DJ Niems
Hey all
This isn't related to Virtual DJ, but I guessed that these forums are so busy and there are so many guys that can help out that I would try my luck.
Now up untill now, I have been using powerful midrange drivers and an 18 inch subwoofer to do my parties. But at the time, all I could get my hands on was a simple car crossover. Well I wired it up and it worked ok, but I'm feeling something missing. Its just sitting in my rackmount, connected up with rca's and voltage converters and whatnot.
But now i want to upgrade to a proper rackmount crossover. The thing is, they use these "XLR" connectors that I have had no experience with before. Basically, I'm not sure in terms of the outputs on the mixer compared to the inputs on the crossover, whether they are stereo or mono.
Let me give an example of what i want to do:
- I want to output from a mixer that looks like this from the back, just going to use a NUO2 as an example: http://www.eclerdjdivision.com/instruments/nuo/galeria/nuo2_backpanel.htm
- I want to then input them into a crossover with 2 stereo channels, 1 stereo for highpass and 1 stereo for lowpass. The crossover has 2 XLR inputs and 2 XLR outputs, assigned evenly for 1 lowpass and 1 highpass channel.
- I then want to input them into my amp with has 2 of those XLR connectors (using 1/4" jack at the moment).
Therefore my amp will drive my midranges on the 1 channel, and my sub of the other.
The thing I'm getting confused with though, is the mixer has 2 XLR outputs, named R and L, right and left. Now I been wondering if this means left and right as in stereo from a master out; or if it means that each output is stereo itself, but is controlled by the left and right faders on the mixer. If ether of these is the case, then case 1: the crossover will have to run in mono mode, or case 2: my subs and midranges are going to be assigned to the left / right fader.
I dount this is the case, but I just need some clarity as to how to set up with these connectors that I have never used before.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Regards -
Niems
This isn't related to Virtual DJ, but I guessed that these forums are so busy and there are so many guys that can help out that I would try my luck.
Now up untill now, I have been using powerful midrange drivers and an 18 inch subwoofer to do my parties. But at the time, all I could get my hands on was a simple car crossover. Well I wired it up and it worked ok, but I'm feeling something missing. Its just sitting in my rackmount, connected up with rca's and voltage converters and whatnot.
But now i want to upgrade to a proper rackmount crossover. The thing is, they use these "XLR" connectors that I have had no experience with before. Basically, I'm not sure in terms of the outputs on the mixer compared to the inputs on the crossover, whether they are stereo or mono.
Let me give an example of what i want to do:
- I want to output from a mixer that looks like this from the back, just going to use a NUO2 as an example: http://www.eclerdjdivision.com/instruments/nuo/galeria/nuo2_backpanel.htm
- I want to then input them into a crossover with 2 stereo channels, 1 stereo for highpass and 1 stereo for lowpass. The crossover has 2 XLR inputs and 2 XLR outputs, assigned evenly for 1 lowpass and 1 highpass channel.
- I then want to input them into my amp with has 2 of those XLR connectors (using 1/4" jack at the moment).
Therefore my amp will drive my midranges on the 1 channel, and my sub of the other.
The thing I'm getting confused with though, is the mixer has 2 XLR outputs, named R and L, right and left. Now I been wondering if this means left and right as in stereo from a master out; or if it means that each output is stereo itself, but is controlled by the left and right faders on the mixer. If ether of these is the case, then case 1: the crossover will have to run in mono mode, or case 2: my subs and midranges are going to be assigned to the left / right fader.
I dount this is the case, but I just need some clarity as to how to set up with these connectors that I have never used before.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Regards -
Niems
发表时间 Fri 21 Jul 06 @ 4:48 pm
DJ Niems
Sorry guys but this forums has no "edit" feature. Realized something after I had checked.
The crossover is assigned like this: chan 1 input; chan 1 highpass out; chan 1 lowpass out - chan 2 input; chan 2 highpass out; chan 2 lowpass out.
That makes 6 connectors, not like the 4 I had stated
Thanks!
The crossover is assigned like this: chan 1 input; chan 1 highpass out; chan 1 lowpass out - chan 2 input; chan 2 highpass out; chan 2 lowpass out.
That makes 6 connectors, not like the 4 I had stated
Thanks!
发表时间 Fri 21 Jul 06 @ 4:54 pm
johndavis
If it's a stereo crossover, use channel 1 for left and channel 2 for right.
