Volume and Connection Questions

[xxyzz]

I do not get the volume that I would like to. Sometimes I have to really crank up the 300 watt Yamaha mixer to do this but then many times I risk getting mic feedback (yes I have the computers volume control all the way up). I am running a standard 1/8 mini plug from my Soundblaster Audigy 2z to a 1/8 mini to 1/4 male connector and plugging it into Yamaha 88s Super Hi-Z connection. This is where I seem to get the best sound quality and the most volume. I am wondering what others are doing.
Is there a better sound card?
Would I be better off running a 1/8 mini to the XLR connection (I have never tried this).
Is my volume limited by the amount of power my computer can put out? Does the power supply have any effect. I have a 150 to 250 max power supply. Here are so other questions I have. Do all mixers/speakers put out some hum? I don't have a lot and I don't believe this is your typical hum cause by a loop feedback because all my equipment is running thru a Monster Cable HTS 2000 line conditioner.
WHAT GAUGE AND BRAND SPEAKER WIRE DO YOU FIND IS BEST
Thanks for any suggestions or information.
Monarch Customer built P4 computer
Hoster
Windows XP Pro
Enermax EG26s power supply
Asus P4R800-VM motherboard
1gb RAM
Western Digital wd2000jd 200 gb hard srive (sata)
Creative Audigy 24 bit 2ZS sound card
ATI (Original) Radeon 9600 XT 128MB graphics Card
Plextor 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive
Yamaha EM88s 250-400 watt power supply
Yamaha Series s115 club series speakers
Peavey Unpower floor monitor
Sure SM58 Mic's
Horizon 14 gauge 30 ft. speaker cables

[gduns - with the Lord]

I run from the same sound card as you with virtualy the same cables as you. With the laptop, I use an Ebtech Hum Eliminator. This gets rid of all hum The computer card produces a line out signal which is sufficient to drive an amp to it's max output.

Usually the problem with not having enough output, is either insufficient speaker mass, or not enough power (watts). I usually play small, to medium Venues, and run 2500 watts to my main speakers, and 1500 to the subwoofers. Main speakers I have are jbl sp115 they have 15" woofer, and a 15" horn tweeter. I run either 2 or 4 depending on the size of the room. I also have 2- 12" floor monitors, and run a Mackie mixer. A peavey kosmos, or a bbe 352 will also add a lot to the sound system.

I don't think everyone will be running the same things I run, But I wanted to have great sound, do I designed this system for The max.... There is a place close to me that is running 5- pv2600 amps for a total of better than 10,000 watts

[PastMember]

It shouldn't matter what you're running your computer sound "to." If you are getting a decent line level out of your computer, you should be fine.

[George]

Originally Posted by xxyzz

I do not get the volume that I would like to.

Simplest thing to check may be the master volume setting in the pc.
Go through the control panel, sounds and audio devices, audio, volume..this opens up the main volume and balance control settings. The volume slider may be down.

This may not be the problem, but at least you'd know the pc output is up tp par.

[George]

Originally Posted by George

but at least you'd know the pc output is up tp par.

Edit time ran out. Meant to say at least you'd know that setting is up to par.

[jdavia]

If all else fails, check the speaker ohms. 16, 8, or 4. If your system can use the lower value it will increase the watts of power output. Also the No.14 wire sounds like regular lamp cord. a larger size No.10 stranded and shorter lenght if it can be, should also help.

[songpony]

I utlitized an external USB sound device which boosted my volume a fair amount (and at about $80 was well worth it - it also eliminated the hum and other noise I was getting on the 1/8" headphone jack). Also, if you're using a mixer, turn up the gain on the channel the computer is on (or some will have a push-button on the channel to "boost" it a little) - this will also increase the music volume without impacting your mics.

