Wiring Studio

  • Thread starter Thread starter demensia
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demensia

demensia

www.lukemacneil.com
Im not sure if this topic has been discussed or not, but I couldnt find what I was looking for in my previous searches.

I have all my gear wired together with 1/4 connectors..
Would it be better to rig it up using all XLR?

Im not the brightest of individuals, so I need to keep things real simple.. I dont understand impedence, although Ive read the definition many times.. What I get out of the previous posts is XLR produces less noise, and generally sounds better..

Is this something signifigant enough to go out and buy all new XLR cables and rewire my gear?

Right now for gear Im using:
SB Audigy (kuckies)
behringer 802A mixer
Behringer Autocom Pro Compressor
Behringer Virtualizer Pro (just for the hell of it)
Presonus Bluetube pre-amp
M-audio sp-5b monitors
Whirlwind IMP2 Direct Box
1 Shure PG81 Condenser
1 AudioTechnica Cheap Dynamic Mic
Crap Old-School Realistic Nova Pro Headphones.


I just want to make the best possible recordings using the gear I have. Just to add all my wires for everthing in the room (TV, Computer, Recording Gear) are a jumbled mess on the floor, probably creating a fire hazard.. The floor is cement, and I am generally a complete moron.
 
XLRs in themselves will not have an advantage over TRS 1/4" connectors. Now going from a -10 unbalanced system to a +4 balanced system (which is what I think you have in mind) would be an upgrade. This could be a mixture of connectors depending on your gear. For example in my studio the line outputs of my stand alone mic preamps are on XLRs and are +4. The inputs to the HD24 are +4 balanced but are on 1/4" TRS. On ADATS the +4 balanced ins and outs are on ELCO connectors. If I were to bring in a vintage 1176 compressor the ins and outs would be on a terminal block. The point is, it's not the connector but matching the gain stageing of your system. You need to find out what levels the equipment you have operates at and wire your system to that. What I mean is if you had something like an LX20 ADAT fofr example that only had unbalanced -10 ins and outs it wouldn't make sense to wire up the +4 balanced outs from a preamp.
 
whats the audible difference between -10 and +4? Is it just louder?
 
Louder and a lot more signal. If you plug a +4 out into a -10 in you may not have enough trim control at the destination device to turn down the signal level to keep it from distorting.

XLR cable and connectors do pick up less noise, but it's not cost effective to change everything over to XLR even if you use TRS plugs. If you are not running unbalanced TS line more than 10 or 15 feet you'll be fine using that. Keep them as short as practical.

Use the XLR where needed and TS where needed.
 
Well folks, this is what happens when you dont listen to people who tell you "what you have will work fine".

Because Im a retard, I took it upon myself to stroll on over to guitar center and spend $80 on a few 5 foot XLR cables.

After changing my gear over, I noticed absolutly no change in sound quality..

Upon carefully inspecting all my cords and shit (I knew there was just WAY too much noise going on for everything to be all good) I noticed the AC adapter for my pre-amp is split, and the plastic casing is stripped off.

Hmm.

I don't know if that was my only problem, but Ill tell you tomorrow when I hike my fat ass over to radio shack and buy a new 18vac adapter.

well... at least I have plenty of spare cheap radio shack TRS cables now.
 
Christ.

Ok, now I've spanned 4 Radio Shacks, a tweeter, a couple specialized electronics stores, guitar center and 2 states looking for a god damn 18 vac adapter with absolutly no luck at all and a waste of a day.

Kill Kill Kill.

I emailed pre-sonus and asked for a replacement, but does anyone know where I might have luck buying on online..
Can't even find the fuckers on ebay.

Kill
 
You might try Mouser Electronics. Do a web search. They have a large site.
 
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