Dodgecaliber Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Someone has just came upto me and asked whether a stage side sound desk should be active or passive. The venue this person is refering to is rather small, the current sound system runs through a desk with too few channels and they are bringing in a desk that will patch into the venue one via a patch bay. There is already a channel assigned on the venue desk for this purpose. Should the extra desk be passive or active? Sorry if it's not explained too well, Just something I've never paid attention to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 If you're plugging one desk into another you should use a line output, not an amplified output. Is this what you were asking? :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azlan Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 from the description it sounds like passive is the way to go just to confirm though this desk's outputs will be running into a pair of inputs on the resident desk for the venue? if so then it needs to be passive yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killyp Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 If by 'active' you mean 'amplified' or 'powered' then no, it will need to be passive. I'm not quite sure there is such a thing as a passive desk in the true meaning... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 There is, and I have a link somewhere and will find it out for you, just for reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I've used a few passive desks before.I made a little two channel stereo one for my hifi when I was younger. Crosstalk becomes an issue though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgecaliber Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Hi all, thanks for that! You are correct with what I meant - Its too much work to type amplified and unamplified when you have a puppy lying on the keyboard and a baby if your arms! To clarify the outputs on the stage desk will feed to a couple of inputs on the venue desk via a patch bay. Just when someone asked me I was a little dumbstruck and couldn't quite think for myself! I didn't want to give them the wrong answer just because Im having a slow day. Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killyp Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 No problem. On a vaguely similar vein, I have a saturday job working in an AV retailer where we sell all active speakers. Someone once bought in a pair they'd decided to plug into an already amplified output. Well you can imagine the sound they made :** laughs out loud **: The same kind of thing would happen with your PA system if you connected the amplified output into the venue desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Not too sure. A decent input stage should be able to cope SHORT TERM. A high input impedance is one reason for this. Not recommended and it will certainly damage things eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammers Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Active and passive is the wrong term! Powered or un-powered is the term you need to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killyp Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Not too sure. A decent input stage should be able to cope SHORT TERM. A high input impedance is one reason for this. Not recommended and it will certainly damage things eventually. What about the output stage though? An amplified signal is going to have a huge amount of gain on it, and no matter what your input stage can handle, it'll surely push the amps straight into clipping and take the speakers out with it (if you're not expecting this sort of incoming signal and hence pads etc... are not engaged). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliveybaby Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 No rob is right To clip an amp does not mean you instantly take out your drivers and remember that the input impedance will be many times higherso less power put across it think 100@4R 50@8R 25@16R etc 'ish' Also a good balanced input stage is isolated from direct electrical forcewould be worse if unbalanced still bad though and you could brake something Although as a bodge playing with gains and levels you could get away with it if stuck'a bloke told me' Cliveybaby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sound Juice Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 On a vaguely similar vein, I have a saturday job working in an AV retailer where we sell all active speakers. Someone once bought in a pair they'd decided to plug into an already amplified output. I'm sure you mean powered, as active and passive refer to crossovers (or the lack of) inside the cabinets... Do love it when I see things so clearly mislabled in shops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killyp Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 No rob is right To clip an amp does not mean you instantly take out your drivers and remember that the input impedance will be many times higherso less power put across it think 100@4R 50@8R 25@16R etc 'ish' Also a good balanced input stage is isolated from direct electrical forcewould be worse if unbalanced still bad though and you could brake something Although as a bodge playing with gains and levels you could get away with it if stuck'a bloke told me' :unsure: Cliveybaby Ahs I see what Rob was saying now! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 and there was me thinking about older dedicated stage monitor desks with passive mic splits built in. Then I wondered if some of these were active splits. Could be, I thought? Never gave it much thought. Spent half an hour Googling to see if I could find out which were which, but no luck. Forgot all about it, and then came back to find out everyone was talking about mixers with built in amps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.