ART Pro Audio P48 - 48 Point Balanced Patch Bay - Manual (Page 6)

6
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Can the P48 be used with unbalanced audio signals?
A: Absolutely! Although the ART P48 uses three-conductor Tip/Ring/Sleeve (TRS) 1/4" phone
jacks and maintains balanced connections internally, nothing prevents you from using two-
conductor Tip/Sleeve (TS) phone plugs connected to unbalanced equipment. However, once
you use an unbalanced line in part of your signal path, you may lose some of the benefits of a
balanced line (potentially lower noise and hum, especially with longer cables).
Q: What about stereo audio signals?
A: Sure, you can use the P48 with stereo signals, although you should be careful not to mix your
stereo signals and balanced signals together. They really don't play well together!
Q: Can the P48 be used with both analog audio and digital audio signals at the same time?
A: Yes, depending on the bandwidth requirements of the digital signal. There are no inherent
frequency rolloffs in the P48, but you wouldn't want to run an extremely high bandwidth digital
signal through it. If you do run digital audio signals, we recommend that you group all the
digital signals together and all the analog signals together and reserve some empty channels
between them in order to minimize the pickup of noise in the analog signals. And, again, don't
mix them together!
Q: Can I run phantom power for microphones through the P48?
A: While you can do this, we don't recommend it. For one thing, it would be very easy to
inadvertently connect the 48V directly to an input or output that couldn't handle it, damaging
your equipment. For another thing, and this is a problem whenever you use a phone plug with
phantom power, as you plug into the jack you'll almost certainly momentarily short the 48V to
ground, potentially damaging the phantom supply. It would be much better to use one our XLR
patch bays, like the P16 or XPatch. With an XLR connector, it's almost impossible to
accidentally short the phantom voltage to ground.
Q: Where can I go for more information on using patch bays?
A: Here are two links to good articles:
Sound On Sound Magazine, March 1998 - "BAY WATCH! - All About Patchbays"
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar98/articles/patchbays.html
Sound On Sound Magazine, December 1999 - "Patchbays - Frequently Asked Questions"
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec99/articles/patchbay.htm