replacing sound system
Tue, 4 Oct 2005, 11:37 pmHarbour8 posts in thread
replacing sound system
Tue, 4 Oct 2005, 11:37 pmI need a little help in what is the 'best' direction to take.
Our current sound system consists of an amp, CD player and tape deck. Both the amp and CD player need replacing. This is easy enough, however, there has been the rare occasion in the past where I would have liked to play 2 effects together but was not able to as the amp only allowed one input at a time. I'm considering getting a mixer, but then comes the question of getting a mixer plus amp, or a powered mixer. However, I'd never use most of the features on the powered amp - certainly not the mic inputs, nor the use of so many channels (most powered mixers I've seen are 8 or more channels). I don't what to pay for features that won't be used.
As I'm all new to the use of mixers I need a little help (and clarification). As I've said, most of the time the CD and amp is sufficient, however, it would be good to be able to have a second input to simultaneously play another effect. Is there another way/product that can do this that I should consider?
If anyone have any advise or can 'enlighten' me, I'd be most appreciative.
Thanks
Ciao
Rob
Thou gleeking clapper-clawed bladder!
Our current sound system consists of an amp, CD player and tape deck. Both the amp and CD player need replacing. This is easy enough, however, there has been the rare occasion in the past where I would have liked to play 2 effects together but was not able to as the amp only allowed one input at a time. I'm considering getting a mixer, but then comes the question of getting a mixer plus amp, or a powered mixer. However, I'd never use most of the features on the powered amp - certainly not the mic inputs, nor the use of so many channels (most powered mixers I've seen are 8 or more channels). I don't what to pay for features that won't be used.
As I'm all new to the use of mixers I need a little help (and clarification). As I've said, most of the time the CD and amp is sufficient, however, it would be good to be able to have a second input to simultaneously play another effect. Is there another way/product that can do this that I should consider?
If anyone have any advise or can 'enlighten' me, I'd be most appreciative.
Thanks
Ciao
Rob
Thou gleeking clapper-clawed bladder!
Re: replacing sound system
Wed, 5 Oct 2005, 01:23 amRob Tagliaferri wrote:
>
> I need a little help in what is the 'best' direction to take.
>
> Our current sound system consists of an amp, CD player and
> tape deck. Both the amp and CD player need replacing. This is
> easy enough, however, there has been the rare occasion in the
> past where I would have liked to play 2 effects together but
> was not able to as the amp only allowed one input at a time.
> I'm considering getting a mixer, but then comes the question
> of getting a mixer plus amp, or a powered mixer. However, I'd
> never use most of the features on the powered amp - certainly
> not the mic inputs, nor the use of so many channels (most
> powered mixers I've seen are 8 or more channels). I don't
> what to pay for features that won't be used.
>
> As I'm all new to the use of mixers I need a little help (and
> clarification). As I've said, most of the time the CD and amp
> is sufficient, however, it would be good to be able to have a
> second input to simultaneously play another effect. Is there
> another way/product that can do this that I should consider?
>
> If anyone have any advise or can 'enlighten' me, I'd be most
> appreciative.
A cheap and easy way, which you probably could have achieved on your old equipment, would be to buy a two-into-one adaptor cable from somewhere like Dick Smith's, and plug both your CD output and your tape deck output into the one amp input. Then if, say, the cassette was playing a city background noise, it would keep playing underneath when you played a CD effect (a police siren for instance). The disadvantage of going into the same input would be you'd have no control over individual levels (ie mixing) at amp level, and the additional signal would boost your output...so you'd have to do some experimenting to make sure the signals were recorded at the right level and didn't distort. And you wouldn't get a stereo signal (most sound effects are mono anyway). But you might find you had volume controls on the tape player and the CD player, which would effectively mix the levels (achieving a crossfade, for instance)
Even better, I'm sure there are still small mixers (4 channel) available at Tandys/Dick Smith type stores, which is probably what you're looking for.
Cheers,
Craig
>
> I need a little help in what is the 'best' direction to take.
>
> Our current sound system consists of an amp, CD player and
> tape deck. Both the amp and CD player need replacing. This is
> easy enough, however, there has been the rare occasion in the
> past where I would have liked to play 2 effects together but
> was not able to as the amp only allowed one input at a time.
> I'm considering getting a mixer, but then comes the question
> of getting a mixer plus amp, or a powered mixer. However, I'd
> never use most of the features on the powered amp - certainly
> not the mic inputs, nor the use of so many channels (most
> powered mixers I've seen are 8 or more channels). I don't
> what to pay for features that won't be used.
>
> As I'm all new to the use of mixers I need a little help (and
> clarification). As I've said, most of the time the CD and amp
> is sufficient, however, it would be good to be able to have a
> second input to simultaneously play another effect. Is there
> another way/product that can do this that I should consider?
>
> If anyone have any advise or can 'enlighten' me, I'd be most
> appreciative.
A cheap and easy way, which you probably could have achieved on your old equipment, would be to buy a two-into-one adaptor cable from somewhere like Dick Smith's, and plug both your CD output and your tape deck output into the one amp input. Then if, say, the cassette was playing a city background noise, it would keep playing underneath when you played a CD effect (a police siren for instance). The disadvantage of going into the same input would be you'd have no control over individual levels (ie mixing) at amp level, and the additional signal would boost your output...so you'd have to do some experimenting to make sure the signals were recorded at the right level and didn't distort. And you wouldn't get a stereo signal (most sound effects are mono anyway). But you might find you had volume controls on the tape player and the CD player, which would effectively mix the levels (achieving a crossfade, for instance)
Even better, I'm sure there are still small mixers (4 channel) available at Tandys/Dick Smith type stores, which is probably what you're looking for.
Cheers,
Craig