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So, my new Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 has balanced 14" outs, and my rather cheap Fostex monitoring system has RCA inputs.
What would be the best cables that I could make or purchase for such a connection? Right now I have a couple of really cheap T/S 1/4" to RCA cables I bought from Radio Shack probably 10-15 years ago - you know the crappy gray plastic sheathed type that they sold then and perhaps still do today.
Is there a way to take advantage of the balanced jacks when the monitor system is really just +/- with the RCA connections?
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Right now I have a couple of really cheap T/S 1/4" to RCA cables I bought from Radio Shack probably 10-15 years ago - you know the crappy gray plastic sheathed type that they sold then and perhaps still do today. Yes...they were like using thread rather than cable. I would recycle them. IMO...from experience... I would buy a well shielded 1/4" - RCA stereo cables. I've used Hosa for years and they work fine. I don't think the brand is as important as the gauge/shielding. Good luck....
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So, my new Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 has balanced 14" outs, and my rather cheap Fostex monitoring system has RCA inputs.
What would be the best cables that I could make or purchase for such a connection? Right now I have a couple of really cheap T/S 1/4" to RCA cables I bought from Radio Shack probably 10-15 years ago - you know the crappy gray plastic sheathed type that they sold then and perhaps still do today.
Is there a way to take advantage of the balanced jacks when the monitor system is really just +/- with the RCA connections? You can use either balanced or unbalanced outputs on that unit. Which you use would depend on the monitor system. Is it balanced? 13. MONITOR OUTPUTS 1 and 2 – two balanced analogue line outputs on ¼” (6.35 mm) jack sockets; use TRS jacks for a balanced connection or TS jacks for unbalanced. These will generally be used for driving the main L and R speakers of your monitoring system; however, the signals at the outputs may be defined in Scarlett MixControl. As for cables, any decent quality cable will do. I use Monster. Regards, Bob
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@90 dB - no the inputs on the monitoring system are simply RCA inputs.
It's interesting that the Scarlett manual improperly refers to the plugs of the cables as jacks. At least that's what I'm reading.
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@90 dB - no the inputs on the monitoring system are simply RCA inputs.
It's interesting that the Scarlett manual improperly refers to the plugs of the cables as jacks. At least that's what I'm reading.
Right - I understand that. So, all you need is two 1/4 phone jacks to two RCA jacks. Can be done with either cable or adapters. Cheapest way is to just use a standard stereo RCA cable (four male ends) and two RCA/1/4" adapters for the Focusrite outputs. All Radio Shack stuff. I wouldn't spend more than that - you probably won't notice the difference with a "cheap" monitoring system. 
Last edited by 90 dB; 01/29/14 07:49 AM.
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...Right now I have a couple of really cheap T/S 1/4" to RCA cables I bought from Radio Shack probably 10-15 years ago - you know the crappy gray plastic sheathed type that they sold then and perhaps still do today.
