[[email protected]]

Hello,

This is regarding a stereo signal going from a Line-out of a dvd
player to the line-in of a mixer.

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Advice or corrections?
thanks,
-HS
PS: I know this is a real basic question, but I am just now getting my
hands dirty with all this audio connections and equipment.

[Six String Stu]

isnt the line in on the mixer stereo? And do you have a "CD in" port? If
it's 1/4 inch it might not be mono, it could be stereo.
I have used rca phono male to a 1/4 mono that has a rca phono female on it's
end for getting two mono channels into some pieces of equipment.

--
remove "spamtrap" in return address for replys.
http://web.nccray.net/jshodges/mommasaid/sss.htm
20% of all sales goes to the local food pantry.
Accepting any and all donations of pro audio equipment.
Thanks so much to those who have responded.
wrote in message
ps.com...

Hello,

This is regarding a stereo signal going from a Line-out of a dvd
player to the line-in of a mixer.

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Advice or corrections?
thanks,
-HS
PS: I know this is a real basic question, but I am just now getting my
hands dirty with all this audio connections and equipment.

[RDOGuy]

On Mar 3, 12:29 am, wrote:

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

You're correct... the Y-connector does NOT "sum" the two signals to
mono. Those adapters work fine for splitting an OUTPUT to two
INPUTS... a whole different kettle of fish. You get a gold star for
recognizing there might be a problem with this arrangement - it's a
very common mistake.

For what you're doing, you need what is called a "combining network."
This - along with active circuitry that makes up for the loss induced
by a combining network - is the most basic part of an audio mixer.
You could Google "combining network" and make one (there's not much to
it) but I suspect you'll really be better off using two inputs on your
mixer for your stereo signal.

[Laurence Payne]

On 2 Mar 2007 22:29:37 -0800, wrote:

This is regarding a stereo signal going from a Line-out of a dvd
player to the line-in of a mixer.

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.


Yup, they're being summed, in the simplest way possible. But it
works. As long as the source material is mono-compatible, and you
don't mind loosing the stereo information, your simple kludge will
work fine.

As you say, if you have two line inputs available, you have the choice
of using separate connections from each output. At the mixer, pan one
channel hard R, the other hard L. Then you get your stereo back.

[Laurence Payne]

On 3 Mar 2007 01:27:23 -0800, "RDOGuy" wrote:

You're correct... the Y-connector does NOT "sum" the two signals to
mono. Those adapters work fine for splitting an OUTPUT to two
INPUTS... a whole different kettle of fish. You get a gold star for
recognizing there might be a problem with this arrangement - it's a
very common mistake.

So what does it do? Think practically, and remember neither the
source or input is low-impedance in this case.

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 3, 4:27 am, "RDOGuy" wrote:

You're correct... the Y-connector does NOT "sum" the two signals to
mono. Those adapters work fine for splitting an OUTPUT to two
INPUTS... a whole different kettle of fish. You get a gold star for
recognizing there might be a problem with this arrangement - it's a
very common mistake.

In theory, you're correct, but in practice it works pretty well. The
impedance of the outputs serves as the "combining network" for low
power connections such as the line level output of a DVD player. Don't
try it with two speaker outputs, though, or microphones. A power
amplifier output doesn't like to be fed from another power amplifier
output. And the difference in load impedance between one input and two
parallel inputs can change the sound of a microphone. But two DVD
outputs of a DVD player? No problem, unless it's a really crappy DVD
player.

The original poster is just insecure. It's common with beginners.
Don't scare him.

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 3, 1:29 am, wrote:

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right.

RDOGuy is just trying out his "theory" muscles on you. It's possible
to design a DVD player badly enough so that connecting its two outputs
together as you're doing with this adapter can affect the sound, but
it isn't likely.

But there are some considerations. First, make sure you have the kind
of cable you think you have. Look closely at the 1/4" plug. Does it
look like a headphone plug, with three distinct sections (the tip, the
body, and a small ring just behind the tip) or does it look like a
"guitar cable" without the ring? Many (in fact these days I'd guess
most) cables with two RCA plugs on one end and one 1/4" plug on the
other end are "stereo" cables which convert a stereo 1/4" output to
two RCA inputs or vice versa.

