Probably the most common connector in the audio world is the XLR connector. \u00a0It is also called mic, Cannon or 3 pin. \u00a0Most professional microphones and mixers use the XLR connector. \u00a0Advantages of XLR include locking connectors, pins only contact their corresponding pins and strong metal housing. \u00a0Disadvantages of XLR are large connector size and occasional failure of the locking mechanism. \u00a0While it is my understanding that\u00a0it was originally designed by Cannon as a stereo audio connector, 3 pin XLR is almost exclusively used with a mono, balanced audio signal. \u00a0In modern usage pin 1 is connected to ground, pin 2 to positive signal and pin 3 to negative signal. \u00a0Shielded, untwisted cable is typically used for XLR cables, though you may come across star-quad cable which has two twisted pair cables for pin 2 and 3.<\/p>\n
XLR is not only used in Audio, nor does it only come in 3 pin varieties. \u00a0A quick search will turn up XLR connectors with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and even 12 pins. \u00a0Three pin cable is also commonly used for DMX signal in lower end lighting (though some high end companies have given in and started adding them as well). \u00a0Note that for lighting unshielded twisted pair should be used. \u00a0I’ve seen 4 pin in use for single channel com headsets, power cables for studio cameras, and powered signal cable for LED lights. \u00a05 pin is used for stereo com headsets, and as the standard for DMX lighting. 6-12 pin XLR are much more rare to see in the AV world, though they do occasionally pop up.<\/p>\n
Hopefully the next time you pick up that mic cable you will have a new appreciation for the XLR connector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Probably the most common connector in the audio world is the XLR connector. \u00a0It is also called mic, Cannon or 3 pin. \u00a0Most professional microphones and mixers use the XLR connector. \u00a0Advantages of XLR include locking connectors, pins only contact …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,4,3,6,5],"class_list":["post-3","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-audio","tag-audio-basics","tag-basics","tag-connectors","tag-xlr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmostrator.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}