Topic: 3.5mm TRS (m) > dual XLR (m)??

[yug du nord]

I built my first cable last night out of Canare MiniStar Quad cable.......   things went smooth for the most part I thought.  Got it put together, tested it out.....  I got signal to pass, but also got some nasty static. 

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This is what I did......

Left channel StarQuad cable:
*Stripped both cable ends.
*Twisted the white (hot) wires together on both ends of the XLR (left channel) cable.  Chopped off the blue (cold) wires on both ends from XLR (left channel) cable.
*Twisted the ground wire separately.

Right channel StarQuad cable:
*Stripped both cable ends.
*Twisted the blue (cold) wires together on both ends of the XLR (right channel) cable.  Chopped off the white (hot) wires on both ends from XLR (right channel) cable.
*Twisted the ground wire separately.

Then connected each cable to it's respective XLR (m) like this:

*XLR (m) left channel:  pin2 = hot (white), pin1 = ground, pin3 is jumped (connected) to pin1.
*XLR (m) right channel:  pin2 = hot (blue), pin1 = ground, pin3 is jumped (connected) to pin1.

Then.......
*I took the ground from each XLR cable and twisted them together, then connected that ground to the Sleeve of TRS(m).

And finally.....
*3.5mm TRS (m):  Tip = hot (white), Ring = cold (blue), Sleeve = ground
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Does this seem right?  I'm a cable NOOB....  but I thought that these were the right pin assignments.  Any advice would be appreciated!  Thanks!!!

Could this be an unbalanced XLR cable > balanced XLR inputs issue?


edit to add:  this is a short 12" interconnect....  not a long run of cable.

[darktrain]

do you have a multimeter? sounds like there may be some grounding issue, everything looks ok as far as how you have it set up but depending on your 1/8 plug, those can be a little tight and if you aren't careful its easy to "ground" things together, a multimeter will let you know if you are passing a clean signal through all 3  conductors on the xlr and 1/8 plug

[yug du nord]

do you have a multimeter? sounds like there may be some grounding issue, everything looks ok as far as how you have it set up but depending on your 1/8 plug, those can be a little tight and if you aren't careful its easy to "ground" things together, a multimeter will let you know if you are passing a clean signal through all 3  conductors on the xlr and 1/8 plug

Thanks Robb.....  that was a thought of mine too....  I haven't checked it yet.....   I do have a digi multimeter though.  And yeah....  the 3.5mm is real tight inside, so that could very well be the issue.  I'll report back with my findings.  Thanks man...  truly appreciated!!!  +T

[darktrain]

its possible you could also be getting some grounding from the wires you chopped and didnt use, i usually twist the non hot wire with the ground and then you don't leave any lose ends and then you dont have to use the jumper either just, for example from xlr 1(gr) 2(bl) 3(wh) to the 1/8, at the 1/8 end just twist the wh/ground together adnd the 2 goes to tip or ring and just double the procedure for the other cable, you end up twisting both ground and both whites all together but in the mini star quad case not a big deal and then make sure you "tin"  all wire, so much easier when you do that first

[rowjimmytour]

On trs and rca plugs I like to carefully wrap electric tape around the wire>Solder joint to prevent shorts from the tight fit. I also find liquid electric tape is way easier to use but make sure to test first before applying tape or liquid and assembling the plug

[yug du nord]

its possible you could also be getting some grounding from the wires you chopped and didnt use, i usually twist the non hot wire with the ground and then you don't leave any lose ends and then you dont have to use the jumper either just,

Funkin BRILLIANT!!!  I was worried about the "dead" wires, and didn't even consider this option.........  AWESOME tip man!!!

And wow.......  liquid electrical tape........  who'd a thunk it??  Great suggestion!