The Pit at UBC – Audio System Setup
This document describes how to set up and use the L-Acoustics speakers from the Behringher X-32 digital audio mixer.
System installed by Kian Sound of Vancouver, BC.
Video of the DJ room rack
Quick video of the rack in the DJ room, showing the Xilica, patch panel, LA4X, and X32
System Components
- Case #1 – Dual DL-16 Digital Snakes
- Case #2 – Behringer X32
- Inside the DJ booth is a tall rack:
- Xilica – The box at the top of the rack, routes signals to amps
- Patch Panel – Look for the Ethercon outlets marked “A” and “B” that are connected to the ones on the pony wall behind the stage.
- LA4X – Amplifier and signal conditioner for the L-Acoustics speakers
Connecting to digital snake.
Open the case with the two Behringer DL16 digital snakes. They digitally convert up to 32 channels of input for the x32 mixer, and analog convert 16 output channels for monitors.
Use the purple Ethercon cable to connect top digital snake box port “A” o the wall socket A for the upper DL16.
The digital snakes are linked together with a short cable going from port “B” on the upper box to the “A” port on the lower. This “daisy chains” the boxes together to give you 32 channels combined.
Test: Make sure they are powered up before connecting the mixer. If you connect a mic to the first input, you can use the channel selector to select the channel it’s connected to, then press and hold the “Gain” button to dial up the preamp gain, and you will see it kicking the meter. Once the DL16s are connected to the mixer, it takes over control of the preamp gains from the board.
Setting up the Behringer X32 mixer
In the DJ Booth, take the X32 out of its case and put on a flat surface in the DJ booth. It is usually controlled by an iPad so dont worry if its awkward to find space for it. Take the second purple ethercon cable to connect from the patch panel marked “A” into the AES input A of the Behringer mixer x32
Here is a view of the backside of the X32 – outputs 7/8 are the main L/R, output 6 goes to the subwoofer system, the ethernet cable attached to “Ethernet” in the centre if for connecting to the wireless router for remote control using an iPad, and the purple Ethercon cable connects the the digital snakes through the patch panel in the DJ room.
On the X32 make sure that the scene called “Pit digital snake” is loaded. This scene maps the first 32 channels of the digital snakes into the 32 channels of the board and all the auxes as well
If the X2 is plugged into a wireless router, use the X32-Mix app on the iPad to control the mixer so you dont have to judge audio while stuck in the DJ booth.
Using the Mixer
So now you can power up the X 32 mixer and since you have a mic plugged into input one of the top digital snake box
somebody bring up level one and the house master, and unmute the LAX four outputs then you should hear stereo through the l-acoustic speakers.
While you’re there, you can also unplug and mic from one on the top box and plug it into one on the bottom box and then confirm that it comes up as input 17 on the Behringer.
The output to the subs is the third analogue output from the board and it goes from Aux 6 output right beside the main (7 & 8) and it goes into the patch marked sub on the patch panel on the rack. The sub is controlled by master group 16, so you can raise the aux 16 level but then you have to do this X32 trick, which is you select that group and then press “Send on Faders” and then add your microphone input or whatever you want to go through the subs by raising the level of the channel, now that it’s contributing to the group that controls the sub
Open the paths on the Xilica
The Xilica is an audio router that has mute switches on the front panel. The left side mutes input, the right side mutes outputs. Simplest to just unmute everything to get started.
Powering up the L-Acoustics Speakers
Main speakers are by LA acoustics and there’s an amplifier/signal processor called the LAX4 in the rack that needs to be powered on and you need to be sure that all the outputs are muted for a moment while you power on at the mixer nd then unmute it when you want to hear things through the speakers. The LAX4 can be confusing since unlike many other amps, the lights below the switches control muting, but when muted it shows a white light. So to hear audio, all the Mute lights should be OFF.
If you’ve done everything right, that mic plugged into input 1 on the top DL16 Digital snake box now travels through the digital snake to the X32, then the X32 outputs go into the patch panel, and through the Xilica router, and into the LA4X amplifier, and you’ll hear it through the L-Acoustics speakers and subwoofers.