If you have a "stereo" cable and connect the 1/4" plug to a mono
input, then you're not combining the two channels of the DVD player,
you're connecting just one channel to the mixer rather than combining
the two channels. If the line inputs on your mixer are stereo,
however, then this is the correct cable to use. But if your mixer's
line inputs are mono, it's really more correct to connect the two DVD
player outputs two two channels and let the mixer do the summing.
That's why they call it a mixer.

[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:
Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

They are. It depends on how the output stages of the DVD player are
designed. If they have breakout resistors on the output, those two
resistors turn into a summing network that sums the two to mono. If
the output stages are straight low impedance outputs, they fight with
one another, on the other hand.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

You could do that, but if you have only one line in and you only want
mono, make a summing Y-cable with two 1K resistors, each in series with
the RCA jack. That will allow you to plug two sources in without having
them driving one another, only driving the output.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[William Sommerwerck]

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two signals get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono
signal within the Y-connector.

Contrary to what others say, you are indeed summing the L & R into a mono
signal, by shorting the CD player's output stages to each other. Whether
this degrades the sound depends on whether they can tolerate this.
Regardless, you're not getting stereo.


My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Exactly. Look for a stereo input. You can use two mono inputs by panning the
left CD channel all the way to the left, the right to the right.

[Laurence Payne]

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 05:41:07 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Exactly. Look for a stereo input. You can use two mono inputs by panning the
left CD channel all the way to the left, the right to the right.

Several people have mentioned a "Stereo Input". You won't find one.
You may find a pair of channels grouped together, but there will be
two input jacks. If you're lucky, you might find a group of 4 phono
jacks configured as Tape Play/Send. These will be fine, if the mixer
can route them where you want them to go.

[[email protected]]

On Mar 3, 6:37 am, "Mike Rivers" wrote:
On Mar 3, 1:29 am, wrote:

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right.

RDOGuy is just trying out his "theory" muscles on you. It's possible
to design a DVD player badly enough so that connecting its two outputs
together as you're doing with this adapter can affect the sound, but
it isn't likely.

But there are some considerations. First, make sure you have the kind
of cable you think you have. Look closely at the 1/4" plug. Does it
look like a headphone plug, with three distinct sections (the tip, the
body, and a small ring just behind the tip) or does it look like a
"guitar cable" without the ring? Many (in fact these days I'd guess
most) cables with two RCA plugs on one end and one 1/4" plug on the
other end are "stereo" cables which convert a stereo 1/4" output to
two RCA inputs or vice versa.

I will verify this.


If you have a "stereo" cable and connect the 1/4" plug to a mono
input, then you're not combining the two channels of the DVD player,
you're connecting just one channel to the mixer rather than combining
the two channels. If the line inputs on your mixer are stereo,
however, then this is the correct cable to use. But if your mixer's
line inputs are mono, it's really more correct to connect the two DVD
player outputs two two channels and let the mixer do the summing.
That's why they call it a mixer.

As far as I know, the Line-ins in the mixer are mono. So looks like
either I am feeding it a mono signal, or like some others have given
the insight, there is some summing happening from the DVD line-outs,
so I am fine then too.

Great posts in the thread btw,
thanks,
-HS

[[email protected]]

On Mar 3, 1:29 am, wrote:
Hello,

This is regarding a stereo signal going from a Line-out of a dvd
player to the line-in of a mixer.

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Advice or corrections?
thanks,
-HS
PS: I know this is a real basic question, but I am just now getting my
hands dirty with all this audio connections and equipment.

Thanks everyone for such insightful posts. I now realize that there is
an approximate summing happening on the line-outs of the DVD player
(since the sounds do not appear distorted hence I am assuming the line-
outs are not low impedance). This was a nice educational thread!

Thanks a ton to all,
regards,
-HS

[Laurence Payne]

On 3 Mar 2007 06:32:59 -0800, wrote:

Thanks everyone for such insightful posts. I now realize that there is
an approximate summing happening on the line-outs of the DVD player
(since the sounds do not appear distorted hence I am assuming the line-
outs are not low impedance). This was a nice educational thread!

Do you WANT stereo? You can easily have it by using two channels.

[Steve House]

Take each channel of the DVD player's stereo output to its own mono
input on the mixer and position them as needed with the mixer's pan
controls. If you want them to appear mono on the mixer's output, each
stereo channel appearing equally on both output channels, pan them
both to the centre. If you want them to appear to be a mono signal on
just one output channel, pan them both to that channel. Mixing signals
like that is why they call a mixer a 'mixer' grin. The only reason
to combine them before they get to the mixer is if you're running out
of inputs to connect them to.

