You may or may not have trouble when combining the L & R channels of your CD player. Audio distortion of several types can result. Unfortunately when either stereo or mono tracks are recorded on a CD or stereophonic tape, perfect phase synchronization of both channels is not usually possible. Phase cancellation of varying types takes place, and ruins the audio to some degree. When playing monoral CDs, try using only one channel--disconnect the other channel. Try to stay away from those "stereo enhanced" monoral recordings if at all possible. These are recordings which were originally monoral, but have been re-mixed through various filters and other devices for stereo simulation. Mixing both channels of such a recording can be a nightmare, as very little attention is given to phase matching in such recordings, and often reverse phasing of one channel is part of what is used to give the effect of stereo. Using one channel of such a recording can also be a nightmare, as one channel may have an enhanced echo, and the other may be muted in either the bass or treble region, or mutated in some other way. You can see, then, that using one channel at a time may leave out certain tone ranges of the music, etc.
HAVE FUN!
Thomas
If this is in fact an input for a tape player, it is not likely fed through any pre-amplifier. As I said before, if the input is for a microphone, then it will have a pre-amplifier. With no pre-amplifier, however, you can simply connect your CD player directly to this plug in back, without using a potentiometer (volume control). Then it is only necessary to adjust your CD player so that the amplifier in your consol can amplify the CD player well without distortion. Turning the CD player volume level up too high will cause distortion at all volume levels, because the CD player's amplifier will be distorting even if the consol's amplifier is not.
Also, if you wish to get technical about the issue, connecting a CD player directly to your consol is not the ideal situation, as the headphone output is not high impedance. The input on your consol is of the high impedance type. Perfect matching is then not possible with this procedure. Bass may be a little excessive and treble may be somewhat muted with this set-up. If you wish to have perfect matching, purchase a universal single ended output transformer. Connect the speaker secondary with 16 ohms selected to your CD player. Connect the primary to your radio with an impedance selected which gives agreeable audio. You can also get an agreeable match without using a transformer. Simply place a resistor between the L & R wires of your CD player and the grid terminal of the consol. This resistor should be between 500K and 3Meg; selected by trial and error for your listening pleasure. Connect a condenser between .01 MFD and .001 MFD in parallel with this resistor if you wish, and choose its value for agreeable tone as well.
Thomas
:Well, if you can figure out which lead is the grid lead (produces a hum in the speaker or on the tape when touched with the finger), this is the lead to connect your L & F center wires to (in a headphone set cable or a similar stereophonic cable found at Radio Shack). You must then find the common, which is what you connect the shield of your headphone wire to. If this is an XLR input, there may be two commons. If this is a microphone input, your CD player may overmodulate the pre-amplifier. Turning down the volume on your CD player may or may not solve this problem. If your CD player amplifier has hiss to it, this hiss will be amplified in the tape player, and will overwhelm the low volume music. Placing a potentiometer on the headphone cable may help things instead. This will allow you to keep your CD player at a normal volume level (about 5 to 8 on a scale from 1 to 10). Pick up a 1 meg potentiometer (preferrably audio taper, though linear taper seems to work okay for me) from Radio Shack. With the shaft facing you and the terminals facing down, connect the shielded wire from your headphone cable and the common lead of the tape player to the left terminal. Connect the grid lead of the tape player to the center terminal. Connect the L & R leads of the CD player to the right terminal. Adjust your CD player for maximum output without distortion and then adjust the potentiometer for appropriate volume to the tape player.
:
:You may or may not have trouble when combining the L & R channels of your CD player. Audio distortion of several types can result. Unfortunately when either stereo or mono tracks are recorded on a CD or stereophonic tape, perfect phase synchronization of both channels is not usually possible. Phase cancellation of varying types takes place, and ruins the audio to some degree. When playing monoral CDs, try using only one channel--disconnect the other channel. Try to stay away from those "stereo enhanced" monoral recordings if at all possible. These are recordings which were originally monoral, but have been re-mixed through various filters and other devices for stereo simulation. Mixing both channels of such a recording can be a nightmare, as very little attention is given to phase matching in such recordings, and often reverse phasing of one channel is part of what is used to give the effect of stereo. Using one channel of such a recording can also be a nightmare, as one channel may have an enhanced echo, and the other may be muted in either the bass or treble region, or mutated in some other way. You can see, then, that using one channel at a time may leave out certain tone ranges of the music, etc.
:
:HAVE FUN!
