Which In-Line Attenuator?

[Mr-Stabby]

Hi.

I've been trawling the internet for an answer to this, but i keep getting mixed results, and haven't a clue which one to get.

We've got a couple of Canon XL2s, XL1's and XM2s with the various XLR adaptors for each model. Now we've just bought some Sound Devices Mix-Pre audio mixers to go with them, and only then discovered that for some ridiculous reasons, the Canon Cameras don't have Line level inputs, only Mic level.

Now i've discovered i need an in-line attenuator. I borrowed a 20dB 200 ohms one from somewhere and it worked nicely on the XL1's and the XM2'x XLR ports, but not with the XL2 ports.

Which do you think from the list on this website would be the better choice for the XL2, as i cannot find anything anywhere that will help me decide this:

http://www.canford.co.uk/commerce/categorybrowse.aspx?TreePosId=2009781

Thanks in advance!

[sundance44ANCE44]

Have You Tried Contacting Canon Customer Support??

[moonlitnite]

Hi.

We've got a couple of Canon XL2s, XL1's and XM2s with the various XLR adaptors for each model. Now we've just bought some Sound Devices Mix-Pre audio mixers to go with them, and only then discovered that for some ridiculous reasons, the Canon Cameras don't have Line level inputs, only Mic level.

Now i've discovered i need an in-line attenuator. I borrowed a 20dB 200 ohms one from somewhere and it worked nicely on the XL1's and the XM2'x XLR ports, but not with the XL2 ports.

<CLIP>

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

If you're simply looking to pad down a hot XLR signal, you can use the Hosa ATT-448 attenuator - it has 20/30/40 dB steps, making it nice for general applications. However, don't forget the second part of our problem - impedence matching! Coming out of the mixer's high impedence (line level) output jacks, we need to transform the signal to a low impedence before going into a (mic level) MP3 recorder, wireless transceiver, camera, etc. You can buy a total solution like the Rolls DB25 Matchbox (L/R TRS input with 1 channel XLR output). Or if you want to keep the left/right channels separated, come out of the mixer channels and go into two matching transformer (like the Radio Shack 274-016), then through the attenuators.

Regards, Michael

PS - Incidentally, I assume you know the XL-2 has a built-in attenuator (switch on the back if you're using XLR or on the side if you're using the 1/8" mini).