I need to start by saying I'm only a novice. I'm doing laptop DJing with a M-Audi 410 firewire interface. I use powered speakers. I use a directbox to convert from high Z to low Z for speakers. I seem to have the need for more output. Is there a directbox that will boost the level or give you the control to boost the level??

Does this make sense??

i'm mostly a keyboardist...and i just got this casio keyboard from 1983 at a garage sale...i own two keyboards...it has minor sound problems,but i like it...i can't really afford much of anything gear wise unless i just happen to run upon a sale...

maybe you just like to be loud with your output! lol...

It seems to me that you need a mixer, not a DI.

Run the laptop through the mixer, then the powered speakers on the stereo bus out (main outputs).

You'll find a mixer might expand your capabilities a bit. You'll be able to hook up an outboard CD player as well as a microphone or two.

Peavey & Yamaha make decent, inexpensive mixers.

Mackie is a little more expensive but of better sound quality.

Hmmm - your sound is being sent FROM the Laptop into a DI then into the speakers? If so, you don't really need the DI (impedance matters, but not so much in the level/distance you're trying).

Your laptop output (line level signal - like a CD player? or are you using the headphone out?) might be weak in any case, so you need boost from a true power amp. Any power amp will work...

Whoever told you to put a DI between your mixer out and powered speaker in's should be shot.

Connect the mixer outs directly to the speaker inputs. If the connectors don't match (one is XLR the other 1/4" for instance) then you need adapters to go from one to the other, which you can get at most any musical instrument store.

Make sure the adapters are wired for either balanced or unbalanced, depending on the conenction on each unit. Someone who actually understands audio (ie not the person who told you you needed a DI) will know exactly what you need once you tell them exactly what your routing from and to.

Best of luck.