Opinions on Horizon Mic Splitters and Direct Boxes

[Z-Man]

Does anyone here have experience with Horizon mic splitters and/or
direct boxes? I'm thinking of purchasing one of each. I need
something to split a mixer's balanced out between a power amp and some
in-ear monitors. I also need to get a direct box for my bass player.
Horizon seems like a good choice for the money. Any thoughts?

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 20, 10:38 pm, "Z-Man" > wrote:
> Does anyone here have experience with Horizon mic splitters and/or
> direct boxes? I'm thinking of purchasing one of each. I need
> something to split a mixer's balanced out between a power amp and some
> in-ear monitors. I also need to get a direct box for my bass player.

Horizon stuff is pretty decent, reasonably well made, unless they've
switched to a crappy Chinese XLR connector in recent years. Their
transformers are OK but nothing special.

For your line level split, be sure that you get a splitter that's
designed to take line level. I'm not sure Horizon makes one. If you
try to use a mic splitter for that application, you'll almost
certainly drive the transformer into saturation, and that will sound
pretty ugly. A Y cable will probably work just fine.

[[email protected]]

On Mar 20, 6:38 pm, "Z-Man" > wrote:
> Does anyone here have experience with Horizon mic splitters and/or
> direct boxes? I'm thinking of purchasing one of each. I need
> something to split a mixer's balanced out between a power amp and some
> in-ear monitors. I also need to get a direct box for my bass player.
> Horizon seems like a good choice for the money. Any thoughts?

You might want to take a look at Whirlwind IMP and LBS splitters for
mic and line respectively. For DI the Countryman 85 and Radial (both
active and passive) are the ones that will have a much lesser impact
on the tone from the various pickups than the Horizon or Whirlwind
(and clones) direct boxes.

bobs

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

[Z-Man]

Guys:
Thanks for the info--I thought a mic splitter would handle line-level
signal. Can I really use a "Y" cable? I'm going from an AUX out of a
mixer to both a power amp and an IEM transmitter. If a "Y" cable is a
bad idea, is whirlwind considered the leading company for mic
splitters and line splitters? Thanks!

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 21, 4:00 pm, "Z-Man" > wrote:

> Thanks for the info--I thought a mic splitter would handle line-level
> signal. Can I really use a "Y" cable? I'm going from an AUX out of a
> mixer to both a power amp and an IEM transmitter.

Sure, it'll work. But one thing you should be aware of. You really
should have an independent level control for your in-ear monitors. The
transmitter may or may not give you enough control.

Have you had any experience in using and mixing en-ear monitors?
Generally you'll want a different mix for them than monitor speakers
or the house mix (though it depends on the kind of music). So you
might consider feeding the speakers and the in-ear system from
separate auxiliary sends.

[Fletch]

On Mar 21, 2:09 pm, "Mike Rivers" > wrote:
> On Mar 21, 4:00 pm, "Z-Man" > wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the info--I thought a mic splitter would handle line-level
> > signal. Can I really use a "Y" cable? I'm going from an AUX out of a
> > mixer to both a power amp and an IEM transmitter.
>
> Sure, it'll work. But one thing you should be aware of. You really
> should have an independent level control for your in-ear monitors. The
> transmitter may or may not give you enough control.
>
> Have you had any experience in using and mixing en-ear monitors?
> Generally you'll want a different mix for them than monitor speakers
> or the house mix (though it depends on the kind of music). So you
> might consider feeding the speakers and the in-ear system from
> separate auxiliary sends.


Yeah, I agree here. You should dedicate an Aux send to feed the in-ear
setup. More control there over individual component inputs.

And you can be sure that the FOH sound will be great, but someone in
the band can't hear X well enough. If you are splitting the main
output, guess what happens? Yep, you screw up your great house mix!

Separate the control and the sends.

--Fletch

[Z-Man]

Thanks guys--don't worry about the setup. The only things in monitors
are my vocal, my guitar, and the backing vocal--the same things I need
in my IEMs. The setup works great--we used it for a St. Patrick's Day
gig, and we've never sounded better. I'm more concerned about using
the right equipment and cables to hook everything up. I split the
signal with a mic splitter last weekend, and it worked OK. There was
some hum, but it could have been a ground loop, the TVs, neons, etc.
It sounds like I need a line level splitter if I want to keep doing
this.

[Scott Dorsey]

Z-Man > wrote:
>Does anyone here have experience with Horizon mic splitters and/or
>direct boxes? I'm thinking of purchasing one of each. I need
>something to split a mixer's balanced out between a power amp and some
>in-ear monitors. I also need to get a direct box for my bass player.
>Horizon seems like a good choice for the money. Any thoughts?

Horizon makes okay stuff for a reasonable price, but I would be a little
wary of running line level through their splitters.

If you absolutely need transformer isolation, Sescom will sell you a box
with one 600 ohm input and two 600 ohm outputs that will be fine at line
level. Audisar also makes some similar transformers but I don't think
they will put them in a nice box for you.

As far as the bass DI, just buy the Countryman. You will find the high
input impedance of the active DI to be a huge advantage, and the Countryman
is convenient and ubiquitous.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Romeo Rondeau]

> As far as the bass DI, just buy the Countryman. You will find the high
> input impedance of the active DI to be a huge advantage, and the Countryman
> is convenient and ubiquitous.

And it's built like a friggin' tank. Remember the old ad where they
parked a truck on one? Priceless :-)