My System Is A Mess Of Inputs and Outputs...Please Help Me To Simplify?

[crazyface]

Hi, thanks for reading!

I'm sorry if this is the wrong section of the forum!


Right now my system is very confusing...actually, it's not even really setup, because I still need an input selector before I can have it even begin to function minimally... I'd love to know how to simplify the whole thing, but I'm lost.

Since I live in a single room flat, I've no real space to work with, and I need my system to handle both my listening and my amateur recording/processing. I've the standard sources: a turntable, a CD player and my PC; but from time-to-time I need also to reroute audio that I've recorded to go out of my PC, through a processor, and then back into my PC. The tough part comes because I've found that I really enjoy using that same processor for listening to music, so everything's subject to rerouting.

I have my PC, and my CD player, and now my turntable, and I want to run them all through my Aphex Aural Exciter 204, then out from that and into my receiver and out through my speakers (or alternatively out of the 204 and into my headphone amp.) So obviously I need an input switch to go between all of those devices and the 204, because the 204 has only one input. This one input, however, will also at times need to be used by the output of my PC, to then output itself back INTO my PC as processed audio, for mastering of audio files that I create for my film projects (which I'll then need some way to listen to on my speakers relying on output directly from the PC to the receiver. Luckily my PC has multiple outputs/inputs, so I think I can adapt the 1/8" output to a dual RCA connection then I can input it to the reciever.) So now what was initially confusing is now stupifying (to me anyway) because of my varying uses.

Further complicating matters is my headphone amp. Since my receiver has no RCA outputs, only speaker outputs, I cannot hook up my headphone amp directly to my amplifer, unless I adapt it to accept input from the receiver's headphone output...which doesn't work well because the receiver's headphone processing clashes with that done by my headphone amp. So I need a way also to easily reroute the 204's output to either the receiver or the headphone amp.

So it's a big mess, everything needs to connect to everything else... It was suggested to me elsewhere to consider using a little mixer panel, but I can't find an amateur-level one that has all the input/output connections/routing I'd need...maybe you know of one? I've also considered that perhaps two or three RCA input/output selectors could make things work, but I worry that the little cheapo things from Radioshack will degrade the sound as it goes through so many switches (will it? I don't really know for sure...), and the audiophile-grade switchers add-up to rather more than I can manage to spend if three are bought (being about 80-150 USD each.)

Any ideas?

Thanks again for your help! Bye for now!

 

[crazyface]

Oh, I almost forgot -- I also have a Laserdisc player and a video game system that need to get input, too...but in their cases it's not absolutely critical that they get the 204's attention, so I can plug them directly to the receiver if necessary. Just mentioning them for the sake of giving a complete picture!

Ok, thanks again!!!

 

[infinitesymphony]

You need an input selector and an output selector, a.k.a. a mixer. The whole point to having a mixer is the ability to route signals to and from wherever you want.

On a small budget, look for a used Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro.

inputs needed:

-from pc
-from cd player
-from turntable
-from laserdisc
-from video games
-from aural exciter

outputs needed:

-to aural exciter
-to receiver
-to headphone amplifier
-to pc

 

[crazyface]

Hi! I looked at a link to the product that you mentioned, the Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro. I don't quite understand it, sorry!

On the back, it looks like all of its inputs are very specialized, and they're all 1/4" it looks like, rather than RCA's, and there aren't very many... So I'm not really sure how I'd use it to take care of everything at once.

Could you tell me more?

Thanks!!!

 

[infinitesymphony]

It will take a bit of learning to use a mixer properly, but in the end it will be worthwhile, because you'll have everything plugged into one box.

Many of the inputs and outputs are 1/4". This is because they can accept both balanced and unbalanced loads. Most consumer equipment is unbalanced, but in the case of the Aural Exciter 204, it has balanced inputs and outputs (though you could still use it unbalanced as normal).

You're free to use regular RCA cables, and you can connect them to the mixer with some cheap RCA -> 1/4" TS adapters.

Edit: But then again, I'm not sure that the 1202-VLZ Pro even all of the inputs and outputs you'll need. You could just look for input and output selector boxes, or you could go the uber-studio route and build a patchbay for easy connection swapping.