Tascam LA-40 Impedance adapter

C

cvalona

New member
Hello, can somebody tell me why I would need one of these ? My MSR16's ins AND outs are all RCA type.
I have everything connected to my Tascam M2600 MkII mixer that I will want to record on to my MSR16.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand how or why I would use one of these adapters ?

peace & kindness, charles
 
The only reasons I can think of would be:

1. You wanted to connect your gear to gear which used a balanced system.

2. You wanted to have your mixer a long way away from your tape machine, like many metres away. Balanced is much better for long cable runs where noise is more likely to intrude with unbalanced.

But if it's only a short run in the same room, unbalanced is probably OK.
 
If, like most Tascam mixers, your mixer has RCA jacks for PGM OUT and TAPE IN, just connect it to the recorder with quality (i.e., well shielded) RCA cables. As Tim said, short runs will do fine without balanced cables.
 
The LA 40 puts in and out a +4 signal at the xlr and 1/4" jacks and -10 at the rca jacks. So unless the Tascam M2600 mixer operates at +4, or you need to convert the voltage from one piece of equipment to the next there's no need to use the LA-40.
 
Hello and THANK YOU for the help. My Tascam M2600 MkII operates at either +4 or -10, howewver, when connecting to my MSR16 it has RCA (-10 ) jacks only. Therefor, I was thinking maybe I should have an LA-40 or LA-80 to convert to XLR (+4) voltage.

What I'm trying to do is: connect my drum mics and bass mic to the M2600 MkII using the channel (s) XLR Balanced Inputs - then out of the mixer and into the MSR 16 - and then out of the MSR 16 and into my Roland VS2480.

NOTE: all of my studio is in one room, which is a nice size room/den in my house, so cable runs aren't actually all that long. I just thought that since the drum mics and bass mic are going into the Tascam using Balanced lines, it might be better to keep everything in Balanced lines ?

That's where something like the LA-40 or LA-80 would come into play ?

peace & kindness, charles
 
cvalona said:
Hello and THANK YOU for the help. My Tascam M2600 MkII operates at either +4 or -10, howewver, when connecting to my MSR16 it has RCA (-10 ) jacks only. Therefor, I was thinking maybe I should have an LA-40 or LA-80 to convert to XLR (+4) voltage.

What I'm trying to do is: connect my drum mics and bass mic to the M2600 MkII using the channel (s) XLR Balanced Inputs - then out of the mixer and into the MSR 16 - and then out of the MSR 16 and into my Roland VS2480.

NOTE: all of my studio is in one room, which is a nice size room/den in my house, so cable runs aren't actually all that long. I just thought that since the drum mics and bass mic are going into the Tascam using Balanced lines, it might be better to keep everything in Balanced lines ?

That's where something like the LA-40 or LA-80 would come into play ?

peace & kindness, charles
Click to expand...

You could use your mixer like that, but I'm not sure if it would be any improvement over just using the Tascam M2600 set for -10 to the MSR. It seems more practical rather than putting another piece of gear and more cables in the way. You don't need to convert the voltage, which is what the LA 40 is for. Like someone else said, the balanced gear is only important for long runs. The balanced mic inputs have their own line voltage and is a different thing altogether than the in/outs of the tape deck and mixer. The mics are balanced for low impedance, long runs and phantom power, the two things are separate and don't really matter to each other.

You could use the LA 40 or 80 to go to your 2480, because I think that takes +4 inputs. It may or may not be better that way.

I thought I had the PDF for the LA 40 but all I found on my computer was the LA40 MKII PDF.
 
cvalona said:
I have everything connected to my Tascam M2600 MkII mixer that I will want to record on to my MSR16.
Click to expand...

What does the 2600 have for the sub section output connectors? Does it have rca or does it use one of those special type cables with xlr at the other end?
 
How you connect your mics to the board doesn't suggest anything about using -10 or +4 at the tape outs. For short distance connection unbalanced -10 will be fine. Switching the tape outs to -10 also unbalances them so they interface well with your recorder. You just need some TS-RCA snakes.
 
And keep in mind that the internal operating level of both the tape machine and the mixer is -10dBv, so as far as interfacing those two units any bump to another operating level is taking your signal through unnecessary circuitry. They are already 100% compatible and as said above as long as your cable runs are under 25' or so and you use good quality shielded unbalanced cables you should be fine.

And there's no reason to convert the unbalanced -10dBv outputs of the M-2600 to anything other than just that. The VS-2480 will accept unbalanced -10dBv inputs as well. You would just need adapters to go from the outputs of the mixer to unbalanced XLR, strapping pins 1 and 3 (pin 2 is hot on the Roland unit).
 
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