Hello, long time reader, recent shopper, and first time poster of DJTT.
I am looking for an inexpensive solution for a little problem I have.
Currently, I have my 2 dual balanced TRS cables coming out of my Audio Kontrol from my producing setup going into my speakers (KRK VXT6). After recently purchasing my laptop/S4 combo, I also wanted to somehow route the output of my S4 to my speakers.
Really all I need is a simple switch, so I don’t have to plug and unplug cables all the time causing unecessary wear, but am also looking for something cheap.
Now, I know a mixer will solve the problem, but I don’t want to pay $200 or more for a mixer with balanced outputs just for this. It’s not like I will be producing and Djing at the same time. I’ve found some audio input selector boxes, but they go for $70.
Now I am not looking for a Y-cable, because I’ve heard having 2 inputs going into 1 output could potentially cause some serious harm to your equipment, but maybe if there is some sort of Y-cable with a switch, that will do for me.
How would this work? I’m guessing you’d have to put one phono in each of the AK1 inputs and then connect the L channels of the S4 and Production Out to one Y-cable and the R channels to the other. Or am I missing something?
Essentially, for the cables, what you’d do is plug the 1/4" male into the back of each speaker, and run one cable from the S4 and the Audio Kontrol to each female connection. You can get the same thing for 1/4" male with two 1/4" female on the other end of the cable.
Unfortunately that won’t work, since it’s just TS (tip + sleeve) versus TRS (tip+ring+sleeve)
TS is for unbalanced connections and TRS is for balanced connections (which means less noise)
Essentially there is a balanced output left channel and a balanced output for the right channel for both my audio kontrol 1 (audio interface) and my traktor s4 that I want to go to each individual left and right speaker that accepts balanced inputs (TRS or XLR).
Also, combining 2 inputs to 1 output is a very dangerous thing to do electronically
That might do. I might have to shop around for reviews. I was trying to stay away from having to use a mixer, as it means more clutter, but it probably is my only solution. But the 2 balanced L/R channels and the balanced outputs was exactly what I was looking for if I had to do a mixer.
