Rane ME 30B 2003 version - Manual (Page 5)

Manual-3
IMPORTANT NOTE
CHASSIS GROUNDING
If after hooking up your system it exhibits excessive hum or
buzzing, there is an incompatibility in the grounding configura-
tion between units somewhere. Your mission, should you accept
it, is to discover how your particular system wants to be ground-
ed. Here are some things to try:
1. Try combinations of lifting grounds on units that are supplied
with ground lift switches or links.
2. If your equipment is in a rack, verify that all chassis are tied to
a good earth ground, either through the line cord grounding
pin or the rack screws to another grounded chassis.
3. Units with outboard power supplies do NOT ground the
chassis through the line cord. Make sure that these units are
grounded either to another chassis which is earth grounded,
or directly to the grounding screw on an AC outlet cover by
means of a wire connected to a screw on the chassis with a star
washer to guarantee proper contact.
ME 30B CONNECTION
When first connecting the ME 30B to other components,
leave the POWER switch off until the very last. This gives you a
chance to make mistakes and correct them without damaging
your fragile speakers, ears and nerves.
INPUTS
Both XLR and ¼" TRS Inputs are wired in parallel and are
actively balanced. Each works equally well. Choose strictly from
a required hardware point-of-view, there will be no performance
trade-offs. The wiring convention adheres to American, British
and International standards of pin 2 or tip being hot, pin 3 or
ring being return, and pin 1 or sleeve being shield. Unbalanced
operation involves using only pin 2 or tip as signal, and pin 1 or
sleeve as sheild or ground. It is not necessary to short any inputs
to ground—it doesn’t hurt, it’s just not necessary. Use pin 1, or
the shell, for shield ground.
OUTPUTS
The Outputs mimic the Inputs. Balanced output requires
using pin 2 or tip, and pin 3 or ring for the signal. It does not
require pin 1 or shield. The signal exists differentially between
the two balanced leads; ground is not involved. For hum-free
systems ground is used only for shielding.
EXPANDING
Expanding and/or daisychaining the Inputs and Outputs
normally uses the ¼" jacks. Three parallel Input connectors
allows driving a second signal processor or amplifier without
special cabling.
SIGNAL LEVELS
Signal levels from -10 dBV to +4 dBu are considered normal
and within range (at least 20 dB of headroom exists above these
levels). Do not directly connect microphones into the ME 30B.
These require an external mic preamp.