Solved! Problem splitting audio signal

[billydavies21]

Hi all

I'm not very experienced with audio setups, but I've been trying the following:

I've got audio out of my computer via USB into a Presonus Audiobox. From there I've got the main output (2x jack leads) stripped down the other end to the wire, into a speaker wire 4 way splitter box with switches that I got from Ebay. Output 1 goes to my Mackie CB4s. Outputs 2 and 3 go to 2 pairs of small passive speakers.

When channel 1 is switched on (Mackies), everything works fine. If I turn on channel 2 or 3, it almost mutes everything. I get a barely audible and distorted signal coming out of all speakers.

I don't understand why there's such a dramatic drop in signal strength and clarity. The Mackies are powered seperately. Turning them all the way up when this happens just increases the volume of the distorted signal.

Is it a bad splitter box? Is my Presonus Audiobox not powerful enough to send more than one signal? What else can i do? Could I skip the splitter and just wire into and out of the Mackie inputs to the other speakers?

Help would be appreciated!

 

[americanaudiophile]

The output of the Presonus is line level so it won't drive passive speakers. You will need an amplifier to drive those.
You would split the output of the Audiobox. Connect one output to the Mackies and the other to an integrated amp. If that doesn't have a speaker selector so you can connect two pairs of speakers then you would use the speaker selector you already bought at the output of that amp.