TRS or TS for monitors?

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kleraudio

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My initial thinking is TRS from the LR output of my mbox to the monitors....

But would TS work just as well?

Thanks!

Jim
 
kleraudio said:
My initial thinking is TRS from the LR output of my mbox to the monitors....

But would TS work just as well?

Thanks!

Jim
Click to expand...

Jim that would depend on what your monitors take at the input. TRS /TS/or XLR



:cool:
 
Hey moresound, thanks for the reply. I just ordered the rokit 6 monitors online and from the pics there is an xlr Jack as well as 1/4 Jack. I have to use 1/4 though because the mon outs of my mbox are 1/4.

Just wondering if I should buy ts cables or trs cables? My gut is saying to go with trs for balance, but does it really matter? Will I hear a difference if I go ts?

The reason I ask is because I have lots of guitar cables and no trs cables.

Thanks!

Jim
 
Just looked at the specs and it says :

xlr
RCA
1/4" TRS

so I guess that answers my question! Sucks I have to buy 2 more cables! Those cables get expensive!!

I bought monitors and thought I was done. Now I need cables, and iso pads!!

Recording on a tight budget can get rough , but I love it :)

Jim
 
Need to learn to solder and make your own cables Jim. :)

Will save you a fortune over the years.

Alan.
 
kleraudio said:
Just looked at the specs and it says :

xlr
RCA
1/4" TRS

so I guess that answers my question! Sucks I have to buy 2 more cables! Those cables get expensive!!

I bought monitors and thought I was done. Now I need cables, and iso pads!!

Recording on a tight budget can get rough , but I love it :)

Jim
Click to expand...
Just an FYI, there are also balanced cables with TRS on one end and XLR on the other, might make a difference in price between TRS to TRS or TRS to XLR. Might be worth to check prices on both.
 
witz- I know how to solder, just dont know where to buy the parts to make cables? Radio shack? Last time I priced the connections they were like 6 or 7 bucks for 4 1/4 mono jacks...

cables, not sure which to buy, all I know is 2 conductor and braided shield...

Do you know of a place that I can buy all of the supplies for a decent price?

Thanks for that post by the way cuz I didnt even consider making the cables till I read that reply :-)

noise- Those will work just as well? I thought about going that route too, just wanna make sure there wont be any difference from trs to trs vs xlr to trs.... I dont think there would be but just wanna make sure.

Thanks everyone, this place is alright!

Jim
 
Check the specs on the MBox too. In order to have a balanced connection, both pieces of equipment need to have balanced ins/outs. The only point of a balanced connection is noise reduction across the cable. As far as the connectors, a 1/4 TRS is about the same as an xlr in this application- both have tree conductors. So, if both pieces of gear have balanced connections, then you might as well use a balanced cable... unless you already have a TS cable, you can try it. If there is a lot of noise, then go buy new cables.
 
Jeff, looking at the specs of the mbox 2, it says this:

Monitor Outputs
Connector: Two 1/4" unbalanced jacks

So any old instrument cable will do? No sense in using balanced TRS if the output from the Mbox is unbalanced??

Also, why put an unbalanced jack into something like a monitor output where you want as little noise as possible?

Thanks!!

Jim
 
kleraudio said:
witz- I know how to solder, just dont know where to buy the parts to make cables? Radio shack? Last time I priced the connections they were like 6 or 7 bucks for 4 1/4 mono jacks...

cables, not sure which to buy, all I know is 2 conductor and braided shield...

Do you know of a place that I can buy all of the supplies for a decent price?
Jim
Click to expand...

Forget radio shack (Tandy in my neck of the woods) and all the other department store type suppliers), too expensive. Try to find a component supplier, in Australia I use Altronics a lot, if you get yourself a trade card it's even cheaper. There must be online suppliers you can buy from, I have even bought good quality XLRs from evil bay at good prices.

I usually buy 100 mtr (30ft) rolls of balanced (2 core and shield) and use it for almost everything, patch leads, guitar leads, even microphone leads, it it's for a unbalanced lead I use the 2 cores twisted together at both ends and the shield, or in the case of a tight fit cut off one of the cores.

Another plus side about making your own cables is that you can make them the length you need them to be.

Cheers
Alan.
 
kleraudio said:
Jeff, looking at the specs of the mbox 2, it says this:

Monitor Outputs
Connector: Two 1/4" unbalanced jacks

So any old instrument cable will do? No sense in using balanced TRS if the output from the Mbox is unbalanced??

Also, why put an unbalanced jack into something like a monitor output where you want as little noise as possible?

Thanks!!

Jim
Click to expand...

in that case try TS cables and see if they work. They may not as the monitors are expecting signal on tip and ring not just tip. Best case scenario is that it will work but if they work you may loose 50% (6dB) of the signal in each monitor because of that missing cold signal on the ring connection will prevent the balanced in from recombining the signals as expected.
If that's unworkable you'll either need to get a TS to RCA unbalanced cable to go froM Mbox to Monitors. If there are noise problems you may have to get a hum eliminator which will also balance the signal and allow you to use balanced cables into the monitors
 
Bristol Posse said:
in that case try TS cables and see if they work. They may not as the monitors are expecting signal on tip and ring not just tip. Best case scenario is that it will work but if they work you may loose 50% (6dB) of the signal in each monitor because of that missing cold signal on the ring connection will prevent the balanced in from recombining the signals as expected.
Click to expand...

