I was given a Peavey XRD 680S powered mixer and one SWR Big Ben passive subwoofer (19" 8 ohm). Planning to give them to a friend who's got a couple keyboards & a drum/bass machine. Just for his own basement amusement, not gigging. I have some noob questions about setting this up, as I'm just a guitar dude.
Since the instruments all have L&R line outs, I'd send each side of each instrument to its own mixer channel panned all the way left or right. There are 8 channels. Is that how it's done?
We don't have a pair of monitors. Would it be ok to plug the mixer's 'tape outs' into a hifi 'tape in'? It'll be a raw peaky signal and I'm wondering if we need to run it thru a limiter.
For the Big Ben, my plan would be to run it off the mixer's main speaker outs and use the mixer's graphic EQ as a low-pass. But, to sum the left & right power amp signals, is it safe to use a Y adapter? And since I'm looking for 8 ohms, would I use one output per side, or do I have to sum all 4 power outputs? The mixer has 4 quarter-inch speaker outs (2L & 2R) labeled: "105W/8 ohms, 150W/4 ohms, 30V RMS min amplifier load, 4 Ohms each channel". Here's a pic of the most heavy duty 1/4" Y adapter I can put together.
And please let me know if I missed any other major issues. Thank you!
Since the instruments all have L&R line outs, I'd send each side of each instrument to its own mixer channel panned all the way left or right. There are 8 channels. Is that how it's done?
We don't have a pair of monitors. Would it be ok to plug the mixer's 'tape outs' into a hifi 'tape in'? It'll be a raw peaky signal and I'm wondering if we need to run it thru a limiter.
For the Big Ben, my plan would be to run it off the mixer's main speaker outs and use the mixer's graphic EQ as a low-pass. But, to sum the left & right power amp signals, is it safe to use a Y adapter? And since I'm looking for 8 ohms, would I use one output per side, or do I have to sum all 4 power outputs? The mixer has 4 quarter-inch speaker outs (2L & 2R) labeled: "105W/8 ohms, 150W/4 ohms, 30V RMS min amplifier load, 4 Ohms each channel". Here's a pic of the most heavy duty 1/4" Y adapter I can put together.
And please let me know if I missed any other major issues. Thank you!
You can use the two input channels to both feed to one output. Say the left. Then the left speaker output will be a mix of both channels. Say that goes to main (audience speaker).
Then the right speaker could be a monitor channel with a different mix. or the right channel could be the subwoofer channel with all the highs filtered off.
Then the right speaker could be a monitor channel with a different mix. or the right channel could be the subwoofer channel with all the highs filtered off.
My first was like that. The solutions offered are messy, and I don't like the sound of those amps for main speakers in a home studio environment
The 'Monitor' and 'Main' outs on the front panel are the proper line outs that you can feed to an external amp like your Hi-fi. If you are setting eq and volume from the mixer, then use the 'Monitor' out and set a fixed max level using your home amp
Btw, does your hi-fi amp have a 'sub out' connector? That mixer has front panel inputs direct to the power amps labelled 'PA In', and plugging into this disables mixer audio data from going to the internal amps. You can send the music to your home amp by using the monitor out as above and then return a processed proper subwoofer signal to the mixers internal amps to power the passive sub with them
Your sub is an 8R and the mixer can barely do a clean 100w per channel. But it should be plenty loud enough at home. If your hi-fi amp doesn't have a sub out, then just use a sub processor like the one linked below. This goes between the monitor out on the mixer and the line in of your hi-fi amp. This one is a good unit that I have used before
Subwoofer board
Hope this helps
The 'Monitor' and 'Main' outs on the front panel are the proper line outs that you can feed to an external amp like your Hi-fi. If you are setting eq and volume from the mixer, then use the 'Monitor' out and set a fixed max level using your home amp
Btw, does your hi-fi amp have a 'sub out' connector? That mixer has front panel inputs direct to the power amps labelled 'PA In', and plugging into this disables mixer audio data from going to the internal amps. You can send the music to your home amp by using the monitor out as above and then return a processed proper subwoofer signal to the mixers internal amps to power the passive sub with them
Your sub is an 8R and the mixer can barely do a clean 100w per channel. But it should be plenty loud enough at home. If your hi-fi amp doesn't have a sub out, then just use a sub processor like the one linked below. This goes between the monitor out on the mixer and the line in of your hi-fi amp. This one is a good unit that I have used before
Subwoofer board
Hope this helps
That's awesome and keeps things clean and simple. I don't think that the mixers internal amps can be bridged, so you can only use one channel for your passive subwoofer
The mixer manual doesn't mention bridging, so I'm not going to attempt it. The hifi amp's sub output is line-level, summed & low-passed at 90Hz. And it's rated 100w RMS (±grain of salt) so one side of the mixer's power amp will power the Big Ben sufficiently to keep up, at the SPLs he's accustomed to. I've used one side of the mixer into the Big Ben for bass guitar (with a line level preamp) and got well over 100dB with every level in the chain at around 2/10. Though, I know bass players like to use it with 1000W amps at max clean headroom for no-PA bar gigs.
No one has weighed in on whether a limiter is needed, going from the mixer into the hifi. Is this just common sense, send a low level signal from the mixer and let the amp do the amplification?
No one has weighed in on whether a limiter is needed, going from the mixer into the hifi. Is this just common sense, send a low level signal from the mixer and let the amp do the amplification?
There shouldn't be any need for compression/limiting with all electronic sources, the drum samples will already be processed fairly heavily and won't have anywhere near the dynamics of a real drum kit... that is my experience anyway... your milage may vary. I'd suspect sustained synth tones.. particularly high frequency tones to be more of a danger to relatively fragile home audio speakers, but even then only if the user is pushing the system hard, at moderate listening SPLs it should be fine.
A lot should be available in shaping on the synths to take care of it too, same for edrums. I even use compressors more for shaping my voice or the electric bass but can do without if I don't want the compressed sound. Best to play and see if you need limiters or compressors