Hooking speakers up to my Zoom R8

skite

New member
Hello Everyone,

I would like to hook some non-powered speakers up to my Zoom R8 and I understand that I need some kind of amplification between the Zoom and the speakers. My questions is this, what is that I'm looking for? Would a small pre-amp work? is there something that most people use when doing this? Can anyone make any recommendations? Thanks for any help!! I'm pretty new at all of this.

Steve K.
 
You need a power amp - you need one with enough output to drive the speakers. Price wise - volume makes the price go up. Small speaker, small room = modest price. Big speakers in a big room ........ how much do you want to spend? Tell us the context and we'll advise. However - old hifi amps on ebay are quite cheap and perfectly OK normally.
 
I have an old typical home stereo Sony receiver/amplifier that would work as far as power goes but I wasn't sure how to hook up the Zoom to the Sony or if that was even recommended. Thanks for the quick reply!
 
I have an old typical home stereo Sony receiver/amplifier that would work as far as power goes but I wasn't sure how to hook up the Zoom to the Sony or if that was even recommended. Thanks for the quick reply!

Most likely you can use a pair of 1/4"-RCA cables to connect the Zoom to a tape/aux/CD input on the home audio device.
 
You need a power amp - you need one with enough output to drive the speakers. Price wise - volume makes the price go up. Small speaker, small room = modest price. Big speakers in a big room ........ how much do you want to spend? Tell us the context and we'll advise. However - old hifi amps on ebay are quite cheap and perfectly OK normally.
Is there a particular cable to use for connecting zoom to power amp? Like a stereo cable, or speaker or instrument?
 
Is there a particular cable to use for connecting zoom to power amp? Like a stereo cable, or speaker or instrument?
That depends somewhat on what you're connecting it to, but definitely not speaker cable since this is line level signal. The R8 has balanced 1/4" output. If your amp or powered speaker system has unbalanced input, use an appropriate pair of unbalanced cables (either 1/4" TS to RCA or 1/4" TS to 1/4" TS). If the power amp/powered speaker system has balanced inputs use a pair of appropriate balanced cables (either 1/4" TRS to 1/4" TRS or 1/4" TRS to XLR-M). TS means tip-sleeve, like a guitar cable. TRS means tip-ring-sleeve like a headphone plug. TS is used for mono unbalanced (which is why you need two for stereo). TRS is used in this case for mono balanced (though it's also used for stereo unbalanced, like headphones).

Sometimes you'll find paired mono cables, two 1/4" to RCA attached together, which might be a convenient way to do it, but two separate cables works just as well.

 
That depends somewhat on what you're connecting it to, but definitely not speaker cable since this is line level signal. The R8 has balanced 1/4" output. If your amp or powered speaker system has unbalanced input, use an appropriate pair of unbalanced cables (either 1/4" TS to RCA or 1/4" TS to 1/4" TS). If the power amp/powered speaker system has balanced inputs use a pair of appropriate balanced cables (either 1/4" TRS to 1/4" TRS or 1/4" TRS to XLR-M). TS means tip-sleeve, like a guitar cable. TRS means tip-ring-sleeve like a headphone plug. TS is used for mono unbalanced (which is why you need two for stereo). TRS is used in this case for mono balanced (though it's also used for stereo unbalanced, like headphones).

Sometimes you'll find paired mono cables, two 1/4" to RCA attached together, which might be a convenient way to do it, but two separate cables works just as well.

The power amp in question is a carvin dcm 2000. But you've answered the question for me. Thank you.
 
If you're hooking directly to the DCM2000, a 1/4" balanced to XLR cable would be the way to go. The Zoom has balanced outputs, so it's a simple connection. Just make sure you have the volumes turned down when you first connect everything, and slowly bring them up.

What type of speakers are you using? I'm going to assume PA speakers, because the DCM2000 will put out about 400W/Channel in stereo mode with 8 ohm speakers. Might be easy to blow a normal hi-fi speaker with that if you get a bit "rambunctious".

This would be the proper cable.

 
Back
Top