I know this is a dumb question but....

Brother_Dave · Post by **Brother_Dave** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:27 pm

I'm using a MOTU 24 i/o as a stand alone. I don't have a real good studio monitor setup. Plus, it's a home studio and I don't want to bother my wife, and kids, around the house, so I'd like to try headphones. I'm sure that this is normal (I'm a bit of a hardware newbie), but my outs consist, just like the ins, as quarter inch outs split into left and right. Therefore logic would dictate that I need headphone with two jacks. I've done a limited search but haven't come up with anything. Is there an affordable brand/site that I can find to, at least, push me in the right direction?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:07 am

Hey Dave... well you Could in theory get a Y cord at a Radio shack that's a 1/4" stereo jack on one end and two male mono 1/4" plugs on the other and plug your headphones in that way... HOWEVER... it won't work. Reason is your headphones require much more voltage generally to drive the small speakers in them. What's coming out your 24 I/O is either -10db or +4db and that's not good enough to drive phones.

I'm not sure what you mean "standalone"... you do have a computer right? Well, back to your situation, the line level can drive "powered" monitors because the amplifier is built into them. A cheap solution to power your phones would be go to pick up a cheap Mixer at a Guitar Center or store like that. And since you only want to monitor your headphones you can get something pretty cheap like a small Behringer for $40 and plug your phones into that. I have one just like this that I bought for another reason and for now I'm using it as a "volume control" for my powered monitors.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=631238

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:04 am

Well the problem with using a mixer is it will color your signal a lot. A monitor controller will be more ideal, something like a Presonus Central Station or a Mackie Big Knob, this also allows you to control studio monitors if you add them later, the ability to patch in external gear, better audio quality by not running the signal through an additional gain stage, etc.

Without spending a lot of money, the Samson C Control would still be a better solution than a mixer, here's the link for that:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CControl/

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:42 am

As usual, your suggestions are good ones, Brad.
Somehow, though, I don't think Brother Dave's too concerned with any slight coloration that may occur.

James' cheap and cheerful solution sounds good to me; the tiny Behringer mixers are amazing value.
A Mackie, Samson or Spirit may be the next-cheapest but still reasonably reliable small/tiny-format console options.
Having those extra RCA I/Os and preamps could come in handy, too.

Just another Unicorpinion.
MM

glsimonsen · Post by **glsimonsen** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:33 am

got a wife, got a kid, got some headphones, got tinnitus. word to the wise.

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:49 pm

Buy a headphone-amp

like:
ALTO's HPA4 or HPA6
Behringer's HA4700 or HA8000
Samson's S-phone or S-amp

all (except S-amp which is DIbox - size) are 19"
and feature 4 or more headphone outputs (with their own volume etc)
All feathure 1/4" jack mono inputs except S-amp which requires a stereo jack. In that case you'll require a insert type (stereo Jack >> 2x mono jack) cable

http://www.altoproaudio.com http://www.behringer.com http://www.samsontech.com

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:10 am

Hmm... thank you dr. Fill.

Anything wrong with the HA4600?
I know it's an older one, but it's what I've got.
It sounds a bit harsh to me, but is surely powerful enough for any monitoring requirements.
My concern is whether I'll be able to use it to cross-reference various h'phones when mixing.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.