DJ mixer into Home Receiver ?
Terry_Clubbup
833 Posts
Hi,How many of you run your DJ mixer into your home stereo amp/receiveras part of your practice setup?I just blew out the left channel of my (old 1970s) amp, and I'm wonderingif it's overload trying to plug a DJ mixer into the AUX channel of a standardhome unit.The DJ mixer is not powered, at least not intended to drive speakerson its own.Bonus questions regarding home speaker cable:Have you ever blown an amp or a channel by putting a kink or crimpinto a speaker cable? There is a chance I may have done amp damage by setting a piece offurniture on top of a speaker cable.This is possible, I know, because if the positive and negative strandsin a speaker cable are allowed to touch while the amp is running,it can send a surge back into the amp.One more.You ever used one really short speaker cable, and on the other, a reallylong speaker cable? Would that be a problem, and if so why....back into the headphones I go...
Comments
"Hi,
How many of you run your DJ mixer into your home stereo amp/receiver
as part of your practice setup?
I just blew out the left channel of my (old 1970s) amp, and I'm wondering
if it's overload trying to plug a DJ mixer into the AUX channel of a standard
home unit.
The DJ mixer is not powered, at least not intended to drive speakers
on its own."
i use a 70s Realistic home receiver...pretty massive. using the aux channel shouldn't be a problem. i have two auxes on my amp and the first is fed by my mackie 1202 and the second is fed from the master rca out of my rane.
"Bonus questions regarding home speaker cable:
Have you ever blown an amp or a channel by putting a kink or crimp
into a speaker cable?
There is a chance I may have done amp damage by setting a piece of
furniture on top of a speaker cable.
This is possible, I know, because if the positive and negative strands
in a speaker cable are allowed to touch while the amp is running,
it can send a surge back into the amp."
i've never had this happen but i can see that i might cause a problem. probably nothing serious though. but yeah, always wrap your cables properly and don't put the furniture on them! you want the signal to flow freely.
"One more.
"You ever used one really short speaker cable, and on the other, a really
long speaker cable? Would that be a problem, and if so why.
...back into the headphones I go..."
could cause a slight delay and drop in signal level but i don't know if it's anything that the average person could hear. unless we are talking about a really short monster cable and one really, really long, really really shitty super skinny cable from the 1940s or something...that might be bad. longer cable runs increase resistance and can significantly affect the signal. something like a low-impedance XLR cable can handle longer runs before the change becomes significant...1/4 inch instrument cables are hi-Z (hi-impedance) and thus the run is much smaller before the signal really starts getting audibly worse.
Hey thanks for the input Patrick.
I have another question:
Why are so many Soulstrut SuperFriends named Patrick?
Just wondering.
I am thinking about getting some receiver with the LOUDNESS button.
I have blown an amp by touching power and ground wires before, but umm... nevermind.
I aproach all Patricks with caution.
In my experience loud buttons do nothing but cause damage and make nicely mixed music to sound like chite.
have a nice day
rob
They had their own button?
PS I love this album.
There's
Big Stacks
THE_MACK
Crazy PopRock
and me.
but you know there's way more "cosmo's", "heath's", "and "jermel's" than anything
your receiver doesn't have a loudness button? mine does...i think it's purpose is to boost certain frequencies that may be deficiant in the output of the amp...or maybe the input from the turntable or aux feed? i remember learning about this somewhere but i'm forgetting exactly how it works...it basically just gives it some "oomph".
patricks rock
The receiver that just broke had LOUDNESS button, the one before
had none.
(aka Lock'an'Loll clazee niiights or no Lock'an'Loll clazee niiights)
LOUDNESS BUTTON, I'm like what the hell, if something improves the sound,
why not just have it integrated into the overall sound. In my experience,
LOUDNESS increases low end and makes hippity hoppity rhythms sound greater.
So I am surprise Rob, at how you say it messes up the mixx.
One way it messes up the mix is like last week I was listening to
final mixes before mastering, and wondering if there was too much low end,
but then take the LOUDNESS off and it sounds tinny and narrow.
Then you got those neighbors with the MEGA BASS option.
Who am I mastering this album for?
Reminds me of the ultimate absurdity...my second car, in a long line
of schitty cars, was a 1984 Ford Tempo LX.
Part of the package was a button right near the steering wheel that
was labelled PREMIUM SOUND. It seemed to function as a LOUDNESS
button, or it re-mastered the sound for you.
Anyway, if it was indeed PREMIUM SOUND, why would you ever want to
have it off? Why have a button? Just to show off I guess.
So I used to play a trick on gearhead or musician type of friends,
before they would get in the car I would turn the PREMIUM SOUND off, then they would get in and they would inevitiably ask about it.
I would say "yeah, it sounds great, but it really puts a strain on
the engine, so I don't run it too often"...they'd be all "really?!"
and I'd be like "yeah, watch" and right as I hit that button
I would drastically decelerate...turn the button off and resume normal
acceleration. Maybe you had to be there, but it was good times and
great oldies...L8R Dudes
What other Heath's are on here besides me(Heath Sweat aka Heathcliff Huxtable)?
Hey man blowing your amp may just be a fuse. open that fucker up. it may only need a 2 dollar fuse from radio shack. i bought an ammmmmazing high end stereo power amplifier for dirt cheap and all it had was a bad fuse.
hahaha!!!
Check the Fletcher-Munson curve:
http://www.allchurchsound.com/ACS/edart/fmelc.html
If you think about this graphic upside-down you would basically have an averaged frequency response of the human ear at different volumes.
This was a study done in the 30"s where they asked people at what volume different frequencies sounded like they were equal in loudness. They averaged the results and determined that our ears are very sensitive in the 2-5khz range, and not as sensitive in the low-end. When you turn down music, the low end and very high end will appear to drop out relative to the rest of the spectrum. This is where the LOUDNESS button comes in. Most consumer-grade stereo systems have shitty components/connectors/speakers/etc. and people usually leave the button in to attempt to un-crappify their audio.
People can get really tweaky with their cabling. If you can hear a difference, go for nicer cabling, but as a former salesman at a home theater store, I know Monster is laughing all the way to the bank every time someone buys cable at a 60% markup. Try Mogami for pro audio stuff, they are cheap and reliable. If you are just running your stereo at home, it's not really a big deal and wont make that much of a difference. As far as using a short and long cable, I say go for it. The longer one might lose some high end, but judge for yourself. The thing I look out for mostly is that the cable is not going to get tripped over adn yany a jack off the back of your stereo.
I would have KILLED for the name "Patrick." You have no idea of the hell I went though with the name Cosmo...
That pic reminds me of my first sexual experience
KIDDING
Damien was no treat either after this came out:
"let me look in your hair and see if there's three 6's"
no, i'm good, really.
Don't get me started on my last name...