Hooking up dual studio monitors to one amp (Focusrite 18i20)

[HUSKER Triple-Deuce]

I have two JBL Studio Monitor MKII and two JBL LSR310S. Hooking it in was a-lot less confusing than I had made it in my head.

I separated the sub and the monitors. I plugged the right Studio monitor in to the right subwoofer via XLR cable (Balanced) and then from the right subwoofer I used a TRS cable to plug into the right monitor port on the 18i20. I did this same thing for the left speaker as well. XLR from left monitor to left sub then TRS to left monitor port on the 18i20. Once I did this I fired up some music and I joke you not it worked perfectly. I swap to the gaming PC and its like you get to experience it. Fills the room more and movies sound great!!

I hope this helps others who were thinking of doing the same. I will say if you do not have TRS and XLR ports and different brand then it is like geometry and you have to get separate equipment to send the proper signals and its just a mess and a-lot of work from what I saw on youtube. A lot more than doing it this way was.

-HUSKER Triple-Deuce

I will do another post on how I shared the sound set-up between two computers (MacBook 16 & gaming pc i9)

[The Flying Sloth]

Thanks for the share,
Personally I use a UMC1820 which is fairly comparable to the interface you are using here, I often have multiple outputs connected whether it be to run through outboard processing or simply to have my studio monitors and the surround sound playing audio simultaniously. For anyone else considering a multiple output solution be aware that your output of choice doesn't necessarily have to have a passthrough like this subwoofer did, you can alweays just duplicate the output through one of the other outputs on your interface providing it has the ability to do this.

Personallym, I always have earbuds, over-ear headphones, monitors and the surround sound system (though only running as a stereo output) connected through the various outputs and with the two dedicated headphone amps for the personal listening devices there are more than enough other outputs to accomodate both speaker solutions.

I also read through your other post on the USB sharing which intrigued me somewhat, is there any particular reason you use the Mac for audio productionj over the clearly more powerful PC ? (other than enjoying Logic of course, well, that and bootcamp being a pain in the ass I suppose). 

Thanks for sharing,
Sloth

[Sir Asvald]

Nice! I have a Behringer Q802usb Mixer which works wonders, although I don't have studio monitors.. I use normal desktop speakers xD

[HUSKER Triple-Deuce]

On 12/27/2021 at 9:26 PM, The Flying Sloth said:

Thanks for the share,
Personally I use a UMC1820 which is fairly comparable to the interface you are using here, I often have multiple outputs connected whether it be to run through outboard processing or simply to have my studio monitors and the surround sound playing audio simultaniously. For anyone else considering a multiple output solution be aware that your output of choice doesn't necessarily have to have a passthrough like this subwoofer did, you can alweays just duplicate the output through one of the other outputs on your interface providing it has the ability to do this.

Personallym, I always have earbuds, over-ear headphones, monitors and the surround sound system (though only running as a stereo output) connected through the various outputs and with the two dedicated headphone amps for the personal listening devices there are more than enough other outputs to accomodate both speaker solutions.

I also read through your other post on the USB sharing which intrigued me somewhat, is there any particular reason you use the Mac for audio productionj over the clearly more powerful PC ? (other than enjoying Logic of course, well, that and bootcamp being a pain in the ass I suppose). 

Thanks for sharing,
Sloth

Yes, I am in LA Film School and all of my stuff (most of it ) came in a tech kit and there are apple programs i need and i was using it dedicated to the mac but i kept thinking i could put a gaming pc on the same monitor and i wanted to share the audio interface without sending multiple signals. so i chose the USB Sharing Switch.

So, now i just surf the web on the mac use my apple music and logic and do my school work on the mac and use my headphones or studio monitors on that. and now i can use the studio monitors or headphones on the gaming pc that is there as well. Honestly it is overkill for me but i just wanted to do it, to do it lol

 

Ill be honest i didnt understand because i am so new to the audio stuff alot of what i saw on youtube videos or alot of what you said originally lol i am sorry but this was fairly easy way for me to set up. i do have 20 monitor ports on the back but when i try to hook em all in to monitor ports it doesnt sound right atleast onthe 18i20 ... i do not have experience with yours but thats cool there are audio interfaces that can make it even easier. I only chose focusrite because i used the 2i2 for school.

[HUSKER Triple-Deuce]

On 12/27/2021 at 9:26 PM, The Flying Sloth said:

Thanks for the share,
Personally I use a UMC1820 which is fairly comparable to the interface you are using here, I often have multiple outputs connected whether it be to run through outboard processing or simply to have my studio monitors and the surround sound playing audio simultaniously. For anyone else considering a multiple output solution be aware that your output of choice doesn't necessarily have to have a passthrough like this subwoofer did, you can alweays just duplicate the output through one of the other outputs on your interface providing it has the ability to do this.

Personallym, I always have earbuds, over-ear headphones, monitors and the surround sound system (though only running as a stereo output) connected through the various outputs and with the two dedicated headphone amps for the personal listening devices there are more than enough other outputs to accomodate both speaker solutions.

I also read through your other post on the USB sharing which intrigued me somewhat, is there any particular reason you use the Mac for audio productionj over the clearly more powerful PC ? (other than enjoying Logic of course, well, that and bootcamp being a pain in the ass I suppose). 

Thanks for sharing,
Sloth

i did a youtube video on it too showing how i did it as well. and i talk about why.

 

[HUSKER Triple-Deuce]

On 12/27/2021 at 5:56 AM, HUSKER Triple-Deuce said:

I have two JBL Studio Monitor MKII and two JBL LSR310S. Hooking it in was a-lot less confusing than I had made it in my head.

I separated the sub and the monitors. I plugged the right Studio monitor in to the right subwoofer via XLR cable (Balanced) and then from the right subwoofer I used a TRS cable to plug into the right monitor port on the 18i20. I did this same thing for the left speaker as well. XLR from left monitor to left sub then TRS to left monitor port on the 18i20. Once I did this I fired up some music and I joke you not it worked perfectly. I swap to the gaming PC and its like you get to experience it. Fills the room more and movies sound great!!

I hope this helps others who were thinking of doing the same. I will say if you do not have TRS and XLR ports and different brand then it is like geometry and you have to get separate equipment to send the proper signals and its just a mess and a-lot of work from what I saw on youtube. A lot more than doing it this way was.

-HUSKER Triple-Deuce

I will do another post on how I shared the sound set-up between two computers (MacBook 16 & gaming pc i9)

 

 

link to the youtube video had changed