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Post subject: Can I connect a Passport 500 Pro & 300 Pro together?
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:56 pm
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Hobbyist
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Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:56 pm
Posts: 22
Location: Houston, TX
Our band already has 2 Fender PA's, the Passport 500 Pro and Passport 300 Pro.

We're NOT a loud rock band! We do Jazz, R&B, Blues, and Rock, and so far the 500 has worked well for us. The Passport 300 Pro sits idle when we use the Passport 500 Pro.

1. Can I connect a Passport 500 Pro and Passport 300 Pro together?

2. When connected together, can I use the USB Record feature of the 500 Pro to record ALL the channels from both units?

3. Can I connect and use the Passport 300 Pro as a monitor system with the Passport 500 Pro?

Thanks in advance!


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Post subject: Re: Can I connect a Passport 500 Pro & 300 Pro together?
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:07 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
Posts: 434
I have a Passport 300 Pro and a Passport 500 Pro and more often than not, I use both together. It's simple:

1. Get a high quality 1/8" stereo patch cord. I got mine from Crutchfield. There's no sense using a cheap cable to connect hundreds of dollars worth of PA equipment. It doesn't have to be long. You'll probably put the two mixers side by side.

2. Plug one end of the cable into the Stereo Out port for the 500. Plug the other end of the cable into the 1/8" port for channel 5 or 6 on the Passport 300. Start with the Stereo Out volume roughly vertical (50%) and same for the input channel you chose on the 300. You can make adjustments anywhere you like, but don't have one volume extremely high and the other extremely low. That's asking for noise.

Now, you can use the 300 speakers for monitors, or you can use four speakers for your crowds. Whatever suits your needs. If you are using all four speakers for the crowd, use your master volume LED stacks to roughly match the volume level coming out of all four speakers.

I often use four speakers for the hall if the hall is acoustically too live and prone to feedback. Using more speakers allows all the speakers to be turned down low, so as not to set off the room acoustics, but makes the audience always near a speaker, so they don't need higher volume.

I also sometimes use four speakers for the house just because it makes the EQ balance more consistent around the entire hall. Bass naturally distributes itself everywhere, but treble is much more directional, and if you walk from one side of the hall to the other side of the hall while listening carefully, with most two-speaker systems, the quality of the sound changes a lot, depending on where you are standing. But put up a wall of four speakers out front and this doesn't happen. You get the same sound anywhere in the hall (or at least much closer to the same sound than you can get with two speakers).

And if you do want to get loud, 800 watts is louder than 500 watts. Add a 400 watt powered subwoofer and, well, 1200 watts is louder than 800 watts.

You can't use the 500's eight channels, patch it into the 300 and then plug more stuff into the remaining five channels on the 300 and have all the sound come out of all four speakers. Things plugged into the 300 only come out of the 300's speakers, mixed in with the stuff from the 500. There's no path from the 300's mixer's signal back into the 500, and don't even THINK about plugging the 300's Stereo Out back into a channel on the 500 while you have the 500's Stereo Out plugged into the 300. That'll create a feedback loop and cause lots of pain to anyone near your speakers. It also might blow your speakers or your amps if done too often or too long.

I also have three Mackey SRM150 powered monitors, so if I need monitors and four speakers for the hall, I get a splitter designed to share two sets of headphones from one headphone jack (like from Radio Shack or Crutchfield) and put it in the 500's Stereo Out so one plug goes to the 300 as described above, and the other goes (with an appropriate adapter) into an SRM 150, which then daisy chains to the other two SRM 150s. They are quite small, so they fit in my hatchback with the two Passports.

But I have used the 300 for monitors. They work fine. The speakers are small enough to not get in the way of the crowd's view, even if you put them on speaker stands (at their lowest height), or you can put them on their side with a pillow or such to angle them up as floor monitors.

The main thing is: Two Passports offer a lot of versatility. Be creative. Enjoy.


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