Is there a way to take advantage of the balanced jacks when the monitor system is really just +/- with the RCA connections? Those cables are already wired properly to use the TS to RCA as Unbalanced, which is all that your monitors can take without rather expensive alternatives that are likely not needed. And - the old gray RadioShack "Lifetime Guarantee" cables may still be of good enough quality to use here. If, when the cables are hooked up to your system, with system turned ON and idling, as in no sound, and you mechanically disturb those cables by lightly slapping them on the desktop or the likes and you hear not too much noise from doing that, and provided you don't hear any buzzing, humming, or other noise from the idling system, things will work just fine over the short distance you are sending the unbalanced signal. "UnBalanced" Line does not inherently sound worse than Balanced Line connection, Internet Gurus and such be damned and ignored, they don't know what they are pontificating about, many confusing the fact that along with the Balanced connection often comes the higher amp;itude of the pro level Line voltage. So they hear "louder" and think, "better". In reality, all the user of a good clean unbalanced connect from sound device to monitors has to do is set their output level accordingly and enjoy fine audio. Balanced Line automatically rejects certain types of noise. The amount of noise you would pick up from a short run, such as from the sound device to the monitor input is and should be minimal to none in the properly designed system. The one thing to avoid with unbalanced cabling is having more length of cable than actually is needed to perform the connection between the two units with a bit of extra cabling left over for the sake of common sense. In other words, if your unbalanced cables are so long that you have to loop them up in order to do something with that extra cable length, go purchase two shorter unbalanced cable sets that can do the job and be done with it. Avoid the overpriced 'monster' cables and such that are just there to take yer money, too. Many of these actually have "features" such as RCA pins that are larger in diameter than specification. That may insure a tighter connection, but it also insures that your RCA Jacks will get stretched to the point where the standard size plugs will no longer be able to make good contact. Replacement of the jacks is a rather common problem today for the audio equipment service desk, a needless and rather expensive repair that could be avoided by simply purchasing a good quality middle of the road cable set. If the advertising for the cable mentions the word, "oxygen" - brother beware. --Mac
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All duly noted.
I really just wondered if there was a way to take advantage of the 'balanced' output on the Scarlett, with shielding of some type. Since the monitor inputs are RCA, I'm guessing that there's not much I can do. I do need to replace the gray Shack cables, they do make noise when bumping them around. I haven't used them for 3 years or so, when I bought the TASCAM. That's outta here, and the Scarlett sits pretty in it's place. The TASCAM had RCA outs.
I've never bought into expensive cable. I'm a bulk-lamp-cord guy from long ago for speaker cable. I learned that from the choir director I worked for as a volunteer back in the 80's. That guy could play piano like Andre Crouch or Floyd Cramer - depending on his mood, sing like Perry Como, repair anything from Peavey from the 70's-80's, was the earliest adopter of MIDI that I know personally (we had a Fender/Rhodes Chroma in the choir - right when they came out), made great and creative use of PZM mics when they first came out, etc. etc. etc. I learned many 'unconventional' use of microphones and audio gear from Roger. I made many long run speaker cables for our concerts with an old gun style soldering iron, bulk brown lamp cord and 1/4" plugs that we always had on hand in our old GMC 4104 and 4107 busses that we toured in. Roger did all the diesel engine and tranny work on those as well - to a point - routine maintenance stuff - but more than once I showed up at his house and he was up to his shoulders in grease!
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All duly noted.
I've never bought into expensive cable. I'm a bulk-lamp-cord guy from long ago for speaker cable. I learned that from the choir director I worked for as a volunteer back in the 80's.
...
I made many long run speaker cables for our concerts with an old gun style soldering iron, bulk brown lamp cord and 1/4" plugs that we always had on hand in our old GMC 4104 and 4107 busses that we toured in.
Hmmm, speaker outputs are a whole different playing field. With outputs, we're almost always dealing with low impedance loads, and with PA systems often relatively high power levels are involved. High power means high current, and if there is series resistance in the circuit (i.e. long lengths of lamp cord), there will be a corresponding voltage drop loss across the cable, resulting in less available power to drive the speakers. Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems. Hope this helps Cheers Trevor
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
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Hmmm, speaker outputs are a whole different playing field. With outputs, we're almost always dealing with low impedance loads, and with PA systems often relatively high power levels are involved.
High power means high current, and if there is series resistance in the circuit (i.e. long lengths of lamp cord), there will be a corresponding voltage drop loss across the cable, resulting in less available power to drive the speakers.
Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Trevor
Addendum: This is not meant to say that you cannot successfully use such cables for this purpose, just make sure they are capable of performing the task.
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
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"Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems." Our longest speaker cables are 100'/ #12 ProCo's with Neutriks. No way I'm running lamp cord with my little rig!  We also have 25's and 50's, all ProCo. Not cheap, but we've never had one fail. Regards, Bob
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All duly noted.
