XLR to 1/4'' Stereo or Mono?

N

ninetynine

Guest
I have a pair of alesis m1 mk2 monitors. I have XLR (plugged into my monitors) and 1/4'' going into my soundcard. The cables are stereo cables. A friend of mine told me that those are not the right cables and that I should get mono. Is this in fact true , thanks.
 
so all monitor and soundcard connections definetely have to use mono to pan from the left speaker to right speaker?
 
so either balanced (stereo) or unbalanced (mono) can be used when connecting a monitor to a soundcard? Why do the majority of the people say that mono should be the way to go? I'm just very confused as to what the differences are between stereo and mono cables and the difference that they produce when having one or the other hooked up to the monitor going to the soundcard.



btw , this is what they state in the manual regarding this;


Almost any conventional line-level source may be plugged into the M1 Active
Mk2’s LINE INPUT jack. The Line Input jack accepts both XLR and 1/4”
input plugs wired either balanced or single-ended (unbalanced). The best
connection is to use a high-quality XLR-to-XLR “mic cable” between the
output of the source (usually, the CONTROL ROOM OUTPUT of the console)
and the speakers. A conventional 1/4” “patch cord" mono TS-type plug will
also work for unbalanced sources which automatically ground the minus
input.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Did you read the posts on the thread that I linked to?

What you posted from your manual says nothing about mono or stereo signals.


You have no choice but to use a mono connection with your monitors. Your monitors will only accept 1 signal, a mono signal. You will end up using a balanced cable and the signal will be a mono signal.

Stereo and mono
balanced and unbalanced

Two different things. 1 is in regards to the amount of channels a signal carries and the other is about the way the cables are wired.
 
Ah, just finished reading now, thanks for the help. The thing is the salesman gave me stereo xlr to quarter inch and it works but I read that I had to get mono.
 
Don't look at them as stereo connections, look at them as balanced connections. Problem solved.

So you have the monitors or plan on getting them?

https://www.futureproducers.com/forums/showthread/threadid/122690

ninetynine said:
I have a question regarding this, I am planning on getting either Alesis M1 Mk2 or M-Audio's bx5a. I have no choice to have my monitors almost touching my computer screen. Will the shield still work even if i'm almost touching the computer screen with the monitors?
Click to expand...
 
umm depends some use RCA,some use 1/4", whatever it has, don't mix up the cables just get one straight RCA or 1/4" cable. XLR are made for mics.
 
Why RCA cables? XLR cables are not made for mics, they're for connecting whatever type of equipment uses XLR connections, whether digital or analog connections.
 
He's making analog connections, not digital connections. Digital does not sound like anything, it is not actual sound. Eventually the signal will be turned into analog so if the monitors were "digital" speaker and had digital inputs and additionally digital to analog converters you wouldn't do yourself a favor if your soundcard converters were of higher quality.

Using 1/4" or XLR cables is better than RCA when given the choice in the analog world. As for digital connections, many people prefer XLR connections for AES/EBU operation over RCA.
 
If he has 1/4" out connections there's no need to use RCA. Unless they are good cables most RCA cables you will have laying around will be or lesser quality than the average 1/4" cable. RCA cables are also ALL unbalanced. While balanced connections will not make a big difference if any at all you will want to have them if you get unbalanced cables and happen to have interference. That's the advantage of balanced, that they'll shiled against interference better.

RCA, if you're still talking about the digital output, cannot be plugged into an analog input even if you convert the cable to a 1/4" connection. Something has to convert the signal to analog from digital.
 
sleepy said:
Don't look at them as stereo connections, look at them as balanced connections. Problem solved.

So you have the monitors or plan on getting them?

https://www.futureproducers.com/forums/showthread/threadid/122690
Click to expand...

i got the alesis monitors. I checked the m-audio site ( my sound card is the m-audio 192) the specs say that there are 4 unbalanced and balanced connections. I have xlr to 1/4 inch. Does it actually make a difference weather I use mono or stereo? Do both have teh same audio quality? What is commonly used to plug monitors to a sound card?
 
You're have no choice but to use mono. Monitors do not accept stereo inputs.

Each monitor will probably have two inputs. The input will either be XLR or TRS (1/4"). These are pretty much the same input except that they are using a different connection.

The connection is not stereo.

Your monitors will not accept stereo connections.

The connections on the monitor are mono.

You can use balanced, but it will be mono.

You can use unbalanced, but it will be Mono.

You have no choice but to use mono signals. Your signall will end up mono. 1 monitor=1 signal source.

You can spend your time stressing about what you want to use, if mono or stereo, but in the end it will not matter because you have no choice but to use mono.

1 soundcard output will go to 1 of the connections of your monitor. You will not take 2 outputs and plug them both to 1 monitor. You will not take 1 output and plug it into both inputs of the monitor. You will not take 1 output and split the signal to each monitor.
 
I see...thanks for further clarifications. I've tried the stereo connectors ( XLR to 1/4 inch ). On the tip of the 1/4 inch there are two black rings as opposed to one ring. I have two connectors one for each monitor going to L and R of my sound card and the connectors work fine. So if mono and stereo both work my main question was what is the difference between both?

this is what i have

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--MONMSLCMX?trk=smx
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top