None of these should get undone on a normal week, and so this chart should be unnecessary most of the time. It is for emergency use when someone accidentally pulls cables. -- All of the outputs to amplifiers are from the lowest interface, the MOTU 828mk2. There are eight 1/4" outputs, and we use the first six of them for monitors A through F. These feed three stereo amplifiers. A and B are channels 1 and 2 of the top amplifier. C and D are channels 1 and 2 of one of the middle red amplifiers. E and F are channels 2 and 1 of the bottom amplifier, hooked up with its channels swapped for some reason. The fourth amplifier is hooked up in some kind of wacky bridged mode to run the mains, so there's only one signal going to it, coming from the left main output on the 828mk2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lower Interface -- 1 space MOTU 828mk 2 Rear panel outputs -- 1/4" jacks: 8 unused 7 unused 6 Mon F, to lowest amplifier channel 1 5 Mon E, to lowest amplifier channel 2 4 Mon D, to middle-ish red amplifier channel 2 3 Mon C, to middle-ish red amplifier channel 1 2 Mon B, to upper amplifier channel 2 1 Mon A, to upper amplifier channel 1 Rear panel main outputs -- XLR: Right unused Left To the other middle-ish red amplifier, peculiar input The amplifier outputs are fed to the front panel Speakon connectors, all labeled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The speakers are all labeled, except for Monitor F, which is broken. Suggestions: Monitors A and B are really gutsy, professional-level EAW speakers. We have usually used one for the leader, and one for the drums, because of their requirements. In a simple setting, e.g. with only two monitors, these two are probably the simplest and best. Monitors C and D are modest, but pretty-okay Bag End speakers. We have normally used this with the harmony vocals. Second best. Monitor E is somewhat mediocre (and should be replaced with something nicer), and has often been used for keyboards, or for the "backline" of bass and electric guitar player (shared) when there are no keyboards. That's it -- five speakers. So the job for now is to figure out how to cover the band's needs with five different monitors. We very much prefer each vocalist to have their own speaker, because they can sing better if they can focus on their own voice. Sharing vocal monitors makes it hard for them. Musicians might tend to complain more, but can typically still do their jobs pretty well if they have to share monitors. We will get more. We can easily go up to eight monitors, and probably should. They don't need to be big floor wedges; small powered speakers mounted closer to the musician's ears can often sound better and still seem loud even when they're turned down noticeably. The closer the better. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wacky one-direction cable issue: The speakon jacks and plugs can each carry two different speaker signals: "pair 1" and "pair 2" each have two contacts, so there are four contacts all together. (They also make an eight contact version -- big!) I don't remember which speakers use which pairs, except I know that the BagEnds use pair 2 for the high end, and reserve pair 1 for the subwoofer that we don't have. We only want one signal on each cable. Our world is simple. So we want cables that always work, no matter which speaker we're using. The solution is to tie pair 1 and pair 2 together, within each plug, so the same signal appears on both pairs at both ends, and you can't go wrong. We've also done this with the jacks on the front panel of the stage rack. So everything works -- except that we have exactly two cables that are connected with "pair 1" only, on one end of the cable. These won't work if that plug goes into a speaker expecting the signal on pair 2. The solution is to swap the cable end-for-end. The jack in the rack will now feed pair 1 only, but it will be tied to pair 2 at the "business" end of the cable, and into the speaker with great success. (The "real" solution is to fix the cables.)