left mono to speaker or both left and right?

[call4sorrow]

hi i just recently bought the gr 55 and it's a very slow process in learning how to use it the way i want it, i have many questions but ill start off with something that will probably be easy for you guys to answer , my setup is very simple, it's an alto pro kick 15 (400 watt) with 4 separate mixing channels and basically...... the gr 55 connected to it, now Ive noticed that if i simply connect a cable from the left mono that it sounds noticeably quieter than when i connect both left and right to the inputs on the alto, now since this is a single 15" speaker obviously i cannot get stereo sound from connecting both cables, but I'm curious about the volume boost i get from using two instead of one, is it recommended to only use one cable if its a one speaker amp and am i losing sound quality but gaining more volume by using two?? also if it is a case that one is recommended, should it be the left or right out i use or are the both exactly the same, I'd also be interested in seeing if anyone else here has used the same speaker as i have with the gr 55, i find this speaker to be a bit too bassy and might be looking at other speakers soon.

this is all very new to me, I'm a complete beginner and a lot of the stuff I've read here is hard for me to grasp in regards to rig setup. but any answers would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

[Brent Flash]

Welcome to the group call4sorrow! 

[mbenigni]

The rule that always applies is: listen to both and go with whichever sounds better to you.  Personally, I'd probably run one cable.  My *guess* is that this will sound marginally better.  With the levels set optimally for both setups it probably makes very little difference, but then again, why run a second cable you don't need?

If you run the GR55 via L/Mono, the GR55 itself will sum the left and right audio (for instance, both sides of stereo delay, etc.) to a mono signal and send it to your monitor.  If you send both GR55 L and GR55 R to separate channels of that one monitor, the monitor's mixer will sum the two.  So the question, which mixer will do a better job (in light of headroom, potential phasing concerns, etc.)  I'd say leave it to Roland's design, which is intended for the purpose, unless your ears say otherwise.

No surprise that the volume goes up running cables from both outputs, since the monitor's mixer/preamp is seeing two inputs at roughly the same volume as it would otherwise see one mono input.

[mbenigni]

P.S. I've never heard the Alto Pro Kick 15 but I have similar issues with my EV ELX 112p being too boomy without some attention to EQ.  Unfortunately there's no global EQ in the GR55, but you can probably get some good mileage out of the Post-FX EQ block on a patch-per-patch basis, to tame your Alto.

[Mrchevy]

I use the Alto's TS110-A. I have 2 so they run stereo. I wanted the 12's but were not in stock at time of purchase. They sound great for the money. I would pick up a second one and if too bassy try an EQ to tame them .........or trade/sell the 15 for two 12's. the 10's might be a little lite on bass for louder volumes, I dont gig anymore so haven't had the chance to really open them up. They sound good in the studio though. not to say I haven't cranked them up, but for a small or med size gig they might work.

Just looked at the 15 you have which is a keyboard amp. The TS 110, 112,or 115 are powered PA and would probably sound better. Others here have used or tried the Alto and speak highly of them, a Good value. Obviously there are other brands that sound good too but I have not tried them myself, I did try, in store, Mackie and Yamaha but liked the Alto's best YMMV.

[call4sorrow]

hi thanks for the replies guys! , i'd just like to point out one thing i forgot to mention, when i say i have a left and right 'out' going into the alto speaker (which has 4 different channels) i mean both the left and right out of the gr 55 are going to the right and left 'in' on the first channel  of the speaker, just in case some of you might have thought that i have a right going to channel 1 and the left going to channel 2, basically it's all confined to the first channel of my speaker, now whether that changes anything in regards to your advice and reommendations im not sure, but thanks, and any additional nfo will be appreciated

[mbenigni]

Hi again.  My advice pretty much stands regardless, but you'll want to check the documentation that came with your speaker.  If it's a mono speaker with both L and R inputs, I would expect that it would sum both inputs to mono, but that might not be the case - it might broadcast the left signal and pass the right signal out for another satellite monitor.

If you're only running the one speaker, then it doesn't matter - you'll probably have the best, easiest results running GR55 L/Mono to the Alto.  But if you're using the Alto in conjunction with other speakers, you'll want to check Alto's docs.