I am currently using an Traktor S2 controller and have noticed a lot of sound systems user XLR connections, which the S2 does not have. I know that both TRS and XLR use the same principles and are both balanced. Is it safe to use a TRS to XLR cable to connect it up to a system. Does this pose any risks or is it the same thing but just just different connectors?
Should work fine. Just get something better than $10 cables as those usually have bad shielding so you actually could get hum...
Let me ask you this. I ordered a RCA (unbalanced right?) to XLR cable (balanced) from eBay. Very cheap price. Would you say I'm probably degrading the quality of my output? Perhaps I should a order a better quality cable? I'm runnin this cable from a Mixtrack Pro to a 15" Powered Speaker.
Well if your going to have it on a short run it should be fine. I think unbalanced gets rough if your going long distances.
There are *balanced* TSR to XLR cables. And S4 has balanced outputs. Just make sure you get the right male or female connectors for the XLR side. Cheap cables, even XLR, are hit and miss ones.
I'm limited to the RCA Outputs of the Mixtrack Pro. I think I'm going to search for a better quality RCA to XLR.
RCA to XLR i would only use in a no other option scenario...and if you have to keep the cord the shortest possible distance. RCA will degrade after 4ft(RCA to RCA) but from my limited usage i have gone up to 10ft without any real noticable sound difference. Dont cheap out on cables, and always ALWAYS have backups.
My controller only has RCA outputs. So, what are my options other than going from RCA to XLR. Would it be any different if I convert to 1/4" TRS? I dont have a mixer. Im running directly from the controller to the powered speakers which have both XLR and TRS inputs.
You will want to use something like this: http://www.rane.com/bb44x.html I believe Jensens make something similar to this that will probably be cheaper.
I'm 99% sure that the RCAs are unbalanced so you need to find an RCA to XRL unbalanced cable. Or a box between that converts from unbalanced to balanced. It really depends on the environment where you work. If it's noisy one and long cable runs, balanced are a must. If short runs you could get by with unbalanced cables. For studio work, nothing beats a quiet environment using balanced cables.
Balanced XLR and TRS inputs and outputs on pro-audio equipment are ALWAYS mono. The signal is ALWAYS mono. If you want stereo, you need to use a pair of them. The reason people get confused is that stereo headphones use a 1/4 inch TRS connector and that is stereo but they ONLY plug into a stereo headphone jack. The Box above should work just fine...as there are 2 inputs for the RCA left and right channel, and will output to the apopriate XLR cable. What you are thinking of is an RCA to Unbalanced XLR...where both the right and left cable go and only 1 XLR comes out
Traktor has a way to preference setting to send mono through one port only so there' no need for any fancy two-stereo cable systems. Assuming the audio interface supports this, if not that's a bad audio interface/driver.
I ran RCA -> XLR from my mixtrack pro to my powered speakers each side of my dj stand (probably about 5ft of cable) for ages and never had any problems. Just make sure you dont cross the cables over a power cable, if you do then you probably will get some interference.
Unbalanced can run 3 meters before you start getting high frequency loss. Unbalanced is prone to interference. Pins one and three are bridged in rca - xlr which is still mono. It remains an unbalanced cable with the limitations of unbalanced in place. If you have 2 RCA to a single xlr then you really run the risk of a hot signal. As a single rca outputs 24.5 volts. Join them(left and right) together you have nearly 50v and is not good for your gear which is expecting only 24.5. On top of all this unbalanced is Hi-Z. when your xlr input is low Z so this also puts a strain on the circuitry. Then there is the whole -10dB and +4db arena which I wont go into here. My advice is keep unbalanced for unbalanced circuits and balanced for balanced. Let your gear do the job it was designed to do and if you need to go from unbalanced to balanced get a DI box which has the needed circuitry designed to convert your signal and above all else, keep things professional.
To answer this question. It is the same with different connectors. Tip is XLR pin 2(hot) ring is XLR pin 1(cold) and sleeve is XLR pin 3(shield).
This looks like its more suitable for my budget and needs: http://www.amazon.com/ART-CLEANBOXPRO-CLEANBoxPro/dp/B003S7T49K/ref=pd_sim_sbs_MI_1 Before I try this, I'm going to order 2 single RCA>XLR cables from monoprice (one for left and one for right) and try running them directly from the controller to the the individual speakers (red to right speaker and white to left speaker). My reading tells me I should be ok up to 10ft./3meters. If I have any problems with this scheme I will try the box above. I will probably get the box eventually anyway since it allows me to convert an 1/8" Mini-phone plug to XLR also. This way, I can always use an ipod/tablet/celphone as backup to out sound to the speakers. Here are the cables I'm going to order this week: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10244&cs_id=1024404&p_id=4778&seq=1&format=2
If I were to use a box like this, I can do a short RCA run from the controller to the box. After that, how far can I run XLR reliably from these boxes?
I'm going to order the box I described above. I don't foresee the need for the speakers to be no more than 25-30 feet away from me when playing. So, that should be perfect. Thanks!
