Coupla questions

[cstime]

If you guys will pardon me sponging off your experience and wisdom for a couple more questions...

 

I'm looking to upgrade my main speakers. Right now I have 2 Behringer B1220's and a Carvin DCM1000. It sounds pretty good, but only in small venues (unsurprisingly). I've got a little extra money in the ol' budget this fall and I'd like to upgrade. I can afford to spend a total of about $2000 (ideally less, but as long as I don't go over that I'll be okay) on speakers and a second power amp, if needed. Would I be better served buying two $1000 speakers (or slightly cheaper speakers and a new power amp) or 2 hi-lows and 2 subs (and an amp and crossover)? What brands would you guys recommend? The band is just me and another guy - two voices, two acoustic guitars, sometimes a pianist plays with us (as opposed to us playing with our pianist-s). Folkishy music (think Indigo Girls or Storyhill or newer PP&M). We occasionally play with drums & bass, but we hire a sound guy for those gigs.

 

Also...

 

My snake only has TRS returns, and my mixer's 1/4" outs are unbalanced. Am I significantly hurting sound quality by running an unbalanced signal down a 100' snake? Will an XLR/TRS converter cable such as MF sells allow me to plug the balanced XLR outputs on the mixer into the 1/4" TRS inputs on the power amp via the snake?

 

"Coupla questions" with about fourteen sub-questions, I know. Thanks for your help!

[Audioeast]

you will get a 6db increase of headroom buy staying balanced....

 

thats a pretty big difference!

 

as far as speaker upgrade.....i'd look into the crest lq12P

for tops - this is an active 12" + 1" (self powered)

and one yorkville LS700P (active700w dual 10" sub)

 

this is well under 2000 and will be a great sounding rig yet still fit in a corrola.......

[abzurd]

Originally posted by cstime "Coupla questions" with about fourteen sub-questions, I know. Thanks for your help!

 

I only saw one question about subs

 

Thanks folks, I'm here all week.

 

 

Seriously, I agree with Audio East. Also, look at the NX520P's. They cost a bit more, but have a better warranty and are even lighter (like 42 lbs each and that's with the amps in the speaker).

[agedhorse]

If your mixer does not have balanced outputs, you can convert to balanced by using a 1:1 audio isolation transformer wired so that pin 1 and 3 are connected together and tied to ground (sleeve) on the input (from mixer) and the output will be transformer balanced to your amps/powered speakers.

 

This is not the same as a Radio shack mic transformer. These and their brothers are about 10:1 ratio and are NOT suitable for this application.

[cstime]

Originally posted by agedhorse If your mixer does not have balanced outputs, you can convert to balanced by using a 1:1 audio isolation transformer wired so that pin 1 and 3 are connected together and tied to ground (sleeve) on the input (from mixer) and the output will be transformer balanced to your amps/powered speakers.

 

Oops - I think I was unclear (sorry). My mixer has balanced XLR outs as well as unbalanced 1/4". My snake only has TRS returns, so I've been running from the 1/4" out, but it seems to me like running from the balanced XLR would be better (which Audioeast confirmed - thanks!). I tried just forcing a 1/4" plug into the XLR jack but that didn't work (kidding) so I was wondering if there was a way to hook an XLR and a TRS together (can I just get a TRS-XLR cord from MF? Are the pins/tip-ring-sleeve lineups standardized?). Do I need an audio isolation transformer for that? If so, what's an audio isolation transformer?

 

Originally posted by audioeast this is well under 2000 and will be a great sounding rig yet still fit in a corrola.......

 

:D We usually just load the stuff onto our ten-speeds, but I guess we could upgrade...