:
:Thomas
1) If the antique unit does not have a power transformer (I.E. AA5 or similar), you should put an isolation transformer before connecting a CD Player to it.
2) It might be a good idea to fuse the input between the CD and the antique console, as if there was ever a short inside one of the tubes, high voltage will blow the fuse protecting your CD system
:Also, I misread your post. I thought you were talking about the input on a tape recorder (hasty reading on my part). It seems that you are actually talking about an input on your consol for the purpose of adding a tape recorder. Depending on how your consol is wired, one of the three terminals may be for audio out, the other for audio in, and the third for a common tie point for both. If the consol has a "tape" or "aux" position on the selector switch, one of the three terminals should cause a hum in the speaker when touched. This is where you connect your CD player (between this and the common terminal). The remaining terminal would then be an audio out terminal if you can connect an amplifier to this and the common terminal and be able to amplify whatever is selected by the selector switch (AM, FM, Phono, etc.). You don't need this terminal for playing CDs, but it is interesting to know what it is for, if indeed it is for that purpose.
:
:If this is in fact an input for a tape player, it is not likely fed through any pre-amplifier. As I said before, if the input is for a microphone, then it will have a pre-amplifier. With no pre-amplifier, however, you can simply connect your CD player directly to this plug in back, without using a potentiometer (volume control). Then it is only necessary to adjust your CD player so that the amplifier in your consol can amplify the CD player well without distortion. Turning the CD player volume level up too high will cause distortion at all volume levels, because the CD player's amplifier will be distorting even if the consol's amplifier is not.
:
:Also, if you wish to get technical about the issue, connecting a CD player directly to your consol is not the ideal situation, as the headphone output is not high impedance. The input on your consol is of the high impedance type. Perfect matching is then not possible with this procedure. Bass may be a little excessive and treble may be somewhat muted with this set-up. If you wish to have perfect matching, purchase a universal single ended output transformer. Connect the speaker secondary with 16 ohms selected to your CD player. Connect the primary to your radio with an impedance selected which gives agreeable audio. You can also get an agreeable match without using a transformer. Simply place a resistor between the L & R wires of your CD player and the grid terminal of the consol. This resistor should be between 500K and 3Meg; selected by trial and error for your listening pleasure. Connect a condenser between .01 MFD and .001 MFD in parallel with this resistor if you wish, and choose its value for agreeable tone as well.
:
:Thomas
:
::Well, if you can figure out which lead is the grid lead (produces a hum in the speaker or on the tape when touched with the finger), this is the lead to connect your L & F center wires to (in a headphone set cable or a similar stereophonic cable found at Radio Shack). You must then find the common, which is what you connect the shield of your headphone wire to. If this is an XLR input, there may be two commons. If this is a microphone input, your CD player may overmodulate the pre-amplifier. Turning down the volume on your CD player may or may not solve this problem. If your CD player amplifier has hiss to it, this hiss will be amplified in the tape player, and will overwhelm the low volume music. Placing a potentiometer on the headphone cable may help things instead. This will allow you to keep your CD player at a normal volume level (about 5 to 8 on a scale from 1 to 10). Pick up a 1 meg potentiometer (preferrably audio taper, though linear taper seems to work okay for me) from Radio Shack. With the shaft facing you and the terminals facing down, connect the shielded wire from your headphone cable and the common lead of the tape player to the left terminal. Connect the grid lead of the tape player to the center terminal. Connect the L & R leads of the CD player to the right terminal. Adjust your CD player for maximum output without distortion and then adjust the potentiometer for appropriate volume to the tape player.
::
::You may or may not have trouble when combining the L & R channels of your CD player. Audio distortion of several types can result. Unfortunately when either stereo or mono tracks are recorded on a CD or stereophonic tape, perfect phase synchronization of both channels is not usually possible. Phase cancellation of varying types takes place, and ruins the audio to some degree. When playing monoral CDs, try using only one channel--disconnect the other channel. Try to stay away from those "stereo enhanced" monoral recordings if at all possible. These are recordings which were originally monoral, but have been re-mixed through various filters and other devices for stereo simulation. Mixing both channels of such a recording can be a nightmare, as very little attention is given to phase matching in such recordings, and often reverse phasing of one channel is part of what is used to give the effect of stereo. Using one channel of such a recording can also be a nightmare, as one channel may have an enhanced echo, and the other may be muted in either the bass or treble region, or mutated in some other way. You can see, then, that using one channel at a time may leave out certain tone ranges of the music, etc.
::
::HAVE FUN!
::
::Thomas
Thomas