If you plug an unbalanced TS into a balanced TRS socket, all it does is unbalance the signal. The way the socket works is that the sleeve of the TS connector bridges the ring to the sleeve, linking the neg side of the balanced line to the shield, which is exactly what you do when connecting a balanced line to an unbalanced line. There should be no loss of signal.

Cheers
Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
If you plug an unbalanced TS into a balanced TRS socket, all it does is unbalance the signal. The way the socket works is that the sleeve of the TS connector bridges the ring to the sleeve, linking the neg side of the balanced line to the shield, which is exactly what you do when connecting a balanced line to an unbalanced line. There should be no loss of signal.

Cheers
Alan.
Click to expand...

except he said the outs are un balanced so its not a balanced signal he's going unbalanced out to unbalanced cable to balanced in so there is no ring signal to bridge. I have experience signal loss in this scenario but maybe something else was at play in addition.
 
Bristol Posse said:
except he said the outs are un balanced so its not a balanced signal he's going unbalanced out to unbalanced cable to balanced in so there is no ring signal to bridge. I have experience signal loss in this scenario but maybe something else was at play in addition.
Click to expand...

It should work both ways, if there is signal loss it is usually from some other problem, i.e -10 into +4 device, the shield and neg pin not linked, etc etc.

I often plug a cassette player (remember those) with unbalanced RCA outs into a balanced TRS socket to via RCA to TS jacks transferring cassettes to CD (via computer) for clients and never have a problem with levels.

Cheers
Alan.
 
Thanks for the great info guys! I plugged in the monitors yesterday and all seems well...

I had 2 regular TS cables and I used those since the signal from the Mbox monitor outs are unblanaced...

Seemed to work ok, no noise or anything that I could detect..... Well actually, with no music playing, I could hear a tiny bit of noise from each speaker if I put my ear up to the speaker... more like a hum... you know what i mean...

Is that normal?? When the music was playing however, the noise wasnt a problem..

Jim
 
kleraudio said:
Thanks for the great info guys! I plugged in the monitors yesterday and all seems well...

I had 2 regular TS cables and I used those since the signal from the Mbox monitor outs are unblanaced...

Seemed to work ok, no noise or anything that I could detect..... Well actually, with no music playing, I could hear a tiny bit of noise from each speaker if I put my ear up to the speaker... more like a hum... you know what i mean...

Is that normal?? When the music was playing however, the noise wasnt a problem..

Jim
Click to expand...

Hey Jim, I was just going to PM you about the Mbox being an unbalanced out put but you've got that figured out.
Next if your going to start making your own cables you should really purchase a meter to check your work as you go ----nothing like making up a cable only to find out that you got it wrong in the end.



:cool:
 
moresound said:
Hey Jim, I was just going to PM you about the Mbox being an unbalanced out put but you've got that figured out.
Next if your going to start making your own cables you should really purchase a meter to check your work as you go ----nothing like making up a cable only to find out that you got it wrong in the end.



:cool:
Click to expand...

Hey moresound, yea thanks for looking into that too, I guess some instrument TS cables will work fine, which is good news cuz those TRS to TRS are expensive in the stores.

As far as making my own cables, I priced out some Canare GS-6 cable, (braided shield with one conductor), and it was like 90 cents a foot... Is that a good deal? Plus the 1/4 plugs were like 3 bucks a pop...... For a 10 foot cable Im looking at 15 bucks, thats a bit steep no??

And a meter is a good idea too, if I take the plunge and buy cable making stuff, I'll order a meter too... Know of anywhere that has a good price on some? Im thinking harborfreight.com but any suggestions are good.

Thanks everyone for your help, this place is really great!

Jim
 
kleraudio said:
Hey moresound, yea thanks for looking into that too, I guess some instrument TS cables will work fine, which is good news cuz those TRS to TRS are expensive in the stores.

As far as making my own cables, I priced out some Canare GS-6 cable, (braided shield with one conductor), and it was like 90 cents a foot... Is that a good deal? Plus the 1/4 plugs were like 3 bucks a pop...... For a 10 foot cable Im looking at 15 bucks, thats a bit steep no??

And a meter is a good idea too, if I take the plunge and buy cable making stuff, I'll order a meter too... Know of anywhere that has a good price on some? Im thinking harborfreight.com but any suggestions are good.

Thanks everyone for your help, this place is really great!

Jim
Click to expand...

A 10' trs cable for $15. is a good deal.
I have several meters (Christmas /birthday) but a cheapo from radio shack will work just fine ---the one with the little beep on it is great so as you don't have to look at the meter just wait for the beep.



:cool:
 
Hey moresound, no thats 15 bucks for a 10 foot TS cable.....

I'll have to hit up radio shack for a meter, I just dont know if I wanna spend that much on making my own cables when I can get a 10 footer for cheaper at guitar center...

Jim
 
kleraudio said:
Hey moresound, no thats 15 bucks for a 10 foot TS cable.....

I'll have to hit up radio shack for a meter, I just dont know if I wanna spend that much on making my own cables when I can get a 10 footer for cheaper at guitar center...

Jim
Click to expand...

Ya Jim I thought you meant TRS sorry that is expensive! you just need to find the stuff cheaper for it's out there did you try parts express?

You should have a meter anywho they always come in handy and you can find them CHEAP.



:cool:
 
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