Connecting one pair of monitors simultaneous to two mixers, is that all right?

Hello All,

Sorry for the slightly bit off-topic question however I don't know where else to ask.

I have a pair of monitors (Mackies MR624) and these have each an XLR input and a jack input, is it all right to connect these monitors at the same time to two mixers? One mixer will use the XLR inputs and the other mixer the jack inputs.

Will that going to damage the monitors (or the mixers)? Naturally, I will only use one mixer at the same time with these monitors however in the very rare occasion that I might forget or oversee something, for a very short time perhaps both mixers are sending output to this same pair of monitors.

Please let me know what your experiences are with this approach and if everything will be all right or is that going to be somehow (why?) very bad for the monitors?

Thank you very much in advance and kind regards, Garfield.

Don't do it. Mackie warns against so in their manual. And IIRC so do the manuals of my (different brand) monitors.

+1 on the "don't do it" tip. Even if there's no risk of damage, that's a setup that has a high potential for confusion. But there might be a fix...namely, this: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BigKnobPass--mackie-big-knob-passive-2x2-studio-monitor-controller

This thing allows you to have two stereo inputs and two stereo outputs. The latter will be useful if you get a set of "tracking monitors" or "mix checks". But the dual input scheme fits perfectly here, AND it's more than likely that this is what Mackie intended this $70 widget for.

Hi Senor-Bling and Lugia,

Yes... I was afraid you were coming up with the idea of a monitor controller ;-) In that case I would rather consider for example a Mackie Big Knob Studio+, a bit more possibilities.

Though I agree that the setup (of what I suggested/wrote) has a high potential for confusion, since there is no risk of damage, then meanwhile using that and then take my time to consider what's the best solution for using which monitor controller shouldn't be a too bad idea?

Even though with a new studio setup, I am already running out of "table space", so if there is a good monitor controller in 19" rack format that you can recommend then please let me know :-)

What I do miss on most of the monitor controllers I have come across so far is the lack of sufficient XLR inputs and especially sufficient XLR outputs :-( Thank you very much in advance and kind regards, Garfield.

Though I agree that the setup (of what I suggested/wrote) has a high potential for confusion, since there is no risk of damage, then meanwhile using that and then take my time to consider what's the best solution for using which monitor controller shouldn't be a too bad idea?
-- GarfieldModular

Definitely, as long as there's no damage potential. My big concern about "confusion" actually has more to do with workflow than just being perplexed. When you have to add an extra step...also made of more incremental steps...to your workflow, you incrementally increase the potential for distraction from the task at hand. Or at least, that seems to happen more often than not. One of the things I picked up around Nashville was that the engineer always needs to be ready with the best yet most minimal "fix" for things, so that mindset's kinda ingrained into MY workflow. YMMV, of course...

Hi Lugia,

+1 regarding the workflow, sounds totally logically and I need to check if it's worth the investment for a monitor controller, my new main monitors (KS Digital A100s) will be connected to my main switch, so using the main mixer in combination with the Mackies will be only for rare occasions where I want to check the sound on more than one monitor brand just to make sure it all sounds okay-ish (in case of finalising a recording).

I agree and like that motto of that Nashville engineer! Thank you very much for your help and feedback Lugia, kind regards, Garfield.

I got the Mackie Big Knob Passive for a coworker. It's around $70US. It allows you to switch between two sets of inputs and two sets of monitors. It comes with a mute and a dim switch. It'll last forever since it's passive.

Your other option is to buy an inexpensive four channel compact mixer to be the gate-keeper to your monitors. A four channel, stereo output mixer is $60US. That will come with more routing options like control room vs main outs.

Hi Ronin1973,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I like the idea of using a mixer as a gate-keeper of one's monitors. I will play around with this idea and see how that might fit in my situation, that indeed perhaps solves a few problems since I have perhaps a mixer left over in my new studio setup and that would save me getting a monitor controller. Interesting! :-)

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Yep...I also use a combo of on-desk monitor switching AND an outboard (Presonus Central Station +). This lets me swap from a monitor bus to the actual stereo mixbus (or others) if something seems off, and then the Presonus handles the switching between the Altecs, the KRKs, and the TADs, plus it handles the "B-feed" to the tc Clarity-M. This might seem like overkill, but after 40+ years of playing with these toys, I'm a picky SOB.

Hi Lugia,

Interesting that you mention the Central Station Plus from Presonus, that's the only rack mounted monitor controller that I could find so far. How happy are you with that device, is it worth it? How is the sound quality or perhaps I should ask it differently, does it has any influence on the sound quality?

Writing review reports (the way I do it) might seem like overkill too, but I get your point, sounds to me that it makes sense and therefore it doesn't sound like a large overkill to me; perhaps a small overkill ;-)

Hmm... you make me hesitating... Central Station+ or using a mixer for controlling the monitors...?

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Well, it IS quite transparent, which I would expect out of Presonus's better stuff. Plus, I like having the wired remote, because I can drag that around on top of the FIVE and be able to switch monitoring chains super-easily from anywhere on that 54-frame mo'fo.

Extravagant for a smaller setup...maybe. But at the same time, having it "future-proofs" your rig, since you can move to a much wider spectrum of mixers by having the CS+ handle the monitoring "heavy lifting", and that would then let you put together a really smokin' monitor setup that you can keep intact across numerous desk swaps/upgrades.

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 02:47