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wrote:
I have an old Fostex that I want to use on a temporary basis for some
live mixing applications in a small room. It doesn't have any balanced
outs, and the stereo and monitor outs are just RCAs. So if I want to
send the signal 40 or 50 feet, what's the easiest way to do that?

Send them unbalanced, and keep the cables away from obvious sources of
interference - don't bundle them with an AC power cable and don't work
in a room that's next to a broadcast transmitter. You'll probably be
OK. I've run unbalanced outputs down a 100 foot snake many times
without serious problems. Sure, you can do bette, but for "temporary
basis . . . in small rooms" you can probably live with the small
amount of hum that the cables pick up.

Using a backwards DI box on one end will give you a balanced output,
but it may reduce the level to the point where you'll need to boost the
gain at the powered speaker end to the point where you start hearing
hum again. Putting a second DI at the other end would be a better
approach, but still you may not need to do this.

Would a couple passive boxes work okay for driving my
speakers or do active boxes make more sense here?

If you're going to use one on each end of the cable, you can't use an
active DI on the speaker end because the signal only flows one way
through the box - from the 1/4" jack to the XLR connector You could use
one on the mixer end, but you really should try a direct unbalanced
connection first.

Remember, you CAN try this at home to see how much hum you're likely to
get, unless you have to rent everything. And if you have to rent, you
might as well rent the right stuff.