume an xlr. but?????????

here's what i kind of did (i was running from power amps...but it still applies)

I made 4...1' jumper cord. and attached them to my legnth of 3 conductor cord.

Jumper 1 and 3 (one on each end of the cord) used the red/shield combination, and jumper 2 and 4 used the black/shield combination.

I hooked red 1 to the right channel, ground to sheild, RCA connectors and then matched on the other end, with 1/4" connectors.

Then, I hooked black 2 to the left channel, ground to shield, and matched on the other end.

you end up with a cord with double "y"'s; one on each end. (you will have to make one of the patch cord longer to reach the other speaker.)

i assume this is pretty much what you did.

as for now feeding the sub, once again i assume it is powered, and has a low pass filter in it somewhweres.

There are pin-outs of 3 pin connectors everywhere, they are usually pretty common.

i know how mic cords are wired, but they may do something different when they use it for high current (speakers) i have never used an xlr speaker cable. But in any case, you would think as long as you went 1 to 1, 2 to 2, and 3 to 3 you would fine.


But, like i said, i'm not sure what a "cannon" connector you are referring to is.



hope this helps
 
But, like i said, i'm not sure what a "cannon" connector you are referring to is.
Click to expand...

Cannon is a brand name like "Switchcraft". They make XLR's as well as other types.
fitZ
 
What kind of a mixer only has rca's for monitor outs? There must be some other output.
 
Most of the subs that I have seen have you go from the mixer to the sub. then the sub to each of the speakers.
Are these PA speakers or studio monitors? I can't find any info on these at all.
Is the sub powered? (does it have a built in amp like the monitors)
 
Hi guys

Thanks for all the replies. Here's some info that might help you give me some more answers:

- All the speakers are powered, so mic cable should be fine.

- By Canon, I meant XLR connectors, and the speakers and sub each have XLR in and out.

- The mixer has jack master outputs, but I want to use the separate RCA output that is labeled 'monitor', since it cuts the signal to the speakers when you insert headphones into the mixer (handy when I record, as I have no other way of muting the speakers, other than getting up to turn them all off whenever I go into record mode). This was the whole reason for making the RCA speaker lead in the first place.

- The sub only has one input, so how do I wire it so that I can feed it both the left and right channels from the RCA monitor out, whilst feeding both the left and right speakers from the same output (keeping everything in perfect stereo)?

- I am unsure as to what a 4...1' jumper cord is - can some please explain some more.

- yes, the speakers are PA. I paid for some MACKIE HR824's, but the fucker ripped me off and didn't send them!!!! The room is treated well, so the speakers sound OK for now.

Thanks guys!

ps I am currently feeding my left and right speakers from the master jack outputs on the mixer. Then I connect the sub from one of the speakers XLR outputs. However, as soon as I connect the sub, I get a slightly distorted signal coming through the speakers when the mixers outputs are all at zero, and I can still hear it in the mix as I turn up the mixers outputs. Anyone familiar with this type of problem?
 
You are going to have to feed the sub from another source. maybe an aux send or a monitor feed or something. There is no way to do it just soldering a cord together.
 
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