Cable for stereo IEMs

[TheBouff]

Hello,

What cable would i need to go from 2 stereo linked outputs to the TRS stereo 1/4 input jack of a behringer P2…. thanks in advance?

Im hoping it may be as simple as this, but i was getting confused as to if this would worked with the mono trs outputs

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[Anonymous]

That cable is not the correct one because CQ’s OUT uses symmetric TRS jack.
If 2 OUT are linked, you have symmetric L signal in one OUT and symmetric R signal in the other OUT.
The Behringer P2 only accept stereo signal from an asymmetric stereo source.
In order to work, you need a personal monitor with symmetric 2 input.

[Brian]

We use the Behringer Powerplay P1 because it has dual XLR inputs which makes connecting it to the mixer much easier IMHO. In this case, you would use two 1/4″ TSR to XLR cables and plug the 1/4″ TSR plugs into the CQs aux outputs and the XLR into the P1 inputs. Because both the TSR and XLR signals are balanced signals, it’s a simple process to create this type of cable and no signal converter is required. The only real downside to using the P1 devices is that the “pack” is obviously larger than the P2 size.

[derekirving]

I have this very same quesion, I was using a TRS to XLR and into my IEM and the sound was not great, sounded cheap, compressed, just blah. Then I did a gig at a club with my IEM system in mono and it sounded way better then when i use my CQ12 + 1/4 trs to xlr to IEM system (mono) So it seem soemthing with my cable selection between my CQ12 and IEM system. I’ll need to read up on symmetric TRS jack **OR** just use two calbes out of the CQ12 and into my IEM (linknig the CQ12 output to stereo)

But if you have a photo of a 1/4 cable to use with the ysmmetric TRS jack on CQ12 please share.

[TheBouff]

Thanks for the help, I have gone for the p1 and 2 balanced trs Jack to xlr cables…. This was super helpful

[TheBouff]

I went with this cable

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[Brian]

Just to clarify further…. “symmetric” means balanced.

A balanced connection uses THREE wires to transmit. An unbalanced connection only uses TWO wires. An instrument cable is generally unbalanced while and XLR cable is generally balanced. You cannot “convert” between the two methods simply by changing the wiring scheme. You really need a audio converter of some sort (a DI box for example converts an instrument level unbalanced signal to mic level balanced signal).

The 1/4″ outputs on the CQ system are balanced – meaning they use all three wires of a TSR cable vs other systems that might output an unbalanced signal which only uses two wires. This is why you cannot use a dual mono (TS) to stereo (TRS) cable with the CQ system to feed the Powerplay P2s. It simply won’t work as expected.

[Brian]

@derekirving

It’s quite possible that one of your TRS to XLR cable is wired incorrectly with the positive and negative wires being swapped at one end. The would cause a 180 degree phase shift on one channel which definitely would cause some serious audio degradation when run in stereo. This issue would also completely disappear when you used the system in mono with just one source. You should definitely check all four of the terminations of your cables and make sure they are all wired the same/correctly.

[tronious]

I wanted iems in stereo as I’m the singer as well. So here’s what I did and it worked

1. Link 1 and 2 (sounds like you already did that)

2. Go to your config output and route 1 & 2 to the front headphone jack (A and B in the front)

3. Plug you 1/4″ stereo cable in there. Works well

If I’m not explaining it at 8:00, then it’s likely I misunderstood your question. Sorry!

If this doesn’t make sense, let me know and I’ll put some screenshots up with greater detail

[TheBouff]

That’s awesome and a cool workaround for my problem… thank you

[tronious]

You’re welcome. We played a show yesterday and it works perfect.

It also give you the ability to share a stereo mix with someone else

If you map the 1-2 stero link to headphone out A AND B, another person can use B

Can even pan one singer left and the other right and share reverb to give a nice full in ear vocal sound (main reason I wanted stereo for my mix)

[Snarklife]

I have some suggestions. Would love to share them with the community.

[Mike C]

The above mentioned headphone output work around works because that connection is a TRS stereo output.

The 1/4 inch cable shown in the first post would work with each TS plug plugged in to the mix outs it is connecting the + of balanced line outs one to the tip of the TRS plug and the other to the ring of the TRS plug. That is what the P2 wants to see when operating in the stereo mode.

You could make up a custom cable that does the same thing only connected to a XLR male connector with the tip of each TS plug connecting to pin 2 and the other to pin 3, the grounds would connect to pin 1. Using an XLR you could easily extend the cable to your P2
with any XLR mic cable.

[Snarklife]

If someone allowed me to post links, I could share the research I’ve done with cables that work for this purpose but I’m getting blocked when I try to send links (which seems extreme for a user forum!).

[Author]

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