Multiple Headphone/IEM Solution

Mike Armstrong

Senior Member
Hey guys. I want myself, a guitar player, bass player and an 'observer' to be able to hear the mix from my, what else, mixer I have a Yamaha MG166CXUSB. Should I simply get a 4 port headphone amp and plug it into the Headphone jack on the mixer? I have IEM's, the others will probably have headphones. Thanks
 
On your Yamaha board you have 2 AUX sends. Each channel on the board has 2 aux knobs so if you want to hear the kick in your mix you would turn up aux 1 or aux 2 depending on the one you use on the KICK channel..Your board also has aux 1,2 1/4" female sends, this is where you would hook up your headphone amp. There is also Aux 1,2 send master knobs that control your send "to headphone amp" output.
 
Check out the manual for your board. There's lots of ways to route and assign things..
 
Even if you take an audio feed from an "aux" output, depending on the mixer it will either have only -10 or +4 DB (line level) of output in relation to 0 level on the meters of the mixer. You'll still need some kind of amplifier to boost this to headphone level. Most headphone amps have enough gain to get you to were you have to be. These headphone distribution amps could be used at the headphone output jack of the mixer, for a stereo left/right output or actually any other line output stage of the mixer. I would recommend, Symetrix, Rane or ART, which are all very affordable. I consider most Behringer products to be throwaway units. In other words, not repairable.

Dennis
 
I don't recall having a probs with levels using aux sends into a headphone amp. It's plenty loud to get over my kit. The headphone amp is is amplifying the sound. I use a Furman, forget the model but it's very loud.
 
Thanks.

I was just messing around wit the AUX 1&2 Send. They are +4dB. Is each one, 1 or 2, supposed to be Stereo? I don't see anything in the manual about those being mono or stereo and I only get sound on one side whether using headphones or IEM's. Would a single AUX Send connected to a headphone amp allow for stereo to be heard in the headphones connected to it? Maybe it would be better to connect headphone amp to the Headphone jack on the mixer to get a stereo signal?

Also, using IEM"s I want to protect my ears from sudden spikes in volume (a cord being suddenly yanked out or something like that) what"s the best way for me to control those spikes in volume to my IEM's?
 
I don't recall having a probs with levels using aux sends into a headphone amp. It's plenty loud to get over my kit. The headphone amp is is amplifying the sound. I use a Furman, forget the model but it's very loud.

As long as you're using an amplifier or a headphone distribution amp, you won't have problems with not enough gain. I was just pointing out that you do need some kind of amp and that headphones won't have enough level coming straight from a -10 or +4 decibel source from the mixer directly into headphones.

Dennis
 
Thanks.

I was just messing around wit the AUX 1&2 Send. They are +4dB. Is each one, 1 or 2, supposed to be Stereo? I don't see anything in the manual about those being mono or stereo and I only get sound on one side whether using headphones or IEM's. Would a single AUX Send connected to a headphone amp allow for stereo to be heard in the headphones connected to it? Maybe it would be better to connect headphone amp to the Headphone jack on the mixer to get a stereo signal?

Also, using IEM"s I want to protect my ears from sudden spikes in volume (a cord being suddenly yanked out or something like that) what"s the best way for me to control those spikes in volume to my IEM's?

The "aux 1" on each channel strip will send just that particular channel into the "aux 1" output as a mono signal. By using the Aux 1 controls on each channel strip, you can get a mix of each channel, be it 2 channels or anything up to the amount of channels the mixer incorporates. By also using "aux 2" on the channel strips, you can now send an entirely different mix to the output of "aux 2" than what is coming from the "aux 1 "output connector. Both of these outputs will be a mono feed. The only way to get a stereo feed from the mixer to headphones is to use a distribution amp at the headphone output connector or rig the headphone DA that the left input will see aux 1 and the right input will see aux 2. Without knowing exactly what is going on, you might not know exactly what you're listening to and at what level in relation to what is actually coming out of the stereo left and right channels of the mixer.

The best way to protect your ears is to use a peak limiter or a compressor adjusted so not to allow overshoot of transient levels. This would be placed just before the headphone distribution amplifier to protect every one's ears from any kind of peak levels, but each person would still have access to their individual volume levels by adjusting the gain controls to each of their own headphones.

It's kind of late here, so I hope this information makes some sense.

Dennis
 
As long as you're using an amplifier or a headphone distribution amp, you won't have problems with not enough gain. I was just pointing out that you do need some kind of amp and that headphones won't have enough level coming straight from a -10 or +4 decibel source from the mixer directly into headphones.

Dennis

Oh...lol I misread.. No prob. And you explained it much better then me.lol Thanks!
 
Ok, ya, I just got done reading a poop load of threads on using IEM's and the horror stories of some who had not been using a limiter of some sort, yikes!

My situation is this. I'm just an amature drummer doing it for fun. I built a roughly 10x10 soundproof drum room in my garage so I wouldn't piss off the neighbors. I got the IEM's to protect my ears from the 'especially' loud noise of my drums in that small of a room. Since it's just me by myself, I have been plugging my IEM's directly into my Yamaha MG166CXUSB mixer via the Headphone jack, which has been relatively safe with the exception of the occasional newbie mixing board screwup which prompted me to yank out the IEM's.

Now, a buddy of mine, a guitar player, wants to come over and jam and if that turns out to be fun there's just enough room for a bass player. So, between the danger of me not always knowing what I'm doing with the audio and the prospect of others being able to accidently introduce unwanted loud spikes in volume I'm freaked out enough to by some type of limiter, like now, today!

Seems besides the Rockbox Limiter, the Shure P2R or P4HW Personal Monitors are also pretty popular limiters for use with IEM's. Any experience or recommendation for these products? Thanks

http://www.shure.com/americas/products/personal-monitor-systems/psm200/p2r-hybrid-bodypack-receiver

http://www.shure.com/americas/products/personal-monitor-systems/psm400/p4hw-psm400-wired-bodypack
 
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