John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi there everyone, quick question...

Just bought some Adam A8X's... I had previously been using KRK RP6's.

I had the KRK's connected via 2 X Mono Jack to Jack... The chap at DV247 who sold me the Adams told me I'd need 2X Balanced Jack to XLR.

Now, this confuses me, as I would have thought It would be 2X Unblanced Jack to XLR? My understanding is that 2X Mono makes it Stereo... So when I come from the outputs of my Mackie Big Knob with one mono cable feeding from the Left output to the Left monitor, and one mono cable feeding from the Right output to the Right monitor, it would be stereo... Which it is because when I pan left, it goes left, and when I pan right, it goes right.

The guy in DV247 was saying that I need one Balanced Jack to XLR from the Left output to the Left monitor, and another Balanced Jack to XLR from the right output to the right monitor.

I am super confused, because he was certain that he was right and was suggesting that I am an idiot. Am I?

I would have thought Unbalanced Jack to XLR from Left output to Left monitor and another Unbalanced Jack to XLR from Right output to Right monitor.

Please help!

Many thanks,

Will

You are not an idiot, nor is he. Ideally, you hook up your monitors with balanced cables. And if your output uses jacks, then you use balanced jacks with TRS (tip, ring sleeve) on one side and balanced XLR on the other end. Don't be confused, this jack has NOTHING to do with stereo even though it looks just like a stereo jack from for instance your headphones. You need a similar cable for your other master to monitor output. And since your Mackie Big Knob can handle both balanced and unbalanced jacks for outputs, BALANCED (TRS) is the way to go.

Sweet, okay. That clears that up then! Thank you very much for your response! Big help.

Will

Will, this is what it should look like. Shown brand (Neutrik) is very reliable btw. I never use anything else. (no commercial promotion, I'm not involved with Neutrik in any way, just a very happy customer)