Your mixer should feed the crossover input, the outputs should feed the respective amps.
XLR is a common way to wire balanced audio connections. There's three wires: positive, negative, and ground. (The RCA connectors you are familiar with feed unbalanced audio: positive & negative, no ground.) Balanced audio is less susceptible to interference that causes hum.
If your amp doesn't have an XLR input or a TRS 1/4" input (Tip/Ring/Sleeve - 3 wires) jumper the negative wire to ground on the unbalanced side.
Hope this helps!
Your mixer should feed the crossover input, the outputs should feed the respective amps.
XLR is a common way to wire balanced audio connections. There's three wires: positive, negative, and ground. (The RCA connectors you are familiar with feed unbalanced audio: positive & negative, no ground.) Balanced audio is less susceptible to interference that causes hum.
If your amp doesn't have an XLR input or a TRS 1/4" input (Tip/Ring/Sleeve - 3 wires) jumper the negative wire to ground on the unbalanced side.
Hope this helps!
发表时间 Fri 21 Jul 06 @ 5:35 pm
DJ Niems
Oh so its basically a souped up rca? Just checking, but this means the L and R on the mixer are for master out right? They would work the same in setup as the red and white rca outputs next to them?
If so, thanks for the help!
If so, thanks for the help!
发表时间 Fri 21 Jul 06 @ 6:05 pm
MUSIKGUATE
@ DJNiems........first of all.......I would definetly recomed buying a DBX Crossover, you can buy the dbx234XL, for my opinion, DBX is one of the best brands in the market, they run for about $250.00 and hooking it up is very easy, if you have low, mid and high separetly I would recomend 234XL witch is a 2/3/4 way stereo Crossover, it has invert polarity switches, has a low sum function and if you have full rage speakers and lows, then you can run it in 2 way stereo just using low and mid/high outputs. check it out at www.dbx.com
Also you can check it out in my blog.
Hope this helps.
Peace !!!
Also you can check it out in my blog.
Hope this helps.
Peace !!!
发表时间 Fri 21 Jul 06 @ 11:55 pm
Manquín
I guess DJ Niems can't check your blog he is a demo user.
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 1:28 am
Well you want to build your system exactly how i build mine. Well first of all i want to tell you my experience about crossover. Earlier days i had hand-built active crossover in a plastic box, i payd 1$ for rca connector, and my dad (electronic) has build it up, he had parts which are cheap... somehow i thought it is not a pro, so i buyed rackmount active crossover (Phonic Pcr2213) which is pretty godd, it has many many options on it but sound is 10% better... i spent more than 200$ and 50$ for canon connector cables to get 10% better sound, but what a hell it's a pro, and have 40 led diods, looks nice :)
Do not be confused with XLR (canon) conectors, they have 3 pins because they are BALANCED. one canon is one channel, so two canons are stereo. My advice is to do next:
First channel from the mixer put in your new active crossover (which will be -24db hope so), and cut between 120 and 200hz, and after crossover go to amp and subs.
Second channel from the mixer put directly in the amp (no crossover), full range, and let it go to satelite (up) speakers. I guess you have subwoofer in separate box and separate box for full range, if i understanded you well. If it is so, then this would be my suggestion, someone may disagree with me, but it's up to you to try and see what combination sound best :)
GL HF :)
Do not be confused with XLR (canon) conectors, they have 3 pins because they are BALANCED. one canon is one channel, so two canons are stereo. My advice is to do next:
First channel from the mixer put in your new active crossover (which will be -24db hope so), and cut between 120 and 200hz, and after crossover go to amp and subs.
Second channel from the mixer put directly in the amp (no crossover), full range, and let it go to satelite (up) speakers. I guess you have subwoofer in separate box and separate box for full range, if i understanded you well. If it is so, then this would be my suggestion, someone may disagree with me, but it's up to you to try and see what combination sound best :)
GL HF :)
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 2:25 am
TopHouse
johndavis wrote :
XLR is a common way to wire balanced audio connections. There's three wires: positive, negative, and ground. (The RCA connectors you are familiar with feed unbalanced audio: positive & negative, no ground.) Balanced audio is less susceptible to interference that causes hum.
If your amp doesn't have an XLR input or a TRS 1/4" input (Tip/Ring/Sleeve - 3 wires) jumper the negative wire to ground on the unbalanced side.
