Routing Hauptwerk audio output thru MDS-60 speakers

Our church recently acquired an Allen MDS-60 (a 1994 model). It has two 4-channel amps in it. I have an 8-channel audio interface and would like to experiment with sending multichannel output from Hauptwerk through the Allen amps.

A few years ago I experimented a bit with doing this with our MDS-35 and was able to get some sound going through the Allen speakers by plugging the outputs of my sound adapter directly into the inputs of the Allen amps, but the sound quality was poor. I suspect that I may have been encountering issues similar to the ones discussed in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11449

All this discussion of impedance mismatch, differential voltage between tip and ring, etc., is way over my head.

I don't want to risk damaging anything, so I'm seeking a bit of input. Can someone help me figure out if the outputs of my multichannel Gigaport HD are compatible with the inputs of the Allen amps?

http://www.esi-audio.com/products/gigaporthd/

According to the info I found on the amps inside the console, the model of the Allen amps is QUAD.

Thanks in advance for any tips...

Stephen

My limited experience with Allen amp and speakers would suggest that the amps are fine for our purposes and the older speaker models are not. The speaker issues I had was with the older MOS era speakers with 15" woofers and old style tweeters where the stuffy sound I encountered might have been due to aging crossover capacitors. I didn't pursue the issue as I had better speakers at hand. Newer Allen speakers are very similar to PA speakers (compression driven horns) and sound much better. I don't know which would have been provided in the 90's time frame.

I've had good success with both older Allen amps and some as new as yours. I wish I could recall which amps had the unusually sensitive inputs and required input pads to avoid overdriving the input stage. In any case, the Gigaport HD is fine to drive the Allen inputs. Start with the amp gains turned way down and then try raising the gains to about 6 of 7. If major distortion is encountered that would indicate the need for input attenuators -- probably 20 dB or so. You will not have impedance issues and since the Gigaport output is unbalanced the connection to the amps will be simple.

I've seen two hardware issues with about a dozen Allen amps. One older amp had blown output transistors and an MDS era two channel amp had a failed electrolytic cap associated with an input stage that added a light buzzing sound. Any minor issues with their quality would be dwarfed by typical speaker and room imperfections.

I have an 8-channel audio interface and would like to experiment with sending multichannel output from Hauptwerk through the Allen amps.
Can someone help me figure out if the outputs of my multichannel Gigaport HD are compatible with the inputs of the Allen amps?
http://www.esi-audio.com/products/gigaporthd/
Stephen

Be aware that you probably won't be able to use all 8 outputs of this interface.
"different playback modes: 44.1kHz with 16-bit and 8 channels, 44.1kHz with 24-bit and 6 channels, 48kHz with 24-bit and 6 channels, 96kHz with 24-bit and 2 channels"

Thanks for these helpful responses! I will give it a try.

Stephen