[mindonstrike]

I did a google search on your mixer and only came up with 1 retailer and little specs, so it's difficult to give any definitive advice.
I also google searched your line conditioner which indicated that it's just a fancy surge suppressor, no ground lifting capabilities, I may be wrong but thats what they said, however if evrything is plugged into it then a ground loop wouldn't be the problem.
The retailor indicated that your mixer had 2 400 watt outputs. If it's 400 watts into 8 ohms you should be good however if it's into 2 ohms (which would be about 100 watts into 8 ohms) then you are probably underpowered.
You indicated that you are using "a" 1/8 inch mini from the card which would indicate a TRS output (stereo), but you indicated a super hi-z input to your mixer (not sure what super means) which would indicate a TS (mono). You didn't mention whether your cables are TRS or TS so I can't speculate there.
I've never owned a powered mixer so I'm just guessing but it would surprise me if youve got a xlr input along with only one hi-z input.
Also if you've got a setting for +4/-10 db make sure it's set to +4

without more specs it's hard to tell except I doubt it's your computer

Sam

[mindonstrike]

I really shouldn't try to reply to posts at 4am, when I'm not thinking straight .
A hi-z input is looking for a guitar or an unbalanced microphone or some other high impedence device, not a line level source such as a sound card. Are you sure you don't have inputs maked "line in" or "line level" possibly (probably) 2 of them marked left and right?

A line level source into a hi-z input could certainly be the cause of the hum you are experiencing.

Now I can go to bed
Sam

[jdavia]

I have other thoughts. First is The brand is top knotch but the mixer amp is 8 channels and really meant for a band. with more controls than is necessary for a karaoke show. I would think it is being used with some of the controls that are not in use turned up, or at the wrong settings, causing the hum. Turn off all channels and other settings that are not in use.

As far as the volume is concerned, I'd say definitely the speaker wire is too small in size and can be shorter if possible. The amp has 4 ohm speaker connections, make sure the speakers are 4 ohm, not 8, and only one speaker to a connection to keep the impedance matched. Also the amp is Stereo, so make sure both channels are turned up and in use.
I say this because I have a mixer amp myself by Martin Roland for Karaoke and DJ. When I first purchased it I had to learn what some of the settings had to be set to. Since I had a simular situation.

[bobcox- with the Lord]

I use a studio master powered mixer 120 watts each side at 8 ohms more than enough for small bars and clubs. 2 peavey impulse 15" speakers. good 16 gauge speaker wire is ok unless you are going over 75ft then i would use 14. 1/8 mini to 1/4 unbalanced is the right way to go, or mini to rca whatever your mixer takes. plug 1/4 into left chan mono on your board. also you might try an adapter to lift ground to elim hum.also if you have a 400 watt amp, at 8 ohms it is always 400 watts. all the knobs on the amp do is control how much signal goes to the amp. they are not ajustments like 0 to 400 watts. Hope This Helps you. Good Luck, Bob

[nreel]

Try opening the Audio Controls and check the slider on the WAVE/Mp3.

Make sure the WAVE slider is above 50%...set it at 100% if you like.

No, the Power supply in a computer doesn't have anything to do with the amount of Power out of the Sound Card.

Usually, Powered Mixers do not have XLR LINE Inputs.

It appears that your Powered Mixer "Yamaha EM88s 250-400" is rated at 250Watts Stereo (250W per Channel) and 400Watts Mono. For Yamaha, this, usually, means at 8-Ohms.

Your Yamaha Series s115 club series speakers, if they are actually CLUBIV or CLUBV speakers, are rated at 500Watts Program and 1000Watts Maximum at 8-Ohms. In stereo mode (250W per Channel) you would be grossly under powering these Speakers. Even with your MASTER Volume at MAX, you would need to have the Volume, on the LINE IN Channel, up 100%, if you had any crowd at all. If you had 100 people or more, you would never be able to get over the loudness of the crowd!

