Stage box

s. Stage boxes typically house 16–32 female XLR connectors and 4–8 male connectors, but occasionally phone connectors are used instead. These connections to the mixer are often called sends (inputs) and returns (outputs). ==Digital stage boxes==

D-Rack digital stage box next to a SD9 mixer AR2412 digital stage box, with a Cat 7 cable carrying digital audio to the mixing console Digital mixing consoles inherently introduce conversion between analog and digital signals. Since digital signals are practically immune to noise, it is preferable to use them for long cable runs. As a result, many modern stage boxes contain an array of DACs and ADCs. This allows all the signals to be transmitted over a single twisted pair cable rather than a bulkier and more expensive analog multicore. Latency is cumulative through all devices in the signal flow, so more complex networks, especially Ethernet-based ones, can experience latency significant enough to cause an audible delay. This was originally a major drawback of digital stage boxes, but recent systems have lowered latency to insignificant levelstypically 2–3 ms. Open standards such as AES10 (used by DiGiCo, Soundcraft, Yamaha etc.) and AES50 (used by Midas, Behringer, Klark Teknik) also exist. ==Usage==

In a live setting, all of the microphones and musical instruments on stage connect to the stage box, which then connects to the mixing console with a single cable. In recording studios, stage boxes are used to connect the control room and the live room. They are commonly rack-mounted or mounted on walls in studios, in contrast to the portable method of installation used for live sound. ==Drop boxes==

Smaller stage boxes (typically with 2 or 4 connectors) with shorter multicore cables are called drop boxes. These are typically used to carry microphone signals from one side of the stage to the other, or as an extension cable for a few channels on a larger stage box. The multicore cable attached to a drop box is often called a subsnake, although this may also refer to the entire assembly of drop box and multicore cable. ==References==