Mackie Mix 50 Owners Manual - Page 8

1 1 MONO L R MIC INPUT MIC INPUT BAL/UNBAL BAL/UNBAL MONO MONO L L L 2 2 2 3 0 1 LINE 3 GAIN 0 2 LINE BAL/UNBAL BAL/UNBAL R R R 2 GAIN LINE 3/4 LINE 5/6 CTRL RM OUT STEREO AUX RETURN L AUX SEND R MAIN OUT PHONES MIX SERIES FEATURES CHANNEL INPUTS 1. MIC (MICROPHONE) INPUTS The MIX Series is equipped with one or more rugged, low-noise, phantom-powered microphone preamplifiers, providing up to 50 dB of crystal-clear amplification. Their balanced circuitry rejects all manner of extraneous interference. Professional condenser, dynamic, and ribbon mics all sound excellent through these XLR inputs. You can plug in almost any kind of balanced mic that has a standard XLR-type male mic connector. See Appendix B for more information on XLR connectors. The MIX Series provides +48 VDC phantom powering on pins 2 and 3 of the mono channels' XLR MIC inputs (except Mix.50). This can be turned on and off using the PHANTOM (19) switch. CAUTION: DO NOT connect a linelevel device to a MIC input with the phantom power switched on. This could damage the device. Use the LINE IN (2) jacks instead. Do not use phantom power with tube or ribbon microphones, as this may cause damage. 2. LINE INPUTS These inputs can accept 1/4" TRS balanced and TS unbalanced plugs from any line-level instrument, effects device, or tape player. They can be driven by virtually any line-level signal, from -45 dBu up to +18 dBu. There are two line-inputs for each stereo channel, a left and a right. When connecting a stereo device (two cords), use both the left (mono) input and the right input. 8 When connecting a mono device (just one cord), always use the left (mono) input and plug nothing into the right input. A trick called "jack normalling" causes the signal to appear on both sides. 3. GAIN CONTROL If you haven't already, please read "SET THE LEVELS" on page 4. The GAIN control adjusts the input sensitivity of the MIC and LINE inputs. This allows signals from the outside world to be adjusted to optimal internal operating levels. The GAIN control provides 50 dB of gain with the knob fully up. 4. PEAK LED This handy LED (Light Emitting Diode) lets you know that the signals going into the mixer are adjusted to the correct level, not too strong to cause distortion and not too weak to be lost in noise. After you connect a microphone or line-level component to the mixer, do a sound test and adjust the GAIN control until this handy LED flickers just occasionally. If it is glowing constantly, turn the GAIN down. If the LED is doing almost nothing, turn it up. CHANNEL CONTROLS The channel strips have various controls, depending on the model and whether it is a mic/line (mono) channel or a stereo channel. The output from each channel strip passes on to the left and right main mix. An auxiliary signal can be tapped off and sent to monitors or processors (except Mix.50). The block diagrams on pages 19-22 show how the signal flows through each mixer.