Solved this issue the other day on a job site and thought it would make a good post! Dip Switches are a series of tiny binary switches numbered 1-9 that can be switched ‘on’ or ‘off’. They have different functions on different devices. Sometimes they indicate the radio frequency the device uses to operate - for example, perfect cues. In the case of Dimmers, they determine the starting address of the dimmer. - For example, if you have 1 ON and the rest OFF, on a 4 channel dimmer, channel 1 will be address 1, channel 2 will be address 2, channel 3 - address 3, and channel 4 - address 4. - If you have a additional dimmers, you could set the dip switches such that the dimmer channels will be addresses 5-8, 9-12, etc. Similarly, for analog lighting controllers, dip switches determine the starting address of the faders. - For example, if you have 1 ON and the rest OFF, fader 1 will control channel 1 of the fixture assigned to address 1. Hope that clears up some confusion and helps troubleshoot “issues” that you may encounter in your lighting setups. Often the “fix” is as simple as flicking a switch to the correct setting for your desired outcome!

Power cable gauge (gage) refers to the thickness of the wire conductor, which determines how much electrical current it can safely carry. In North America, this is usually measured using American Wire Gauge (AWG). 1️⃣ How the Gauge System Works 📖 The AWG system is a little counterintuitive: - Lower number = thicker wire = more current capacity - Higher number = thinner wire = less current capacity *Actual ratings depend on insulation type, temperature, and installation method. 2️⃣ Why Thicker Wire Can Carry More Power 💪🏼 Electric current flowing through a wire encounters resistance (a property explained by Ohm's Law). Thin wires have higher resistance, which causes: - More heat - Voltage drop - Energy loss Thicker wires have lower resistance, so they: - Stay cooler - Deliver power more efficiently - Handle higher current safely 3️⃣ What Happens If a Wire Is Too Small ⚠️ Using an undersized cable for the power draw can cause: 1. Overheating = The wire turns electrical energy into heat. 2. Insulation damage = The plastic jacket can melt. 3. Fire risk = Electrical fires often start in overheated wiring. 4. Voltage drop = Devices may run poorly or shut off. 4️⃣ Real Example 🌎 Imagine running a 1500-watt space heater on a 120-volt circuit. Current draw: [I = P / V = 1500W / 120V = approx 12.5A] A 16-gauge extension cord may only be rated for ~10 amps. Result: - Wire overheats - Insulation softens - Potential fire hazard A 14-gauge or 12-gauge cord would be safer. 5️⃣ Why Distance Also Matters 🏔️ Longer cables increase resistance. So even if the amp rating is okay, a long cable may still cause: - voltage drop - overheating That’s why long extension cords should be thicker (lower AWG). 6️⃣ Quick Rule of Thumb 👍 For typical 120V household loads: Current Minimum Safe Wire: - 10A = 16 AWG - 15A =14 AWG - 20A = 12 AWG - 30A = 10 AWG 💡 Simple way to think about it: - Electricity flowing in a wire is like water in a pipe. - Thin pipe → harder flow → pressure & heat build up. - Thick pipe → easier flow → less heat.