I know what you were thinking when you put this system together...that, no way will I be able to Blow these speakers, but the opposite is the case. With your AMP at MAX...all the time...you are more prone to clipping (bad frequencies going to the Speakers) and, therefore, a higher probability of blowing the Speakers. Not to mention the fact that your AMP has NO HEAD ROOM and, if run continuously like this, will fail.

You should look into running your AMP in MONO. This way you get 400Watts, which is closer to the Program Rating of your Speakers and give you more HEAD ROOM on your AMP.

Or, buy two more CLUBV (CLUB IVs are obsolete) and Parallel them. The resistance is halved in Parallel. 2 8-Ohm Speakers, in Parallel, become effectively 4-Ohm Speakers. Therefore, 4 8-Ohm Speakers hooked in Stereo, should give you the 400Watts per Channel and more HEAD ROOM on your AMP.

As far as HUM goes, you can by a HUM eliminator, as GDUNS suggested, or lift the Ground, which is not as safe, as others have suggested.

It may be one of your MICs causing the HUM. You didn't give any info on your MICs as to whether they were connected to the Mixer via 1/4" or XLR.

Unplug each MIC, one at a time, and see if that clears up the HUM.

Norm

[jdavia]

Don't under rate this Amplifier-mixer. I puts out 2x400 watts. that is 400 watts per channel, either in Stereo or Mono. at 4 ohms, not the specks that were mentioned in another post. 400 watts per channel is a lot more power than my 300 watts per channel, and mine is loud.
The way the power is rated today is by the amount of amps used to power the whole amplifier, not the amount it uses to power only the final stage of the amplifier as was the old method. Therefore you get more rated sound amplification from the total watts used, but actually less sound.in loudness.

There has been a lot of suggestions including some of mine, and I suppose the originator of this thread xxyzz has become more confused and don't know where to turn to solve the problem. We might have made more for him.
I can only add now that if the equipment is all in good working order and hooked up properly, when turned on and adjusted properly it should give satisfactory factory results.
One moe thought:
Maybe it has something to do with the way you imported the songs to your computer that you have a volume loss. More to ponder about.

[xxyzz]

WOW, today was the first chance I had to read all these replies. Yes there is some confusion but boy, I sure like all the help everyone give each other. Has anyone used Monster Cable

Studio Pro 1000 Speaker Cables? I will try some of these suggestions. Still not clear on some things but I will expermint. Here is some more info on my mixer.

the EMX68S: 3-band EQ on each channel, dual 7-band graphics, 16 digital effects, and 400W per side (800W bridged), with 8 channels instead of 6. Channels 1-6 are mono channels with XLR and TRS inputs. Channels 7 and 8 are stereo with XLR inputs and TRS pairs.



Features:

• 8 channels
• 2 mono 400W amplifiers (800W bridged)
• 3-band channel EQs
• Dual 7-band graphic equalizers
• 16 digital effects programs (delays, reverbs, flange, doubler, distortion, and symphonic)
• 2 aux sends (monitor and effects)
• Phantom power (+15V)
• Yamaha speaker processing
• XLR and TRS input connectors on channels 1-6, XLR and TRS pairs on 7-8
• 18-15/16"W x 12"H x 12-7/8"D
• 34 lbs.

[xxyzz]

I do have two line in 1/4 jacks that read L mono and R. It read "line" above the L input and MIC under the R input. Is this what you mean but running it in MONO? Should my audio line in be connect here instead of where I have it now which is in the HI-Z/Low-Z jack.

Try opening the Audio Controls and check the slider on the WAVE/Mp3.

Make sure the WAVE slider is above 50%...set it at 100% if you like.

No, the Power supply in a computer doesn't have anything to do with the amount of Power out of the Sound Card.

Usually, Powered Mixers do not have XLR LINE Inputs.

It appears that your Powered Mixer "Yamaha EM88s 250-400" is rated at 250Watts Stereo (250W per Channel) and 400Watts Mono. For Yamaha, this, usually, means at 8-Ohms.

