Audio interface to home theater receiver

[agedhorse]

@agedhorse Whats your take on this?

My experience is that home theatre speakers are not robust enough to take the abuse of amplifying bass guitar unless being very careful. They are designed for dynamic range limited signal and not the dynamics often seen in bass guitar. Also the signal of a home theatre source will have an HPF already applied during mixdown.

 

[Redbrangus]

A “raw” bass signal (let’s assume you’ve taken care of level and impedance issues) is a lot more dynamic than recorded bass. It can be easy to overdrive the speake
Recorded bass has been massaged for dynamic and spectral control.

And an audio interface addresses this dynamic range problem...how? While I agree it's all too easy to overdrive home audio speakers, the OP said specifically "...There were a sound which is satisfying..." which I took to mean the sound was satisfactory. So tell me again why he needs an interface? The actual bigger potential problem, which an interface would in fact resolve, is the relatively low input impedance of the CD input loading down a passive bass output. But again... "There were a sound whic is satisfying" If it ain't broke....

 

[Tosh]

.... If it ain't broke....

then fix it 'till it is broke ;-}

So my first set of stereo speakers got replaced because I ABused them amping a synthesizer at a college party

oh what fun that was.....at least what I remember

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Forget the RCA analog connections, get an interface that has digital out, your amp might have optical or Spdif in.

 

[two fingers]

It is very likely that the only thing you need to protect your speakers is an HPF. Chop off the sub lows and keep your volume at a reasonable level and you should be just fine.

 

[itsalongroad]

Couldn’t you just spill a beer on your speakers? It’s a cheaper way to kill them than buying an interface.

I understand why raw singals directly from bass guitar can blow your tweeters or speaker generally but i dont get how interface gonna rip my speakers ? Dont it compress the signals coming from bass guitar and adjust them ?

 

[itsalongroad]

MXR M81 Bass Preamp Bass Effects Pedal w/ DI Direct Out | Pitbull Audio | Reverb

Interfaces can work, but they work best with a computer attached and are mostly needed if you plan on recording or tracking with digital filters (e.g. VSTs).
Short of that, I've plugged an MXR M81 into almost everything that can make sound and never had a problem. It sounds great with just EQ and the clean pre-amp through my living room 5.4 system. If you want vintage tones, then look at bass pre-amps with cab-sim emulations and/or drive circuits.
Bass pre-amp is the right answer.

now i agree pre-amp is better choice.What about getting an amplug and using its headphone output to stereo ?

 

[DanAdams]

I used to use a cassette tape deck with a stereo system before I had an amp.
The tape deck had a 1/4" microphone input. I just plugged my bass straight into the tape deck to play through the stereo speaker(s).
Of coarse it wasn't ideal, but it worked fine for paractice and sounded pretty good.
You might be able to find one of those for cheap or free. The tape deck doesn't even need to function!
It sounds like you already know to be careful and to play at a quiet level.

Keep your low budget / creative spirit alive. It will serve you well, probably much better than a practice amp in the long run.

 

[6thplanet]

You really don't have to have a pre or interface. If the goal is to just get a bit of amplification for practice sake, then by all means keep doing what your doing. It should be quite obvious if your asking to much of the receiver/speakers. I've done this plenty of times back when I just started playing with no ill effect to the system.

 

[beans-on-toast]

An interface such as the Focusrite Clarett+ 2i2 has two sets of monitor out line level balanced or unbalanced connectors. It can drive self powered speakers, regular speakers require an external amp. There is a level control pot, the maximum output is 18dBU. So it can drive a home system. You'd have to watch the levels with a bass, use a HPF to limit the low end fundamentals.

 

[Analogeezer]

Also, most professional audio gear have +4dBu outputs. Consumer electronics like home theater systems normally use -10bDV so you could be overloading your amp.

There's nothing professional about the UM2 though so I guess the outputs on that particular interface MIGHT be -10dbV. I still wouldn't do it. It's not really any safer for your speakers than plugging your bass straight into the amp with a jack to RCA cable. In fact, it's probably worse because you can boost the signal and REALLY do some damage.

I have the version of this before the current one. I use it to play tracks from Sound Forge through the PA at band practice.

It works ok for that, but it is actually pretty noisy, which is not so much a 16 bit thing (CD's are 16 bits so it's not like the bitrate is a problem). It's more a $40 piece of crap Behringer thing, not the bitrate.

For just playing tracks through a PA while learning songs it works ok, but that tends to be a noisy environment.

Getting back to the OP's question; well you could use an audio interface with a built in DI for the bass and the output being -10dB and that would interface with your stereo just fine.

But this will likely cost you more than just a small bass practice amp.

Analogeezer

p.s. I play bass through "stereo speakers" all the time but the speakers are JBL studio monitors powered by an Adcom power amp. The front end is a Sansamp RBI into a MOTU recording system, which outputs analog into my analog mixing console.

Sounds great but that is not the same as playing directly into a stereo (since I am using a dedicated bass preamp to do this); but if the stereo speakers are decent and the amp has enough headroom it should not actually be a problem.

The Adcom is only 60 watts per channel but it's probably equal to 200 watts of typical home stereo receiver power, those tend to be optimistically rated unless you have an expensive receiver.

 

[Tosh]

This will let you get connected to your stereo (use LINE OUT) without a computer
Plus it's a practice amp that costs about the same as a decent PC interface

Vox Pathfinder Bass 10 2x5" 10-watt Bass Combo Amp