mark4570 Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi,Wonder if anyone can help. Have had a Numark dual CD Player/Mixer for a while which I've connected using it's RCA outputs to an old Kenwood amplifier. It works fine and I can happily put up the levels to 0 (zero) on the meter. Recently I replaced that amp with one that only has XLR connectors. Seeing as the CD/Mixer also has XLR outputs I bought 2 cables and connected the 2 together. Now I can only move the meter up to about -7 otherwise the bass becomes strange sounding (not quite distortion), but sounds wrong! I've now just noticed that the 2 female-male XLR cables I purchased say something like "High Quality Microphone Cables" on them - is there where it's going wrong? Are they wrong impedance maybe?Any help appreciated..ThanksMark.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby.Ohm Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 What is the power rating on the new amp and is it different to the old one? Are you using the same speakers as before? Potentially, if the new amp has a higher power output, by the time you have the mixer level to -7db you are putting more power into the speakers than the old amp did at 0db. Other guys on here are far more technical than I am, but that would be my 1st thought. Not sure how much difference there will be between a RCA and XLR cable without looking at the relative quality of the cables themselves rather than the connection type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Microphone cables would be the appropriate leads to use, it sounds to me like there is just a mismatch in levels and that you may need a device to attenuate the mixer's output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 The cables will likely be OK with audio line volts it's only about 2v max! It is also likely that the amp is more sensitive on the balanced inputs than the unbalanced ones and the difference in attenuation settings (-7dB) you state is quite reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 It's worth bearing in mind that the controls on the front of your amp are input attenuators (not volume controls) and the main reason that they're there is to allow you to match the amp's input with mixers with differing output levels. Turn down the attenuators and you can feed the amp with a higher input signal. Do you know for sure that the amp is working properly? i.e. have you tried it with different speakers / input sources? That would be my first port of call when troubleshooting as it seems that a faulty amp could exhibit the symptoms you describe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Check your connections and any switches on all the units. Check your cables are wired correctly (I know they are new but it wont kill you)Check that there are no polarity invert buttons on the outputs from the desk or the input to the amp.Check the amp is not in bridged mode! as this inverts one channel and if you use both channels it can often sum signals out of polarity and do alsorts of other odd things. Check any other switches related to the outputs are not pressed or are pressed where they need to be. Bass sounding funny if not an overdriven/clipping sound would indicate a phase/polarity issue somewhere, though there are other things it could be. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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