Your Yamaha Series s115 club series speakers, if they are actually CLUBIV or CLUBV speakers, are rated at 500Watts Program and 1000Watts Maximum at 8-Ohms. In stereo mode (250W per Channel) you would be grossly under powering these Speakers. Even with your MASTER Volume at MAX, you would need to have the Volume, on the LINE IN Channel, up 100%, if you had any crowd at all. If you had 100 people or more, you would never be able to get over the loudness of the crowd!

I know what you were thinking when you put this system together...that, no way will I be able to Blow these speakers, but the opposite is the case. With your AMP at MAX...all the time...you are more prone to clipping (bad frequencies going to the Speakers) and, therefore, a higher probability of blowing the Speakers. Not to mention the fact that your AMP has NO HEAD ROOM and, if run continuously like this, will fail.

You should look into running your AMP in MONO. This way you get 400Watts, which is closer to the Program Rating of your Speakers and give you more HEAD ROOM on your AMP.

Or, buy two more CLUBV (CLUB IVs are obsolete) and Parallel them. The resistance is halved in Parallel. 2 8-Ohm Speakers, in Parallel, become effectively 4-Ohm Speakers. Therefore, 4 8-Ohm Speakers hooked in Stereo, should give you the 400Watts per Channel and more HEAD ROOM on your AMP.

As far as HUM goes, you can by a HUM eliminator, as GDUNS suggested, or lift the Ground, which is not as safe, as others have suggested.

It may be one of your MICs causing the HUM. You didn't give any info on your MICs as to whether they were connected to the Mixer via 1/4" or XLR.

Unplug each MIC, one at a time, and see if that clears up the HUM.

Norm[/quote]

[alanross]

xxyzz,
There are several reasons for humming or buzzing noises. Some of the more common ones are:
1) Hum from a system that shares a video signal with a video signal coming from the cable into the building. In other words, if you have your system running to a TV in the bar that also has cable coming in from the cable company, you will get a buzzing or humming noise. You can purchase an in-line filter that gets inserted anywhere along the path of the coax to eliminate this.

2) Hum from a ground loop. An Ebtech Hum Eliminator will cure this completely. It's a passive unit which means it doesn't require power from a battery or wall outlet. Insert it just before whatever line runs to your amp (either from your mixing board or EQ). In other words, if you run a line directly from your mixer into the amp, run that line from your mixer into the Hum Eliminator first, then run a line out of the H.E. and into your amp. This solves your ground loop hum.

3) The same remedy works when you are combining balanced and unbalance signals by using equipment pieced together from multpile manufacturers. The Hum Eliminator will convert the singals so everything is balanced.

4) Bad mic or line cords. If you have cords that you connect and disconnect every show, there is a high probability that your cords can go bad - especially if you don't wrap them with care. Also, if you are using mic extension cords, you can have a bad connection at the female plug end. Although usually the sound a bad cord can make would be described more as a buzzing than a humming. As previously suggested, remove one mic cord at a time to see if the buzzing persists. If, so, then you know your mic cords are not the problem.

5) Mixer noise. After powering up your system, set you mixing board's main volume to about 3/4 full. Then, set your amp volumes to full. Now, don't think in terms of volume. Think in terms of signal. When you push a slide up, you're not sending more sound to your amp; you're sending more signal.

If the signal you send to the amp has noise, then the amp will siimply send that signal to the speakers. Therefore, you want to send a clean signal to your amp so it can send clean sound to the speakers. All mixers have some noise. The more signal you send out of the mixer, the more noise you will send also. This is why you should have the amp volume at full - so you can reduce the amount of signal your mixer pours into the amp, therefore reducing the corresponding noise.

Fortunately, with experience, you will learn how to read the humming. Each buzz or hum has its own unique sound. Once you've been performing long enough, you can usually identify the problem by the way the humming sounds.

Hope this was helpful in deciding which fix is best for you.

- Alan