Mackie CR-1604, Owner'S Manual

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BAL/UNBAL MAIN OUT – STEREO
These outputs are electronically balanced
(since they have both polarities available and are
capable of d4dBu lines with 28dB of head-
room). They’re also low impedance.
• For most music recording and PA applica-
tions, unbalanced outputs are perfectly
acceptable. Use standard cables. For
cables runs over 50 feet, you may need a
balanced line to reject noise.
• Balanced output is 6dB hotter than the
unbalanced outputs.
• To use these outputs in balanced applica-
tions, connect a stereo phone plug as follows:
Tip = – (cold)
Ring = + (hot)
Sleeve = Ground
Why is the tip cold and the ring hot?! Well
if you must know there are quite a few manu-
facturers that use this polarity configuration.
No, you cannot go inside the CR-1604 and
merely flip the wires around; doing so would
short out your meters and void your warranty.
If you absolutely
must change the polarity try
internally modifying a TRS adaptor or use an
external phase reverser.
MONO MAIN OUT
Same characteristics as the stereo MAIN
OUTs except that the signal combines Right
and Left Main Channels and the polarity is
reversed (tip = hot, ring = cold).
ONE FINAL NOT-SO-OBVIOUS OUTPUT
The CR-1604’s stereo
PHONE jack. As you’ll see
from the
Applications
Guide, we recommend con-
necting your monitor power
amp to this output in several cases.
Its output is HOT. First turn the PHONES
fader all the way off. Then rotate the power
amp’s level controls to 12 o’clock. Now bring up
the PHONES fader gently.
If in the past you’ve had to put up with conven-
tional, grungy-sounding headphone amps, you
may initially be reluctant to “trust” the CR-1604’s
headphone output. Not to worry. The sound qual-
ity is exactly the same as the main outputs and
will not degrade your audio in any way.
ALT 3/4 OUT
This is where the outputs appear from the
channels that have been assigned via the
MUTE/ALT switch. The post-EQ/post-fader/
post-panpot/pre-aux send signals from all of
the muted channels appear at these outputs.
Output is low impedance unbalanced and is
designed to drive
any input from low to high
impedance. Maximum output level is +22dBu
with a nominal operating level of +4dBu.
NOTE: Engaging a channel’s MUTE/ALT
switch will deactivate its AUX sends. See the
next section for several nifty ALT-3/4 OUT
applications.
AUX OUTPUTS
These are low impedance unbalanced out-
puts for the signals sent from AUX sends 1
through 6 (post-fader/post-EQ). Output is low im-
pedance and is designed to drive ANY input from
low to high impedance. Maximum output level is
+22dBu with a nominal operating level of +4dBu.
MONITOR OUT
This is a low impedance unbalanced output
for the signals sent from the MON SEND (AUX1
pre fader/pre EQ). The output is designed to
drive ANY input from low to high impedance.
Maximum output level is +22dBu with a nominal
operating level of +4dBu.
NEED MORE OF A GOOD THING?
You can create a 32 or 48-channel mixer with
the Mackie Designs MixerMixer combiner. It con-
nects all the outputs of up to three mixers without
losing channels via “cascading.” You can hook up
two or three CR-1604s together, providing you
with more of everything you love about our mixer
as your budget and/or needs grow. The 1/LEFT
and 2/RIGHT faders on each mixer become sub-
mix faders. And we offer an optional 100mm
Remote Fader to control the combined Main L/R
outputs. Not satisfied with this stroke of flexibility,
we’ve put together an ultra-affordable CordPack
that includes all the cables necessary to intercon-
nect three CR-1604s. This way, you won’t go broke
buying 36 mono and three stereo cables piece-
meal, which could add up to almost as much as
the MixerMixer itself.
33
This is
NOT
a typo!
34
A CL
OSER L
OOK
INPUT
OUTPUT
POD
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