Correct Feed for Active Nearfields (or: ~!@#$%^&*)

mark4man · Post by **mark4man** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:21 pm

Man...

Somebody please kick my ragged ass !!!

Got my KRK Rockit8's about 6 months ago; & fed them (for some reason) with unbalanced RCA lines (1/4" TS > Coax.) Right away I thought they were kinda' on the LOUD side...had to set the hardware outs on my AI (Echo Audio Layla 24/96) nominally to -10dBv; & pull the output level down to -12dB (all the while setting the volume on the KRK's to -30dB...the bottom of the scale.)

Posted in a couple of gear forums; & other guys said: "yeah...I do that"...so I continued on my merry way.

Today I went out & got balanced lines & hooked them up.

The volume is not NEAR as loud.

The sound has more clarity, depth & openness (I've actually come to hate that term..."openness"...incidentally.)

Anyway...they sound 100% better !!!

So, with this being the case...why do they even outfit active systems with unbalanced hookups?

I AM doing it correctly now, right...this IS the way active nearfields were intended to be used, correct ??? It sounds so much better...it's gotta' be right.

Anybody have any thoughts on this (on KRK's or just in general)...did I discover something or just wake up?

Thanks,

mark4man

tmix · Post by **tmix** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 1:04 am

I dont have any experiance with the speakers mentioned, but in general unbalanced signals fed thru cheap cables are GREATLY affected by the cable build quality because of capacitance and the like. The quality of sound gets worse with every foot of cable, even with higher quality cabling.

Speker manufacturers simply offer the unbalanced options because so many people need them, even if they are not the optimal quality.

I always use Balanced, Low impedance hook ups when available.

Tom

mark4man · Post by **mark4man** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 11:13 am

tmix...

Thanks.

How about calibration...now that I'm hooked up correctly, I should calibrate, right?

Any good test level CDs around?

Merry Christmas,

mark4man

tmix · Post by **tmix** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 11:49 pm

Yes Calibrate them if possible.

I dont have any cds, but in the recording software (Samplitude) there is a way to create a mono sine wave tone at different frequencies.
I create a track at a specific loudness (say 0 db) and then adjust all my monitoring gear ( Lucid d/a , Mackie Mix console and power amp) Till all is in balance.

Perhaps not the best way, but it works for me.

Tom