Yamaha DXR Powered speakers

[Ech725]

In my search to continue to learn sound, I was hoping to get some clarification.

My workplace owns a pair of Yamaha DXR 12. I've added an image of the back.

If I wanted to connect an electric guitar with a DI box, would I need an adapter like the one shown below? Or could I simply connect the guitar's 1/4" to L or R? Also does it matter that the adapter does not have a red and white side?

I'm not sure if anyone else has worked with these speakers but they have a link out feature. Can anyone explain what the difference is between the link out feature and connecting these in parallel?

Last one, is it possible to connect these speakers with non powered speakers with 1/4" inputs (assuming the non powered had amps with them) ? If so, is it simply connecting these in parallel with adapters?

As always, thank you kindly.

 

[DomLauria]

I would recommend plugging your guitar into your guitar amp and utilizing its "Direct Out" (hopefully it has one) to send an XLR or 1/4" cable from the Direct Out of your guitar amp to input 1 in 'line' setting or input 2's left/mono input. You do not need the Y cable pictured.

The guitar may not have enough signal strength to plug directly into the DXR 12 by itself or via a passive DI box; without any phantom power on the mic input of the DXR12, an active DI box may not help unless it is battery powered. All depends on the guitar type.

When in 'mono' mode the link out sends the unaltered signal (pre-knobs/cutoffs/contours) to wherever you might need to send it next. When in stereo it acts as the output for whatever might be plugged into your right channel input of the DXR 12 in use.

Definitely do NOT run in parallel with an unpowered speaker, as the signal coming from the unpowered speaker is nowhere near line level. Depending on the amp that is powering your non-powered speakers it may offer its own version of a 'link out' that you can send to the DXR 12.

Hope this helps!

 

[museav]

As DomLauria noted, if you use a DI box it will need to be passive or have a separate power supply and you would want to run the ouput of the DI box into Input 1 as a "MIC" input.

You may be able to plug the guitar direct into the Input 2 L/MONO input on the DXR but you'd probably want to verify it provides sufficient level and does not alter the sound too much.

In Mono mode the first DXR reproduces all inputs while LINK OUT provides a mono mix of all the inputs that you can then send to a second DXR speaker or other line level input. In Stereo mode the first DXR reproduces only the mono and left channel inputs, thus serving as the 'left' speaker of a stereo pair, while the LINK OUT provides a mono mix of the mono inputs and the right channels of the stereo inputs to send to a second 'right' DXR speaker or other line level device.

 

[Ech725]

Well, I was hoping to connect a mic to input 1 as my "mic" input and connect an electric guitar to input 2. I was looking at the manual shown below and it has a mic connected to input 1 and an acoustic electric to input 2.

What's the purpose of the y-cable then?
So if a guitar amp has a direct out, does the direct out act like a DI box? (so a DI box would be redundant)
A silly question perhaps but if the guitar has no amp then I would have to use a active DI?

I'll have to look more into the DI boxes.

 

[DomLauria]

The direct out from the guitar amp provides a strong line level signal. Active DI's provide a similarly strong line level signal from relatively low output pickups or instruments.

The Y cable is for various situations, such as when a left input doesn't also act as a mono input. Doesn't appear necessary in your situation.

Look at the Behringer DI100 (cheap) or Whirlwind Hotbox (mid level) for battery powered DI boxes (may require you to have an additional XLR female -> 1/4" TRS male to go from the DI output into the DXR 1/4" input). If you are using an acoustic as pictured above that has nice strong pickups on it the DI may not be necessary, but it is always a good idea IMO.

 

[museav]

You may be able to plug the guitar direct into Input 2, but not all instrument outputs are the same and both their output level and how they electronically interact with the input can vary so you probably want to see how well that works before committing to it.

Some of the same issues apply with running a guitar into a DI box. A passive DI box does not require any power but may also 'load' passive pickups in a manner that affects the resulting sound. It may also have trouble with low output pickups. In comparison, an active DI is more likely to provide the desired high impedance load to passive pickups and work with lower output levels but requires power and may have more issues with being overdriven by high output levels. So whether it is run into a DI or into Input 2 on the DSR, the results you get may vary for different guitars.

The Direct Out on an amplifier is a bit like a DI box except that it usually provides a line level signal rather than a microphone level signal like a DI box.