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Author Topic: Connecting my mixer to powered speakers  (Read 9339 times)

Andrew Yerramsetti

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Connecting my mixer to powered speakers
« on: May 27, 2011, 11:15:56 AM »

Hi All,

I'm hoping to get a bit of advice on the following scenario. This weekend, due to the extra musicians playing, we will need to run two foldbacks instead of our usual one. We only have a small church, so our setup is pretty small. I am wanting to bring my two foldbacks to use instead of the church's single, however my foldbacks are passive, and the church has no power amp or powered mixer.

The church usually runs two active FOH and a single active Foldback, connected via a 10m snake, to a passive mixer. My setup has 2 passive FOH, 2 passive foldbacks and a powered mixer via a 10m snake. I am wanting to suppliment my foldbacks <which use speakon connections> into the churches setup and not run the churches powered foldbacks. I was thinking of bringing in my powered mixer <set to amplify the auxillary outputs> which will connect via speakon/speakon to the foldbacks. My issue is trying to run the powered speakers from my mixer.

I can connected powered FOH speakers to my mixer via the ST Out on the top side of my board. This will send an unamplified signal to the active FOH. However, the unamplified signal outputs <ST out> are TS connections, and the powered FOH are XLR. Will the unbalanced signal pick up much interference over a 10m cable? Is there another type of setup that I haven't thought of? I can't use the balanced stereo output of the headphones, as I will requre this output for headphones.

I'm not wanting to bring my FOH as they weigh 35kg each, and are huge. If anybody could think of suggestions or a solution, it would be greatly appreciated. My Mixer Outputs are as listed below.


YAMAHA Emx5016cf Powered Mixer
ST Sub Out - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs x2 connected to sub fader
REC Out - RCA unblanaced Passive outputs
ST OUT - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs x2 connecetd to master fader
Phones Out - Headphone Balanced TRS Output to AFL or PFL
Aux 1/Aux 2 - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs
A1/B1 Outputs - Active Outputs for Foldbacks 500w+500w TS and Speakon connected to Aux1/Aux2 Faders
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BobWitte

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Re: Connecting my mixer to powered speakers
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2011, 12:50:41 PM »

I can't use the balanced stereo output of the headphones, as I will requre this output for headphones.

First, headphones stereo out is not balanced. You have two unbalanced outputs on the Tip (Left) and Ring (Right) with the sleeve (Ground).

Running unbalanced output a short distance to a balanced input "usually" is not a problem. The longer the distance, the more at risk of noise you will be. Try to keep everything plugged into the same power source. This will help.

Will you have time to try this before the event? You'll know real quick if you will have issues.

I do not have the time to look into this further.

Scott Wagner

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Re: Connecting my mixer to powered speakers
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2011, 02:46:00 AM »

Hi All,

I'm hoping to get a bit of advice on the following scenario. This weekend, due to the extra musicians playing, we will need to run two foldbacks instead of our usual one. We only have a small church, so our setup is pretty small. I am wanting to bring my two foldbacks to use instead of the church's single, however my foldbacks are passive, and the church has no power amp or powered mixer.

The church usually runs two active FOH and a single active Foldback, connected via a 10m snake, to a passive mixer. My setup has 2 passive FOH, 2 passive foldbacks and a powered mixer via a 10m snake. I am wanting to suppliment my foldbacks <which use speakon connections> into the churches setup and not run the churches powered foldbacks. I was thinking of bringing in my powered mixer <set to amplify the auxillary outputs> which will connect via speakon/speakon to the foldbacks. My issue is trying to run the powered speakers from my mixer.

I can connected powered FOH speakers to my mixer via the ST Out on the top side of my board. This will send an unamplified signal to the active FOH. However, the unamplified signal outputs <ST out> are TS connections, and the powered FOH are XLR. Will the unbalanced signal pick up much interference over a 10m cable? Is there another type of setup that I haven't thought of? I can't use the balanced stereo output of the headphones, as I will requre this output for headphones.

I'm not wanting to bring my FOH as they weigh 35kg each, and are huge. If anybody could think of suggestions or a solution, it would be greatly appreciated. My Mixer Outputs are as listed below.


YAMAHA Emx5016cf Powered Mixer
ST Sub Out - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs x2 connected to sub fader
REC Out - RCA unblanaced Passive outputs
ST OUT - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs x2 connecetd to master fader
Phones Out - Headphone Balanced TRS Output to AFL or PFL
Aux 1/Aux 2 - Unbalanced Passive TS outputs
A1/B1 Outputs - Active Outputs for Foldbacks 500w+500w TS and Speakon connected to Aux1/Aux2 Faders
I would suggest using the existing equipment for FOH, and using your powered mixer as an amp to drive your passive monitors.  Simply send the appropriate AUX output(s) to the powered mixer (most have inputs that bypass the "mixer" section), and have the powered mixer drive the wedges.  Personally, I'm not very fond of mixing on powered mixers.  The limited metering and routing options make it difficult to get a decent result.

Scott Wagner
Big Nickel Audio
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Scott Wagner
Big Nickel Audio

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Connecting my mixer to powered speakers
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2011, 02:46:00 AM »


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