# Question regarding REW cabling and connection



## dennis69 (Feb 17, 2013)

Dear community,

i'd like to measure (and use the results to improve the sound in) my listening room at home and i am a total beginner to acoustics.
For better understanding my situation i shortly tell you about my setup:

i use a mac mini as a music server which is connected to a d/a converter. The d/a converter is connected with balanced cables to a pair powered speakers.

What i have in mind is: installing REW on the mac mini and use the setup to measure my room. The problem i see is: i do not have a preamp (or anything that has an aux input). do you maybe have any suggestions how i could solve this ?
Is it possible to use the mixer as a preamp (connect the mac mini line out with the mixer and connect the speakers to it)?

Many thanks in advance


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

You don't need to do anything on the output side, if you run REW on the Mac Mini and the DAC is your default audio output device then the REW test signals should play through your speakers. To measure one speaker at a time just disconnect the lead to the other. On the input side you could use a SUB mic like UMIK-1 or UMM-6, or an analog mic such as ECM8000 or EMM-6 with a preamp that provides phantom power for the mic or, if you are primarily interested in the low frequencies, an SPL meter with its line output connected to the line input on the Mac Mini (most SPL meters have poor responses at higher frequencies, though the Galaxy CM-140 can be used for full range measurement). See the Cabling and connection basics sticky for general info on setup and the Information Index sticky in the REW forum.


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## dennis69 (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks for your answer (and sorry for my late reply).
It was my intention to use the Mac mini and the DAC to play the REW signals through my speakers.
I already looked into the stickies, but i was not sure if i did get it right (or if i overlooked something). So reading your reply i understand (i want to go with the Behringer ECM8000), i need a preamp (wouldn't need one when using the UMIK-1 or UMM-6?).?!

Kind regards and thanks for your help.

EDIT: So if i understand correctly, i could go with the UMIK-1 and would not need a preamp anymore, so it would cost me almost the same (ECM8000 50€ + Preamp 50€ = UMIK1 100€)?


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