KVR Audio

29chrispy · Post by **29chrispy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:42 pm

I have an amplifier i want to hook up between my computer and monitors. The only problem is that the input on my monitors is RCA (the red and white pins) and the ouput on the amplifier is speaker wire (the wiring with 2 prongs at either end)

What cable(s) do i need to hook these up. i have looked for speaker wire to RCA but i havent found anything. If anybody could help me out please that would be awesome

Thanks in advance if i dont reply

:D:D:D:D:D:D

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:45 pm

er, your monitors are active so you don't need the amp.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:49 pm

What monitors are you using? Like Mushy says, RCA inputs are usually found on active systems.

29chrispy · Post by **29chrispy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:58 pm

thecontrolcentre wrote:What monitors are you using? Like Mushy says, RCA inputs are usually found on active systems.

i know i just want to use the amp to have all of my devices (ie computer, keyboard, xbox) all through the same device into my speakers

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:02 pm

Sounds as if you'll need a small mixer. A (presumably stereo; if mono, use a splitter cable) line-level output from each sound-generating device goes to one (likewise stereo) input of the mixer. Mixer's output goes to the active monitors' inputs.

Of course, it's possible your speakers aren't active. Model number? Photo of the back of one, including any identifying information?

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:05 pm

29chrispy wrote:
thecontrolcentre wrote:What monitors are you using? Like Mushy says, RCA inputs are usually found on active systems.
i know i just want to use the amp to have all of my devices (ie computer, keyboard, xbox) all through the same device into my speakers

Use a mixer, or rig the monitors to the tape output (phonos) on the amp.

29chrispy · Post by **29chrispy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:05 pm

Meffy wrote:Sounds as if you'll need a small mixer. A (presumably stereo; if mono, use a splitter cable) line-level output from each sound-generating device goes to one (likewise stereo) input of the mixer. Mixer's output goes to the active monitors' inputs.

Of course, it's possible your speakers aren't active. Model number? Photo of the back of one, including any identifying information?

They are MAudio AV40s. I have evrything else working i just need to connect RCA to speaker wire. Do you know how to do that?

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:08 pm

29chrispy wrote:
Meffy wrote:Sounds as if you'll need a small mixer. A (presumably stereo; if mono, use a splitter cable) line-level output from each sound-generating device goes to one (likewise stereo) input of the mixer. Mixer's output goes to the active monitors' inputs.

Of course, it's possible your speakers aren't active. Model number? Photo of the back of one, including any identifying information?
They are MAudio AV40s. I have evrything else working i just need to connect RCA to speaker wire. Do you know how to do that?

Can't be done AFAIK. The impedence differences are huge.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:10 pm

Like I said, connect the monitors to the tape out on the amp (rca to rca).

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:18 pm

Yup, that's the way to do it. If you just want one device to play at a time, feed the devices into the amp's inputs and use the amp to select which input you want. If you want to hear several at once, use a mixer to sum them and feed the mixer's output to the amplifier -- or skip the amp altogether and rely on the monitors' built-in amplification (as in my suggestion above). You can always try one way, then the other.

29chrispy · Post by **29chrispy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:57 pm

Meffy wrote:Yup, that's the way to do it. If you just want one device to play at a time, feed the devices into the amp's inputs and use the amp to select which input you want. If you want to hear several at once, use a mixer to sum them and feed the mixer's output to the amplifier -- or skip the amp altogether and rely on the monitors' built-in amplification (as in my suggestion above). You can always try one way, then the other.

the only outputs on the amp are speaker wire

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:59 pm

Can't do it unless you work out some kind of impedance-matching circuit -- a transformer wired "the wrong way around" maybe, or some such kludge. What kind of amp have you got? Guitar, hi-fi, fill-in-the-blank?

[edit] If it's a guitar/instrument amp, you could always mic its speaker and feed that into the mixer. Of course, then you'd hear that speaker plus your monitors.

29chrispy · Post by **29chrispy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:06 pm

ok i realise my question has been skewed with all this stuff about amplifiers. I know that everything will work as i have tried it with speaker wire on the right speaker of the AV40s. But the input on the left is RCA. The ONLY thing i need to know is how to wire up a connection that goes from speaker wire to RCA.
sorry if i sound angry. im having a hard time wording this question out

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:13 pm

29chrispy wrote:ok i realise my question has been skewed with all this stuff about amplifiers. I know that everything will work as i have tried it with speaker wire on the right speaker of the AV40s. But the input on the left is RCA. The ONLY thing i need to know is how to wire up a connection that goes from speaker wire to RCA.
sorry if i sound angry. im having a hard time wording this question out

You send the signal into the right speaker via RCA, the left is fed via speaker cable from the right.
I've learnt this in two seconds of looking at a pic!

And you cannot send speaker wire to RCA unless you go the convoluted approach suggested by Meffy.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:28 pm

Yup -- that speaker wire between the two monitors is not the same thing as the speaker wire output from your amplifier. The one that goes from left monitor to right goes from a high-impedance output to a high-impedance input -- it carries both DC power and a line-level signal, the latter superimposed on the former. This is quite a non-standard use of a bare wire connection, but since it's used only between two units of the same pair, that doesn't matter. However, it can be misleading; it could make it appear that speaker wire is all you need to connect to the other input. That's not so.

The amp's speaker-wire output is low-impedance, meaning it's supposed to go into an eight-ohm (or four or sixteen, something on that order) speaker. Connecting this directly to a high-impedance input, one that expects a line-level (IOW, much lower level) signal, such as the RCA connectors on your monitor pair, will not work. You have to match the impedance of the input to that of the output, and I'd say that's not worth the bother.

In your place I'd just go the mixer route, use the monitors' built-in amplification, and leave the other amp out of the equation entirely unless you want to run it into the mixer too (through an impedance-matching transformer or something of that sort).

What Cables Do I Need?