On 2 Mar 2007 22:29:37 -0800, wrote:


Hello,

This is regarding a stereo signal going from a Line-out of a dvd
player to the line-in of a mixer.

Currently, the stereo signal is taken from two RCA jacks (L and R)
from the dvd player and carried through a wire to a 2-RCA to 1/4" Y-
connector and that 1/4" mono pin goes into the Line-in of the mixer.

Now I am suspecting this does not sound right. The Y-connector in
question may be useful to "take" the signal from the mixer and make it
available to the two RCA jacks on it. But how does it deal with two
signals coming from the RCA jacks (stereo from the dvd player) and
going through the 1/4" mono pin? Don't the two singal get shorted
somehow? Surely they are not being summed to make a mono signal within
the Y-connector.

My guess is that the two signals (L and R from the DVD) should be
carried over to *two Line-in* sockets of the mixer.

Advice or corrections?
thanks,
-HS
PS: I know this is a real basic question, but I am just now getting my
hands dirty with all this audio connections and equipment.

[RDOGuy]

I won't bother quoting anyone, because everybody is correct! : )

The OP seemed to be implying there were additional (mono) inputs
available on his mixer. He also that he suspected it didn't sound
right. So I made the presumption that he *was* hearing distorted
sound... which in a later post the OP said was not the case. But
since the original post made it appear as if the DVD outputs were
*not* buffered properly, the simplest advice seemed to be for him to
use two inputs on the mixer.

Yes... most modern equipment is designed so that a Y-connector used to
sum stereo line level outputs will not cause a problem, and in fact
will work fine. But as Mike pointed out, Y-adapters aren't
appropriate for combining mic or speaker lines. For this reason, I
find it safer to get inexperienced people (which the OP seems to be)
accustomed to the idea that it's OK to use Y-connectors to split
outputs, but not to combine them - even though there are cases where
its acceptable to do so.

I agree... nice contributions from everyone.

[[email protected]]

On Mar 3, 10:06 pm, "RDOGuy" wrote:
I won't bother quoting anyone, because everybody is correct! : )

The OP seemed to be implying there were additional (mono) inputs
available on his mixer. He also that he suspected it didn't sound
right. So I made the presumption that he *was* hearing distorted

By " does not sound right" I meant that it this doesn't seem to the
right way to do it, and not that there was distortion in the audio
output. Sorry for using ambigious wording


sound... which in a later post the OP said was not the case. But
since the original post made it appear as if the DVD outputs were
*not* buffered properly, the simplest advice seemed to be for him to
use two inputs on the mixer.

Yes... most modern equipment is designed so that a Y-connector used to
sum stereo line level outputs will not cause a problem, and in fact
will work fine. But as Mike pointed out, Y-adapters aren't
appropriate for combining mic or speaker lines. For this reason, I
find it safer to get inexperienced people (which the OP seems to be)

Yes, I made that clear already. I just now experimenting with audio
mixers and recordings to a hard disk.

accustomed to the idea that it's OK to use Y-connectors to split
outputs, but not to combine them - even though there are cases where
its acceptable to do so.

I agree... nice contributions from everyone.

True. Some pretty valuable practical information here.

regards, everyone,
-HS

[Laurence Payne]

On 3 Mar 2007 19:06:14 -0800, "RDOGuy" wrote:

Yes... most modern equipment is designed so that a Y-connector used to
sum stereo line level outputs will not cause a problem, and in fact
will work fine.

So we'll take that as a retraction of your first response, then? :-)

[RDOGuy]

On Mar 4, 6:09 am, Laurence Payne lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom
wrote:

So we'll take that as a retraction of your first response, then? :-)

No. I believe I adequately explained why I responded the way I did.
I believe I also made it clear that given the same information, I'd
respond the same way again. Others may have a different - and
perfectly valid - point of view about that. That's fine. We all have
different approaches, and therefore give advice differently. It would
appear the OP appreciated the variety in the advice he received - all
of which I've already acknowledged was correct.

But hey... if you just want to have an Internet ****ing contest, I'll
make it easy for you:

You win.