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Post subject: Connect 300 Pro to Powered Subwoofer
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:57 pm
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How exactly would I connect a Passport 300 (or 500) Pro to a Behringer EUROLIVE B1500D-PRO Powered Subwoofer?

The Passport has a Sub Out 1/4" jack, while the Behringer has an XLR in. Do I just get a cable with 1/4" on one end and male XLR on the other end? Or maybe a cable with 1/4" on both ends and some kind of adapter? If the latter, should the adapter be also be a transformer to match impedance? And I'm assuming I'm not to use SPEAKER wire.

Should the 1/4" jack(s) be TRS?

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Connect 300 Pro to Powered Subwoofer
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:01 pm
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Yes, you'll need an adapter cable with male XLR at one end and 1/4" TS or TRS at the other. You'd probably do well to keep the length minimal for your uses, since the 1/4" Sub Out port on the Passport models is mysteriously unbalanced (there's no third wire involved, so it's TS, not TRS).

And yes, you want instrument cable, not speaker cable, but then nobody sells speaker cable with XLR at either end, so far as I know. This is a line-level signal.

You'll be controlling volume on the sub itself. Signal level coming out of the Sub Out port on the Passports is pre-Master Fader, so it is unaffected by the Master Volume on the Passport.


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Post subject: Re: Connect 300 Pro to Powered Subwoofer
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:01 pm
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Thanks for all your help.

I guess my only lingering confusion is over the TS/TRS issue. At first you said the adapter could be either, and then you said the Sub Out Port on the Passport is TS. So it seems I need TS, correct?

And what would be the downside if I were to use the incorrect type? Would the subwoofer be missing part of the signal if I used TS when I needed TRS? Would there be phasing issues?

On another topic, I think I read in the manual that the Passport has an internal crossover which becomes active when a plug is inserted into the Sub Out port, so it sends the appropriate frequencies to the subwoofer with no need to set anything. It seems this would make the crossover control on the subwoofer redundant, in other words not needed, or at least no more than minimally useful.

But I've also read of people who run the main outputs of their PA into their subwoofer, adjust the crossover for the best bass response, and then send the non-bass frequencies out from the subwoofer to their PA's main speakers. At least I think I recall reading something about that.

Can this be done with a Passport used in tandem with a Behringer sub, and if so which method would be preferable?


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Post subject: Re: Connect 300 Pro to Powered Subwoofer
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:36 am
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Aspiring Musician
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For reasons that defy my understanding, the audio world chooses to call what the rest of the world would call "shielded" by the adjective "balanced". So, when you hear about a cable that is "balanced", it's usually XLR or TRS (or might have one of these at each end). When you hear "unbalanced", it's TS, or possibly RCA.

In general, unbalanced has two wires in the cable. One is signal. The other is ground.

Balanced has three wires: Signal, ground, and shield. No third wire, you still have signal, and ground, but you don't have shield.

In this case, the port is TS, or "unbalanced". The cable can be either TS or TRS, but the ring won't have anything unique to connect to, so it won't effectively be "balanced" or "shielded", hence my recommendation that you don't use an extremely long cable. Short, unbalanced cables usually don't have a problem. Long ones often do.

So, it doesn't really matter whether the cable is TS or TRS, it will function as TS because that's what the port is. TS might be harder to find, because the XLR end requires a third wire, and over many years of use a TS cable might be less versatile, because eventually you might want to use it for something else that requires that ring connector.


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Post subject: Re: Connect 300 Pro to Powered Subwoofer
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 5:09 am
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I'm going to try to find an adapter which has a TRS on one end and a male XLR on the other. I will plug the TRS into the Passport's Sub Out port, then connect the female end of an XLR mic cable to the adapter, and plug the male end of the mic cable into the subwoofer. It seems to me that I could run the cable a reasonable distance.

Thanks again.


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