A straightfoward question for the more experienced sound engineers

[emgee]

I'm trying to set up an in-ear monitor system for my band(4 of us)

I have a Behringer HA400 headphone amplifier(it has four 6.3mm output jacks).

I can output from my mixer using either:
1) Monitor(which has L and R)
2) Phones(only one port)

I tried these setup below:
1)Monitor(L only) --6.5mm-> HA400 --6.5mmto3.5mm adaptors-> to all of us

We could only get signal on one side. I initially assumed if I connected L only it should automatically be in mono.

2)Phones(one port) -> HA400 --6.5mmto3.5mm adaptors-> to all of us

We could only get signal on one side. Now that's weird because of the third setup which is..

3)Phones(one port) --6.5mmto3.5mm adaptor-> one earphone

I could hear on both sides.




What could the problem be? The adaptors, or faulty HA400? Please explain alongside your reply


Thanks in advance
Ian

 

[blueprintstudios]

I've never really measured by the mm.. usually it's 1/4 inch , 1/8 inch.. anyways..

1) have you checked whether your adapters is it TS or TRS? (1 black line or 2 black line) because high chances if it's 2 black line it will split the signal to left or right only. pls read my DIY Recording FAQ for more info.

2) read 1)

3) it does sound like 1) the adapter is a TS? whereby your earphone is TRS.

4) plug your headphones into your mixer's PHONE or monitors, what kind of results do you get?
if mixer PHONE : both sides
monitors : only left audio / right audio (not panned left or right. I meant audio signal)
if like i described above, your mixer is working fine. your HA400 is working fine. and now comes down to your headphones but it sounds like it's working fine. then your playback from pc soundcard > mixer audio cable , but if you could hear 2 sides then it's working fine from the mixer. end. then what's left is your ADAPTER. tadaa

 

[emgee]

my adaptors all have two black lines

my iems have two black lines

my 3.5mm extension cables have two black lines

does this mean all i have to do is to get adaptors with one black line instead of two?

thanks for your reply

 

[blueprintstudios]

wow. that is weird. then try troubleshoot/replace your adapters otherwise your HA400 could be messed up

what mixer are you using?

 

[prefaderaux]

Hi Emgee,

How abt try this:

Step 1 - use a 'Y-cable' i.e. 2 x TS jacks to 1 x TRS jack OR 2 x RCA with 2 x TS adaptors to 1 x TRS jack,

Step 2 - Connect the 2 x TS jacks to your source Output L & R (mixer) respectively,

Step 3 - Connect the 1 x TRS jack to your Behringer HA400 Input.

You shld able to hear it both sides on your headphones.

If your source Pan your input sources on the mixer, you should be able to hear the panning effect on your headphones.

Hope this helps : )

 

[blueprintstudios]

to 2nd prefaderaux's methods , I am using the 1) for mine. so I'll have a total of 5 headphone outputs. but i'm not sure what kind of output is your "Monitor" , is it RCA or 1/4inch output?

what I was suggesting is

from your mixer PHONES output > HA400 input > and that's it. 4 headphones in. so you don't need to buy any more (unless adapters). straightforward

but it does sound like you're still having a problem even with the mixer's PHONES output. which you may wanna troubleshoot look into it and know which one is causing the problem, the adapter,audio cables, the mixer or your headphone amp, or your headphones otherwise you're just going to face it again when you upgrade your gear and change audio interface/mixer haha.

 

[sj2six]

my adaptors all have two black lines

my iems have two black lines

my 3.5mm extension cables have two black lines

does this mean all i have to do is to get adaptors with one black line instead of two?

thanks for your reply

No, don't need to buy adaptor with one black line, coz one black line only carries mono signal. First, check the pan knobs on your mixer. If it's pan to L or R, then you can only hear one side. If they are all in center position, then check the ONE 6.5mm cable that you use to connect from the mixer to the HA400. If that cable has only got one black line, then it only carries mono signal. Coz you mentioned here:

"my adaptors all have two black lines

my iems have two black lines

my 3.5mm extension cables have two black lines"

but you did not mention the 6.5mm cable from mixer phone -> HA400

Personally i use Aux send as headphone send. Buy the Y-cable like what one of them mentioned. Then patch the two-headed side onto your mixer's master aux send outputs L & R. Then patch the one-headed side to your HA400 input. Then turn the Aux send knobs on your mixer, both the channel's aux send as well as master aux send knob on your mixer. The reason why I use aux send is bacause I can free up the phone on the mixer for the engineer/recordist to use. And the main L & R can be patch to your main monitoring speakers.


Of course, the method provided by the rest works too. Good luck.

 

[smurfpiss]

but you did not mention the 6.5mm cable from mixer phone -> HA400

Like what sj2six mentioned I think it's pretty clear you're not using a TRS 1/4" cable to patch from phones out to HA400 in.

 

[emgee]

thanks for the reply guys.

sj2six is right, i am using a TS 6.3mm cable and not a TRS one. I simply used an extra guitar cable to connect my HA400 to the mixer.

so i should now get either a y-cable, or a TRS 6.3mm cable? there are 6.3mm TRS cables for sale, right(because its purpose seems too similiar to y-cables)?

thanks once again for all your replies!

 

[smurfpiss]

TRS 1/4" cables are common, more so than Y-cables.

Which one you get depends on if you want to use your monitor outs or phones out for your IEMs.