I've never bought into expensive cable. I'm a bulk-lamp-cord guy from long ago for speaker cable. I learned that from the choir director I worked for as a volunteer back in the 80's.
...
I made many long run speaker cables for our concerts with an old gun style soldering iron, bulk brown lamp cord and 1/4" plugs that we always had on hand in our old GMC 4104 and 4107 busses that we toured in.
Hmmm, speaker outputs are a whole different playing field. With outputs, we're almost always dealing with low impedance loads, and with PA systems often relatively high power levels are involved. High power means high current, and if there is series resistance in the circuit (i.e. long lengths of lamp cord), there will be a corresponding voltage drop loss across the cable, resulting in less available power to drive the speakers. Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems. Hope this helps Cheers Trevor #14 100ft orange extension cord cut in half. Solder on new connectors.
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I only buy the cables that the salesperson says will make the electrons go faster.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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I only buy the cables that the salesperson says will make the electrons go faster. Wow man. The amps all go to 11 and the electrons go really really fast! 
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All duly noted.
I've never bought into expensive cable. I'm a bulk-lamp-cord guy from long ago for speaker cable. I learned that from the choir director I worked for as a volunteer back in the 80's.
...
I made many long run speaker cables for our concerts with an old gun style soldering iron, bulk brown lamp cord and 1/4" plugs that we always had on hand in our old GMC 4104 and 4107 busses that we toured in.
Hmmm, speaker outputs are a whole different playing field. With outputs, we're almost always dealing with low impedance loads, and with PA systems often relatively high power levels are involved. High power means high current, and if there is series resistance in the circuit (i.e. long lengths of lamp cord), there will be a corresponding voltage drop loss across the cable, resulting in less available power to drive the speakers. Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems. Hope this helps Cheers Trevor #14 100ft orange extension cord cut in half. Solder on new connectors. Done that as well!
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I only buy the cables that the salesperson says will make the electrons go faster. Yep, those high-velocity 'electron phsyco-trimodulator' conductors are certainly the ones to use, oxygen-free - of course. And it's comforting to know that the same salespersons all have double-degrees in physics and nuclear sciences (I think it's an entry requirement).
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I only buy the cables that the salesperson says will make the electrons go faster. It also helps if your output is higher than your input. Electrons go much faster downhill than they do going uphill.
Whenever I get something stuck in the back of my throat, I dislodge it by drinking a beer.
It's called the Heineken Maneuver.
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Know why there are two prongs to every electric circuit?
That is because we do not buy electrons, we can only RENT them and then they go back home.
--Mac
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"Not saying that the lamp cord won't work, but it actually may be less than ideal in certain circumstances, especially 'long runs' to high power speaker systems." Our longest speaker cables are 100'/ #12 ProCo's with Neutriks. No way I'm running lamp cord with my little rig! We also have 25's and 50's, all ProCo. Not cheap, but we've never had one fail. Regards, Bob Keep in mind this was LOOOONGGGG before Neutrik twist-lock style connectors were de rigeur on speakers. I'm talking Peavey floor wedge monitors with cloth grilles and the silver dust cones and plywood cases, and Bose 801s for mains, on tripods that weighed probably 50 lbs. each, etc. This choir was a non-profit and ran on a VERY thin budget. Heavy duty lamp cord had/has a whole bunch of copper in it from a cross-section/gauge standpoint and took teenage abuse pretty well. I love Neutrik twist-lock for both speaker and mains supply cable connectors, but such a thing did not exist in the US in the 70's which is when we likely sourced those Peavey's floor wedges. I'd like it for guitar and instrument cables as well to eliminate pop from bridging tip/sleeve on insert/removal, as that's one big benefit of those connectors - they do immediate connect/disconnect of both sides of the signal without shorting across T/S. Planet Waves sells a 'switched' cable that does the same: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PWCBGtr20A/
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That is because we do not buy electrons, we can only RENT them ... giggle Kinda like beer
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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RHarv:
You have a PM
Thanks
Trevor
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
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