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[WilliamTuckett]

Hi guys,

I have just started putting together a system for outdoor party's.

So far I have the woofers, mid bass, midrange and treble sorted, 4 stereo power amps and 2 4-way mono active crossovers.

My question is how do I get sound from my PC, CD player or MP3 player into the crossover.

The crossovers have Balanced XLR in, I tried XLR to RCA adaptors and got nothing.. Will I need a mixer with Balanced outputs and RCA inputs or is there some kind of DI box for this application.

I really have no need for a mixer as I just want to play music from the computer or Mp3 player

Any advice would be very much appreciated,
Cheers

[Tim Perry]

Hi guys,

I really have no need for a mixer as I just want to play music from the computer or Mp3 player

Any advice would be very much appreciated,
Cheers

Advice: get a small mixer.  You will be much happier with having some tone control and easy level adjustments

[WilliamTuckett]

Advice: get a small mixer.  You will be much happier with having some tone control and easy level adjustments

Im not too concerned about tone controls at the moment as I will be using a decent graphic eq but would something like this do the job
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-PHONIC-AM-120MK2-1-MIC-LINE-2-STEREO-INPUT-MIXER-/380725308227?pt=AU_Pro_Audio&hash=item58a4ff2b43

[Canute J. Chiverton]

Im not too concerned about tone controls at the moment as I will be using a decent graphic eq but would something like this do the job
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-PHONIC-AM-120MK2-1-MIC-LINE-2-STEREO-INPUT-MIXER-/380725308227?pt=AU_Pro_Audio&hash=item58a4ff2b43

You may also want to get a Multi Channel Soundcard between your PC and Mixer. What type of software are you going to use?  Would it be Internal or External Mixing?  What Tim Perry suggested is spot on but make sure you have adequate inputs for all your devices. I use both, a DJ  Mixer that goes into a Live Mixer.

[Brad Weber]

Im not too concerned about tone controls at the moment as I will be using a decent graphic eq but would something like this do the job
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-PHONIC-AM-120MK2-1-MIC-LINE-2-STEREO-INPUT-MIXER-/380725308227?pt=AU_Pro_Audio&hash=item58a4ff2b43

So your question is about how to get signal into the crossovers but you'll also have a GEQ?  Wouldn't you then normally go from source(s) or mixer out in to a two channel GEQ and then from that out to the two crossovers?
 
Maybe there's a reson for it but I have trouble reconciling that little mixer with a four-way system.  Seems like any event that can get by with that could usually also be served by a simpler, easier to store/transport/setup/operate speaker system.

[Dennis Wiggins]

Hi guys,

I have just started putting together a system for outdoor party's.

So far I have the woofers, mid bass, midrange and treble sorted, 4 stereo power amps and 2 4-way mono active crossovers.

My question is how do I get sound from my PC, CD player or MP3 player into the crossover.

The crossovers have Balanced XLR in, I tried XLR to RCA adaptors and got nothing.. Will I need a mixer with Balanced outputs and RCA inputs or is there some kind of DI box for this application.

I really have no need for a mixer as I just want to play music from the computer or Mp3 player

Any advice would be very much appreciated,
Cheers

You will need a mixer, so that you have a microphone input.  Also, simple Bass and Treble (Mid is a plus) knobs are a fast, easy way to "fix the mix", as every song is recorded differently.

-Dennis

[Steve M Smith]

Maybe there's a reson for it but I have trouble reconciling that little mixer with a four-way system.  Seems like any event that can get by with that could usually also be served by a simpler, easier to store/transport/setup/operate speaker system.

Surely the mixer's capabilities are dictated by the inputs required and the speaker/amp system by the audience size.

You don't need a big mixer just because you have a big output.

Although a couple of years ago we ran an outdoor system with just a CD player and a radio mic.  We could have just used the DJ mixer with the CD player as it had a mic input but we put a mixer there because we thought the TV company would laugh at us if we didn't have one when they came over to connect their audio feed!


Steve.

[Brad Weber]

Surely the mixer's capabilities are dictated by the inputs required and the speaker/amp system by the audience size.

You don't need a big mixer just because you have a big output.

Well, the ouput is usually dictated more by the area to be covered, the genre of music, the goals for that application, etc. than just the audience size, but I get the point.  My concern was actually that those who can properly setup and utilize a four way speaker system would not usually be expected to struggle with issues such as how to get any signals into the crossover or how to adapt an unbalanced source into a balanced input.  Thus I wondered if they might also benefit from a simplified system.