If you’ve ever worked with wireless microphone kits before, you may already know where I’m going with this. This myth is so prevalent that I’ve met more technicians who believe it than those who don’t. But if you actually research what the correct approach to gain staging digital wireless kits is, you’ll realize this belief is just plain wrong. Here’s the myth: “You should always set wireless gain to 0dB”. I’m not sure how this myth started. Maybe it’s because 0dB is a good target SNR for your input and output fader levels (ie unity gain). Maybe it’s because people think the preamp of the receiver isn’t as good as their mixer preamps. Maybe it’s because analog wireless relied on companders that degraded audio quality especially over greater distances. Regardless, here are some facts for you: - Proper gain staging starts with the transmitter. - Most digital wireless kits manage transmitter gain via the gain increase/decrease buttons on the front of the receiver. This is what your receiver’s audio meter is indicating. - There is no magic, one size fits all dB value. - The goal is to acquire a healthy audio signal level from your transmitter BEFORE it gets RF Modulated or digitized and sent to your mixer. - Otherwise, you’re compensating with your mixer preamp, resulting in a noisy signal and RF Hiss. - In digital wireless systems, the transmitter gain dictates the dynamic range of your analog to digital converter. So if set too low, you lose dynamic range. - If you’re barely seeing signal in the receiver’s audio meter, your transmitter gain is too low. - Your wireless receiver channels should be set to line level to reduce noise as well. - Your mic offset should initially be set to 0dB. You can utilize this feature later if you need to and can adjust overall transmitter gain on the receiver to keep signal healthy for both mic types. This is just good general practice - only use mic offset if you need it. - If you do this, your mixer should still see a signal that requires amplification. - You can then use your mixer’s channel preamps to bring each transmitter up to an appropriate level with faders at unity, adjust speaker amplifier levels for volume, and use faders for fine tuning the mix. - Your mixer’s preamp should just be flavouring the sound and bringing it into an audible range, not compensating for improper initial gain staging where the SNR is too low. - It’s okay and in fact, normal for you to need to adjust transmitter gain levels a few times because the dynamic range of each presenter/performer is going to vary. - If the dynamic range is too large for a given presenter/performer, you can use a subtle compressor to reduce the variance in gain levels, rather than constantly adjusting the transmitter gain. Just make sure the transmitter isn’t clipping. - Avoid make up gain as a volume tool. Bypassing the compressor shouldn’t result in a big difference in average volume. Dynamics tools are meant to adjust extremes not necessarily averages. - Shure Digital Wireless Kits have excellent preamps. There isn’t a clear advantage to relying solely on your digital mixer’s preamps and this approach can actually cause problems.

So you’ve got passive speakers and need an external amplifier. Awesome. But it’s not as simple as just connecting the cables, turning the dials to 11 (see Spinal Tap) and walking away. There’s different modes to choose from and they all have different impacts; like how many speakers you can use, how much wattage of output power you get, how you need to run cables into and out of your amp, etc. For the sake of consistency, let’s assume for the rest of this post that we’re using a 2-channel Amplifier. Let’s start with Parallel Mode: Parallel mode allows you to run the amp in Mono. You send an output from your mixer to Input 1 (channel 1) on your amp and the amp internally routes the same signal to Channel 2 as well. Benefits of Parallel Mode: - Convenient Cabling: You don’t need a Y-cable or multiple outputs to send the same signal to both channels; the amp does this for you. - More Speakers: You can run more speakers in a chain. Because you’re running a single signal to both channels, you effectively double the total capacity for your speakers. Just make sure to do the impedance calculations for amp safety. - Fewer Amps Needed for One Output: When you have a lot of speakers in line with each other and you’re okay with only being able to control independent channel levels on your amplifier (I.e., not your mixer), this is a great option to cut down on the number of amplifiers you need. - Higher Volume: Reduces total impedance, allowing the amplifier to deliver more current and power. - Redundancy: Signal is not linear in the chain. If one speaker fails, the others continue to function. - Sound Quality: Better for speakers with internal crossovers (like 2-way Hi-Fi speakers) as it maintains correct frequency response. Cons of Parallel Mode: - Channel Loss: You can’t send different signals to each channel. - Too Few Amps for Many Outputs: If you have front fills, delay lines, and subs, you might not have enough amplifiers to afford to lose an entire differentiated channel. - Inconvenient Control: You don’t have independent control from the tech table/FOH position. You need to either walk over to the amp or have an A2 who can adjust levels for you. You do have independent amp channel control though, so you can adjust the level of one channel without affecting the other. - Potential Low Impedance: You have to be mindful of how low your impedance is getting: assuming speakers are all the same impedance, parallel mode calculations divide speaker impedance by the number of speakers in the chain (e.g., two 8 ohm speakers in a chain means impedance is 4 ohms - check the impedance rating of your amp and don’t go any lower than that. Most amps can only handle a minimum of 4 ohms (some can handle 2 ohms). - Higher Likelihood of Damage: If you fail to consider impedance implications in this mode, you can damage your amp/speakers. - Heat & Stress: The amplifier works much harder to provide more current, leading to increased heat.

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