Monitor your audio on stage or in the studio with the Polsen PMA-2B, a stereo in-ear monitor amplifier that can clip onto a belt or a guitar strap. You can also mount it to a mic stand. Wherever you decide to place the unit, you'll enjoy a noiseless, interference-free sound at whatever level you need.
The PMA-2B has two balanced XLR inputs for accepting stereo signal from a mixing board or a field mixer and offers two prominent controls for easy operation. Set the level and balance between the two input signals, exactly to your liking. A dedicated selector lets you choose how you want to hear the mix. Select stereo to hear the full stereo mix, or select mono to sum the stereo signal and send it to each side of your headphones. Since the amp sports a high-power headphone output, it delivers plenty of volume, so even drummers can hear the cue mix over their drum kit.
This sturdy, pocket-sized monitor amplifier is made with a durable all-metal chassis that can withstand demanding stage, location, and studio use. To monitor, simply connect your earphones, IEMs, or headphones to the amp's 3.5mm headphone output. The unit runs for up to 12 hours off a single 9V battery. Conversely, you can purchase a separately available adapter.
- Ideal for Personal Sound Monitoring
- 2 x XLR Inputs, 1 x 3.5mm Headphone Out
- For Stage, Studio & Location
- Simple-to-Use Level & Balance Controls
Polsen PMA-2B Overview
Polsen PMA-2B Specs
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Polsen PMA-2B Reviews
Sometimes okay is good enough
Shout out to Stuart! My two products had the same issue. With his review, I was able to fix this problem as well. L and R was swapped and polarity/phase was also likely flipped 180° (I need to confirm this). The fix was honestly not ideal since the ribbon cable is required to be twisted in a non ideal orientation for this to work. I used some heat shrink to minimize the possibility of the ribbon connection coming apart, it works but isn't ideal. Also Manuel makes a great point that these would be great for a com system. My overall opinion is that for the money ( I paid $29.99), it's tough to be too picky. These issues are unacceptable in my opinion, but at the same time, the price is reflective of making a product as cheap as possible. With 10 to 20 minutes of alterations these work. I also have the stereo behringer poweplay p1, in my opinion these have a better build quality and are noticeably less noisy (the only edge the polsen may have is the battery door). However, the behringer costs $55.90, these cost $29.99. I am glad I got to try the product. I will probably not be getting anymore unless I build a com system. However, I'm glad they exist. For the money, I'm sure they are the right choice for some of you. Once again, thanks to Stuart and Manuel!
Works well after simple modification...
I purchased four PMA-2B amplifiers for a home studio I am putting together. I built a custom snake box with stereo returns to send the headphone mixes from my Antelope Orion interface. I also built custom stereo TRS to XLR cables to connect the headphone amplifiers to the snake box. I was getting good clean signals to the headphones when I began testing the system, however, when I panned the signals back and forth in my DAW, they moved in the opposite direction in the headphones. I assumed I either had the headphones on backwards or my cables were swapped. The headphones were on correctly so I unplugged the right XLR from the PMA-2B and noticed that the left headphone went silent! I also confirmed that when I put a signal into the left input of the PMA-2B, it came out the right headphone. The only explanation that made any sense was that the unit was wired backwards internally. I opened the unit up and noted that a ribbon cable with 5 wires was hardwired to the main circuit board and then plugged into a small circuit board attached to the two input XLR inputs. I did a continuity test to figure out the pinout of the 5-pin ribbon connector. The sequence was hot, cold, ground, hot, cold. Since there is only one way you can plug in the ribbon connector, I determined that the soldered end was inadvertently installed backward. Since the pinout of the connector wasn't symmetrical (i.e hot, cold, ground, cold, hot) I then started to wonder if the signals were not only reversed left to right, but reversed polarity (some would say 180º out of phase) as well. To confirm this I sent a recorded oscillator signal from the headphone sends on my DAW and recorded it on another stereo audio track. It was in phase with the original track as expected (in other words, the sine waves were lined up with peaks together and dips together). I then ran the same signals through the headphone amp and recorded its outputs to another stereo track and they were the opposite polarity on both channels (the peaks of the original sine wave were lining up with the dips of the outputs of the PMA-2B). I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of either de-soldering the ribbon cable and flipping it around or sending all of the units back, and then it dawned on me that I could simply pry the ribbon cable socket up off of the pins of the XLR circuit board, rotate it 180º and the press it back down to the board. Then I just flipped the ribbon connector around and plugged it in backwards. I put it all back together and tested it again and the modification corrected both the left-right reversal and the polarity reversal. All four units had the same issue. Once I figured out the solution it only took a phillips head screwdriver, a small knife blade, needle-nose pliers, and about two minutes to fix the issue on each unit. If you use proper gain structure you will get very good results with these cheap little boxes. P.S. The fix for the DC power supply problem reported in other reviews was that Polsen now put a sticker over the old labeling showing the center contact as negative.