I'll be using five Mackie powered monitors with the 950. Since the Mackies allow for xlr or 1/4" phone plug hookup, I was wondering how I could interface with the speaker/amp outs on the 950. Does anyone else use powered speakers? Does anyone else have the option of a balanced line to the speaker?

Jay

I just plugged the RCA's to quarter inch (unbalanced)but then I used an AC ground breaker to get rid of a Buzz sound.I have the HR824 models.
I wish I could get Mackie's new "center" channel with dual woofers.

The center conductor of the RCAs coming from the 950 should go to pin #2 of the XLR - the shield of the RCA cable should go to both pin #1 and #3.

By the way, I have used the HR824s, (in my work, not home theater) and was extremely impressed with them. They sould way bigger than their physical size.

Whoa! I didn't know you could wire an xlr connector to an RCA male. Thanks for the tip! Could you recommend someone who could make these interconnects for me? Will these be balanced, btw?

Jay

You can generally go back and forth from balanced to unbalanced / XLR to RCA or 1/4". The only potential problem is a mis-match in levels, but this only occurs in professional or semi-pro equipment that uses +4dbu as a reference level. Even then, it is sometimes not an issue.

Not knowing you locale, I can't recommend any specific places to find an adaptor cable. I would suggest the closest thing you can find to a pro-audio or pro-music supply store. Hosa makes a lot of cables that have a variety of connectors on them. I don't know specifically if they make an RCA unbalanced to XLR cable, but it's worth a look. If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can cut the end off an RCA cable and solder it to the XLR as I recommended in my other post. If you don't solder, this would be a good opportunity to learn - it can come in handy at times.

BTW: The resulting connection with this cable will be unbalanced, but this is not really an issue unless you are running wires for something like 100', or in a really electronically hostile enviornment. It won't be an issue with your powered speakers, nor should there be any level mis-match that can't be made up for with the level control.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited January 20, 2003).]

Soundhound,

Thanks for the info. Since the resulting line would be unbalanced anyway, and the run is less than 20" to the rear speakers, and the sockets on the back of the Mackie 824s are combination xlr/1/4" phones, I'm going to run male RCA to male 1/4" phone plug. BTW, I do understand that a simple electric guitar wire will not do. I have some dedicated, shielded speaker wire that should work well. (I'm in the NE Ohio area.)

Thanks, again. Can you think of anything else I should consider?

Jay

You're covered..