Pro line vs consumer line

[Ben Moore]

A quick question for the pro's.

I remember reading once that there is a difference between a pro line level signal and a consumer line level signal, is this true?
If so would the ouput of a Pro beta deck (XLR) distort at the input of a consumer level device?

Thanks
Ben

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Ben Moore

A quick question for the pro's.

I remember reading once that there is a difference between a pro line level signal and a consumer line level signal, is this true?
If so would the ouput of a Pro beta deck (XLR) distort at the input of a consumer level device?

Thanks
Ben

Pro line level is +4dBu, corresponding to 1.228v, 0dBu = 0.775v
Consumer line is -10dBv, corresponding to 0.316v, 0dBv = 1.0v

Note a dBv is not equal to a dBu, so the difference between consumer line and pro line is ~12dB, not 14dB.

The consumer device could possibly overload on strong signals from the pro deck, depending on just how strong they were. Safer to pad the high output down to avoid possible problems. Even better would be an inexpensive active matchbox. I've got one of these - http://www.artproaudio.com/products....cat=13&type=90 - and it works like a champ.

[Ben Moore]

Thanks Steve.

A user on the Matrox forum is having an issue plugging his Sony Betacam SP UVW-1600 Player into the inputs of the breakout box on the RT.X2. The signal is overloaded. He is using an XLR to RCA adapter and I'm guessing the deck is outputing Pro line level and I know the RT.X2 is expecting consumer line level. So a device such as what you suggested would do the trick. (or a simple mixer or pad would do the same I would guess)

Thanks again
Ben

[Seth Bloombaum]

All the above is absolutely true.

Also be aware that XLR outputs on Sony Beta/BetaSP decks tend to be hotter than he&%. They're tricky, because you can overload pro +4 line level XLR inputs with them if you're not careful.