Comments on: studiomaster diamond compact 4-2

By: Strangely

Strangely — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:40:13 +0000

I guess that the little half-hidden board is a resistor matrix then without any active components. This will set the input Z and provide a bit of voltage drop for the line inputs. Usually, if you try to whack an unbalanced input into something, one of the balanced lines is set to earth so you only get half the voltage swing. The equation for power is 20log whereas for voltage it’s 10log. This means a 3dB difference in voltage is “the same” as 6bB in power or “volume” that you might hear. So you are back to the thing that I mentioned about what your meters are actually telling you! In other words, what is the dB that you are looking at…it’s only a ratio after all, not an absolute measurement.
So this tallies with what you are saying.

By: paul

paul — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:52:10 +0000

Hey man, actually it seems that the signal is becoming attenuated. Strange. Its roughly around 6dB. Which is what I stated in earlier post about going from a balanced signal to an unbalanced signal if my memory serves me right. I think its the same when your using an insert on a desk. Now I may have read it wrong or not quite remembered it, but it went something like this. Forget that, this comes form the Focusrite website. If you wish to connect unbalanced equipment to the TrakMaster Pro’s line input however, this can be done, but the signal level will be 6dB lower. And there you have it, the reason fro the attenuation in my signal. I thought I’d read something like that somewhere
Over to you
me

By: Strangely

Strangely — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:10:45 +0000

This link gives a formula to work out the max gain you'll get over line level for a 8-9V power supply. P-P is about 8V say. Line level is ~0.775Vrms So 8V p-p is about equal to 2.83Vrms. This gives a gain of 3.65 times. However, I don't know what the input impedance is - and it's probably a compromise as I said originally. This site has a handy online conversion calculator. Try putting the Vrms and input impedance in. If 10k is set as the input Z then the gain is less than unity! This is what Paul is seeing with his mixer - no gain! So it means that the mic or even line Z is a compromise, at a fairly high level.

By: Strangely

Strangely — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:09:50 +0000

Not necessarily studio art. You said it gave you the sound that you wanted at that particular moment so it’s done the job. In the end, that’s all that matters.
Rees

By: paul

paul — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:34:07 +0000

Cool man, thanks for that. Well I quess its just another piece of studio art then huh!
You never know until you try
I’ll find a job for it somewhere.
Im still working on my design for a passive EQ
Well at least what I want from it and not the component side, thats where you come in. LOL
me