XLR or 1/4"?

I am not sure where i should move this. I mean really it has nothing to do with bass, yet it isn't suitable for Off Topic i don't think.

Seeing as i have moved one of your threads today, i won't be cruel and take my late night out on you, so i'll answer your post instead:

XLR sockets (this one a male) looks like this:



It has a earth shield, Pin 2 is usually 'hot' and pin one 'anitphase'.

A 6.5mm jack (or 1/4" for u yanks. ) looks like this:



That is a stereo socket.

As for 6.5mm plugs they look like this:



Is that enough difference for ya?

I think its fairly self explanatory..

Merls

 

Hmmmm ... no, I think Pin 2 is hot, Pin 3 is cold, and Pin 1 is ground/shield.

http://www.mackie.com/PDFs/1402VLZPRO/OM/1402VLZPRO_OM_3.PDF


Page 18.

 

OK..
dr.AllodoX's quick lessons in TSR / XLR jacks..

the XLR-plug consists out of 3 conduits.

1 - ground
2 - hot
3 - neutral

The " neutral " is a signal that is the exact opposite of the " hot ".

The key to Balanced lines is that you substract both signals from eachother.

Humming / static / etc is picked up by both signals, and thus will be identical on both signals..

lets say for instance the static has a value of -1..
if you substract both signals from eachother it would be : ( -1 ) - ( -1 )

Since out math-teachers told us that substracting a negative number will result in a positive number, it will actually be : ( -1 ) + 1 = 0

If the static is 1 , it would be even simpler.. 1 - 1 = 0 ... So, as you can see... the static cancels eachother out.

But the signals are actually the exact opposite of eachother.. so lets say for example the signal is 4 volts.. this would mean that the " hot " is +4, and at the same time the " neutral " would then be -4..
if you substract these.. it would be : ( +4 ) - ( -4 )

which leads to (+4) + ( 4 ) = 8

so you see.. the static cancels eachother out, while the signals boost eachother, giving you clear sound without any form of interferance..

the TSR jack ( TSR = Tip Sleeve Ring ) is actually the same as the XLR jack, but in a more compact form.. you still have 3 conduits..

voilla !

if you have any more questions.. just ask

p.s. Damn, i'm good !!

 

Ok i aint gonna start a war. lol I think you may be right for your part of the world. I know Pin 2 being hot is a international standard, but all the plugs we use have Pin 3 as ground. I had to wire up a few for rehearsal, i made Pin 3 ground (copied a pre-existing one), they work fine too.

Damn Australians!!



Merls

 

if you connect all wires 1-on-1 there's no problem..

 

Not to bud in, but I think you need to take a good look at your gear to determine which pin is the hot lead. I have a Demeter pre that's pin2/hot that runs to a Crown power amp that's pin3/hot. I had to make a cross-over cable. If I didn't check, my whole rig would've been out of phase!!

my 2 cents

 

A way to remember the XLR pinouts -

X = pin 1 = eXternal, or shield
L = pin 2 = live
R = pin 3 = return

XLR balanced is pretty much always used in low impedance circuits, like 600 ohms, and 1/4 inch is pretty much unbalanced and hi impedance, like 10,000 ohms and greater.

Chris