Hope this helps!
XLR is a common way to wire balanced audio connections. There's three wires: positive, negative, and ground. (The RCA connectors you are familiar with feed unbalanced audio: positive & negative, no ground.) Balanced audio is less susceptible to interference that causes hum.
If your amp doesn't have an XLR input or a TRS 1/4" input (Tip/Ring/Sleeve - 3 wires) jumper the negative wire to ground on the unbalanced side.
Hope this helps!
RCA is actually 'positive' or 'hot' and 'ground', the extra connection in xlr's is the 'negative' or 'cold' connection that provides the signal return, hence the term, 'balanced'.
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 11:22 am
DJ Niems
Tnaks Pijani Srbin! Thats exactly what I needed to know! Yeah I saw the BDX crossovers on a website, the ones with the TRS connectors were a bit cheaper though.
Does XLR have an advantage over TRS? They both have 3 contacts right?
Does XLR have an advantage over TRS? They both have 3 contacts right?
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 12:15 pm
Superstom
DJ Niems,
You said that you would use 1 amplifier. 1 Channel to run low, 1 channel to run mid high. Keep in mind that you will have a mono setup in this case. You should have a mono switch on either your mixer or your crossover. This to make from the mixers stereo signal a mono signal. Try to play a beatles song in mono, vocals to one side, music to the other.
Buying a dbx crossover is the best way to do for a semi pro environment. Professional pa systems will have digital signal processors, with limiters, cross overs, eq's, delays etc in place.
You could follow the setup described by Pijani Srbin. The only thing I would change is to connect the mid high output of the crossover to the amplifier, instead of connecting the mixer directly to the amplifier. In this case your top cabinets, only have the mid high signal. Due to this you could get much more volume from your top cabinets, while the low end is only handled by the subwoofer.
Another option is a passive crossover in your sub woofer. In this case you only need one amp, running in stereo mode. The crossover in the speaker split the signal in two: low and mid-high. low end is done by the subwoofer and the mid high signal is running through a speaker cable to your top cabinet.
Ewout
You said that you would use 1 amplifier. 1 Channel to run low, 1 channel to run mid high. Keep in mind that you will have a mono setup in this case. You should have a mono switch on either your mixer or your crossover. This to make from the mixers stereo signal a mono signal. Try to play a beatles song in mono, vocals to one side, music to the other.
Buying a dbx crossover is the best way to do for a semi pro environment. Professional pa systems will have digital signal processors, with limiters, cross overs, eq's, delays etc in place.
You could follow the setup described by Pijani Srbin. The only thing I would change is to connect the mid high output of the crossover to the amplifier, instead of connecting the mixer directly to the amplifier. In this case your top cabinets, only have the mid high signal. Due to this you could get much more volume from your top cabinets, while the low end is only handled by the subwoofer.
Another option is a passive crossover in your sub woofer. In this case you only need one amp, running in stereo mode. The crossover in the speaker split the signal in two: low and mid-high. low end is done by the subwoofer and the mid high signal is running through a speaker cable to your top cabinet.
Ewout
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 3:47 pm
DJ Niems
OK thanks Superstorm.
Yeah I kind of just realized that the whole stereo thing didn't make sense anyway.
Thanks for the help!
Yeah I kind of just realized that the whole stereo thing didn't make sense anyway.
Thanks for the help!
发表时间 Sat 22 Jul 06 @ 5:11 pm
XLR is better than TRS :) first of all XLR have little switch when you push it to the end you hear "tzakc" and it's locked :) When you disconnecting a TRS jack you always have a short circuit (i watched a amp that was burned because of TRS disconnecting when it's on).
XLR is Fancy, TRS is Default :)
BTW for the active crossover, it would be best for you to try is satelites sounds better full range or with cutted bottom (40~100hz), because every speakers and amp works different. My speakers works better full range, but it not means that yours will to.
advice: use your ears :) they will help you most :)
XLR is Fancy, TRS is Default :)
BTW for the active crossover, it would be best for you to try is satelites sounds better full range or with cutted bottom (40~100hz), because every speakers and amp works different. My speakers works better full range, but it not means that yours will to.
advice: use your ears :) they will help you most :)
发表时间 Sun 23 Jul 06 @ 7:21 am