separating bass speaker and amp using house XLR wall plate runs

[garlicfingers]

ok, I never do things the way you are supposed to. So, what I'm trying to do is have a separate control for the bass amplifier and bass cabinet to get a deep rumble from my avalanche FX. The board has stereo outs to main and monitor going to an amp rack. Because I don't want bass in my vocal and monitor mix, I want to send an out via my interface (Maudio 410) to the bass/sub amplifier to an upstage bass speaker. I could run 150' of 1/4" cable, but I thought I could reverse the wall plate xlr's and adapt to a 1/4" line to the amp.

Are XLR's bi-directional? Am I over thinking this?

 

[HSSBO94]

XLRs are indeed bi directional, you'll just have to deal with male / female possibly not being as you want as you said.

That's for just a cable though. Is there anything else between those two plates in your system? Frequently there isn't but if you had any fancy active hum eliminators, pre amps, in line EQ's, or other "in line" hardware then things could get a bit more complicated.

 

[museav]

Is the low frequency speaker and amp existing or would they be added just for this purpose? Either way there could be a number of relevant issues regarding how your system is wired, how any crossovers or system processors are or should be implemented, gain structure and so on that could require knowing more about your system and how it is configured. And if the bass speaker is an existing component of the sound system then is there a reason you can't simply EQ and/or process the effect to have more low frequency content? That seems a much simpler solution.

As far as using the XLR connection in the other direction, an XLR is just a connector, what matters is what you are trying to send down that line, the cable involved and how it terminates.

 

[garlicfingers]

The amp is in a rack of 6 amps, 2 for monitors, 2 for mains and 2 for subs, (I believe. I will be able to see them again Saturday)
I will try to EQ/Process the effect. I was hoping to add more punch and also have an added source for the rumble and boom of the avalanche. The mains and monitors will have their bass cut for the singers.

 

[museav]

The amp is in a rack of 6 amps, 2 for monitors, 2 for mains and 2 for subs, (I believe. I will be able to see them again Saturday)
I will try to EQ/Process the effect. I was hoping to add more punch and also have an added source for the rumble and boom of the avalanche. The mains and monitors will have their bass cut for the singers.

My concern is that if the subwoofers are part of the system then how they are integrated into the system may have to be considered including in terms of the overall signal routing and any crossovers or other processing.

You usually want to avoid using the system EQ to adjust for specific sources or groups of sources and only use it for things that are relative to all sources. To adjust the EQ for individual sources or groups of sources like the singers you would generally use the related channel EQ or EQ inserted on Groups. Monitors are typically pre-EQ on channels and then have dedicated EQ. So probably the most common approach to this with a 'typical' system would be to leave any overall EQ as determined to be appropriate for the system and use the channel EQ and monitor EQ to cut the low frequencies for the singers, then run the effects into the mixer and use that related channel EQ to boost the low frequencies if desired.