Just bought the mackie 1604 vlz3 mixer and cant figure out how to get sound to the main speakers, the speakers and amps are connected correctly

If you are getting signal from you mixer at leaves tha are clipping your amp, then the mixer is working and at least the front end of your amp is working to register the clipping. In that case, your problem is-
1. The amp outputs are blown, check by hooking up to a different amp.
2, The speaker wires are connected incorrectly.
3. The speakers are not working. Try a different set.

sounds like it could be dust or moisture ...Try cleaning the board and knobs and faders. this may help it may make it worse. Also while at it...check all connections...especially from board to amps. or to outboard gear. Could be a bad chord

This is not a powered mixer and so you must connect a power amp to the "line level" outputs of the mixer. Other "no output" problems could be related to buss assignments and other signal routing issues. Check for output by connecting "Main Out" left or right to a guitar amp input instead BUT turn all volumes down to zero before conductiong this test as guitar amps are designed for "Microphone" level inputs. Owners and Hookup manuals can be found here...

http://www.mackie.com/products/1604vlz3/

The problem is that card has only UNBALANCED inputs. You really need balanced or first run the mixer outputs through a DI backwards. Frankly, I would recommend NOT using a card within the PC as there is so much digital noise. Use either a USB or Firewire external convertor and for goodness sakes use balanced lines from teh Mackie... ALL interconnected equipment needs to be powered from the same receptacle or source. M Audio, Roland/Cakewalk and Presonus all make cards as do others.

The best way is to use a two-way crossover between the mixer and the amplifiers. In your case, the low output from teh crossover would go to the powered subs, the highs to the QSC. Use the crossover adjustment to set the frequency crossover point to get the sound quality you require.

Dan

Mackie 1604 ---> Crossover --- Highs ---> QSC --->Speakers
'
-----> Crossover --- Lows ---> Powered Subs.

Using two balanced lines either TRS or XLR depending on what is on your M audiointerface, connect the L and R main outputs of the mixer to the L and R inputs of the M Audio. You will need recording software on your computer.

Without knowing the resources you are connecting I cannot give you a schematic but will give this GENERAL advice:

1. Use BALANCED lines to connect from the mixer to your amps, preferably XLR connections.

2. Service the power to the amps and the mixer from the SAME place even if it means stringing a power cable alongside you audio cable snake.

Here is the manual if you don't have one:http://www.mackie.com/pdf/archive/cr1604_om.pdf. There are solo buttons for each channel. There is also an auxiliary return solo button. There is also a solo to main button. These buttons are all inter related. Is your main output mute button in or out? Read the manual carefully as there are a myriad of combinations you can use. Have a look at the trouble shooting guide on page 21. If you can't find a solution try contacting Mackie. Let me know if this helps.

same problem here.. gimme a holler if you've figured anything out.
mine, channels light up, it's getting sound (input) from mics, but it's no sound coming out. i'm almost definite the problem is with the main mix slider. but then again i could be wrong.

Are you sending the main mix to the monitors or are you giving them their own mix? What about using the sub groups, use 1 for your monitor send.