Emotiva Airmotiv 4 Owner's Manual page 20

Connecting your
Most portable music players offer only unbalanced outputs, usually via a 1/8" jack.
Connect your airmotiv speakers to a variable output (which is often also the headphone
output). Use a high quality, well shielded adapter cable to connect the output to the
unbalanced (RCA) inputs of your airmotiv speakers. A single "long Y-cable" is preferable
to multiple separate adapters and extension cables. If you have an iPod® dock or other
similar device, connect your airmotiv speakers to the same output you would connect
to the input of an amplifier or receiver; if the line output on the dock doesn't offer level
control, then connect the cable to the headphone output of the device.
Connecting your
Connect your airmotiv speakers to the same line-level output intended for powered
computer speakers. Depending on your computer or sound card, this may be labeled
as "line out" or "speaker out". Make sure to choose outputs whose volume is controlled
by your computer's operating system. Try to avoid outputs intended to drive small
unpowered speakers directly as these often have unacceptable sound quality. If no
other options are available, headphone outputs should be OK. Most computers offer
only unbalanced outputs, usually via one or more 1/8" jacks. Use a high quality,
well shielded adapter to connect the output to the unbalanced (RCA) inputs of your
airmotiv speakers. A single "long Y-cable" is preferable to multiple separate adapters
and extension cables.
Balanced and unbalanced connections
The airmotiv powered monitor offers both unbalanced (RCA) and balanced (XLR)
input connections. The main reason balanced connections are favored on professional
equipment is that they are very resistant to outside noise and interference, especially
with low-level signal sources (like microphones), and in difficult situations (a need to
run signal cables near power cables or in otherwise noisy environments). Balanced
connections also offer a slight improvement in the S/N ratio of the signal itself under
certain conditions (but only if the equipment at both ends is designed to do so). In
general, using a balanced connection and cables is the best option if the equipment
at both ends offers it. If that option isn't available, however, good quality unbalanced
cables usually work quite satisfactorily. To correct a common misunderstanding, if no
hum or noise is audible with an unbalanced connection, there is no specific technical
reason to expect a balanced connection to sound better. (However, in a given piece
of equipment, one or the other output may sound audibly better because of how the
output circuitry was designed. In that case, however, it isn't necessarily the balanced
output that will be superior.)
monitors to a portable player
monitors to a computer
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