Justin Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 I need a little help with how users are best hooking these up to studio monitors. I'm not getting much volume unless I run the line out through the main pre-amps on my Focusrite and setting the level to instrument. If I use the other line inputs (3 and 4) on the back of the unit the signal is pretty week. I also tried going directly into the Rokit's balanced TRS input and also got week sound. The sound is definitely coming through but maybe a 1/3 of what you might consider load would be. Now if I go ahead and use the pre-amps it sounds really good. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 I went ahead and tried directly connecting the PX-5s to the RCA unbalanced input on the KRK Rokit and it sounded good. Could still have been a litter loader but overall seemed to be normal. It still kind of odd though that I have to use the line in instrument setting on the Focusrite to get a good signal though. If I switch to line level it really just drops off. I did an initial all on the settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokeyman123 Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Are these powered monitors? In other words do thjey have an active audio preamp/amp built in? No line outs are designed to have adequate audio signal power without a pre-amp and amp to drive speakers. Line out connectors are not pre-amped, these are direct connections from the audio DAC chips in the keyboard (digital to analaog convertoers) to the RCA (typically) output jacks and need pre-amplification and at least a first-stage audio amplifier to be able to drive all but the smallest speakers with any audible loudness at all. This is also why you can drive small unpowered speakers through a headphone jack (basically what headphones are-small efficient speakers) but will overdrive a powered amplifier or powered speaker into distortion. the headphone output does have different electronics to boost the signal into audio, but only enough to drive headphones, not unpowered speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 The Rokits are powered studio monitors but I think are designed for +4db signals which might explain the loss of volume (as the PX-5S is -10db). They do have their own gain knob on the back which would help to compensate. I haven't messed with this as I use the Rokits for other applications and so hard to find one setting that works best. The line in for inputs 3/4 on the Focusrite has two settings for high/low gain. The high gain can clip easily and the low gain is not enough. Once I change the volume on the PX-5S I can start to dial it all in and sounds good. The pre-amps inputs 1/2 are still the best option on the Focusrite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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