# Is rca mono to 1/4 stereo ok???



## Guest (Feb 4, 2007)

i picked up some adapters to try out the FBQ 2496 and i was just wondering if these were ok... i saw that it said to get mono to mono and i didn't realize these were mono to stereo until i got home... will they still work???


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> i saw that it said to get mono to mono


Where did you see that?

Are you talking about a phono to mono 1/4" jack plug adaptors like the one below?










brucek


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## Guest (Feb 4, 2007)

i got something like this...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...e+Type/Audio+adapters&fbc=1&parentPage=family


also here is my corrected curve tell me what u think...


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> also here is my corrected curve tell me what u think


Well, if you're showing us the finished product, I guess the adapter works?


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## Guest (Feb 4, 2007)

i haven't tried the adapter... i just corrected it in REW and was gonna input it to the fbq...

also does the FBQ have to be hooked up to the sub and stereo to make adjustments to the PEQ?


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

I admit to being a bit confused about the adapter you bought.










The 1/4" TRS plug (tip,ring,sleeve) on balanced equipment has (+)VE on the tip, (-)VE on the ring and (ground) on the sleeve.

The purpose of the correct adapter (I showed in my post above) is to pass the center pin of the RCA connector to the (+)VE signal and short the sleeve ground to the (-)VE input. This tells the BFD that it should change to unbalanced.

What connections are inside the adapter you bought are a mystery. I have trouble even hazarding a quess. Have they connected the centre pin of the RCA to the tip and ring. If so, it sure won't work.... Better get the correct one unless you're equipped to meter the one you got. If they hooked the center pin of the RCA to tip and the shield of the RCA to shield and ring, then it will work...



> does the FBQ have to be hooked up to the sub and stereo to make adjustments to the PEQ?


What do you mean?

brucek


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## Guest (Feb 4, 2007)

thanks yea i'm really unsure about it... there were like 3 or 4 in there and i didn't know which one to get... is there any danger in testing it to see if it works???


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> is there any danger in testing it to see if it works???


Well, the input would be fine. I don't know how the output (+)VE signal would take to being shorted to ground. I would just get the correct ones....

brucek


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

brucek said:


> I admit to being a bit confused about the adapter you bought.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No mystery.  That’s a pretty strange adapter, but any adapter that sends an unbalanced signal into a balanced input will connect the unbalanced (+) to the tip, and unbalanced (-) will connect to both ring and sleeve.

In other words, it will work fine. 

Regards,
Wayne


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> In other words, it will work fine.


Well, in my travels I've seen the 1/4" TRS used as an unbalanced left/right stereo plug for various applications. 

The unbalanced wiring standard would be connected TIP=Right CH, RING=Left CH and SLEEVE=Ground.

If the intent of the plug that frockc purchased was to convert balanced to unbalanced, then I feel it would have had a TS barrel on it. 

So, I would guess this is an adapter to split a mono unbalanced signal to a stereo plug. 

They use them in headphones sometimes.









So his adapter in that case would short the (+)VE and (-VE) outputs of the BFD together.


brucek


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I think you’re right on all counts – it’s most likely a mono-to-stereo adapter, rather than adapting an unbalanced signal to a balanced input. The more I think about it the more the latter just seems bizarre, especially with the RCA connector. And as you note, using TRS would get the same thing that a basic TS would, so what’s the point of the TRS?

This is the kind of confusion we get when they use the same connector for more than one protocol. Don’t know why the audio industry, both consumer and pro, is inclined to such nonsense...

So assuming it is a stereo-to-mono adapter, it will indeed short out with the BFD and not pass a signal. So Craig, you probably should get a different adapter. Better yet some RCA-1/4” cables.

Regards,
Wayne


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> [So assuming it is a stereo-to-mono adapter, it will indeed short out with the BFD and not pass a signal. So Craig, you probably should get a different adapter. Better yet some RCA-1/4” cables.


I agree.

Personally I had a problem with 1/4" plug adapters 








making intermitent connections with the BFD (occassionly if the BFD or cables were bumped the subwoofer would emit a massive growl/hum). I ended up making some RCA to XLR cables and trying different shield/- return connection options to get the least amount of ground loop hum. That let me remove the power line cheater "lift" I was using and go back to a normal full three prong power line connection for the BFD.


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