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Gear / Technical Help => Cables => Topic started by: mozmoz8 on September 19, 2008, 02:38:54 AM
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Does anyone know how to wire/make this cable? Where can I get a diagram of the internal wiring. I have the connectors but need to know how to wire them together. Both the XLR are balanced, which I want to convert the signal to a 1/8 stereo connector so that I can record stereo using the 1/8 inch line-in of my PCM-D50.
http://apuresound.com/images/cables/v3/adapter/xt14/b/02.JPG
Hope someone can help me.
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You can find several wiring diagram reference sheets in TS's own Knowledge Base, check The Archive's Cables section.
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,2401.0.html has links to a couple of good ones (scroill to the last post). I prefer the Connettori to the Rane but the Rane has more info while the Connettori has larger (easier to read) diagrams though for the one you want you'll have to substitute 1/8" for 1/4" but the wiring will be the same.
< Poke around in the Cables section of The Archive, you never what you'll find and I know there are other cable wiring links there. That is The Archive here on taperssection, not at archive.org >
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Thanks a lot!
+T
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I'm sure you're aware that the cable pictured at that location is XLR > 1/4" but I have a suggestion involving cabling. Use small (22AWG or so) coaxial cabling. You'd jumper pins 1 and 3 together inside the XLR connector with a scrap of the center wire of the coax and run the center to pin 2 and the shield to pin 1. Those cables would be smaller (OD) than two-conductor shielded cable so there'd be less to shoehorn inside the 1/8" connector.
You may want to think about using a right-angle pigtail to help relieve stress on what is probably a cheap PCB-mounted jack (on the D50). That would leave you free to wire the XLR to 1/4" like the cable pictured in that link. Then wire the pigtail with a 1/4" jack and 1/8" right-angle plug. Sure, it's additional connectors but wiring that pigtail is easier than repairing a jack in something like a D50.
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(sigh) Repeat after me ...
Other than using input transformers, there is no one way to wire an adapter of this type that will work correctly (or even work at all) with all kinds of balanced microphone. It all depends on how the output circuit of the microphone is arranged. Using the wrong adapter for your type of microphone will short-circuit one side of the microphone's output circuit in some cases, while in others it will cause no signal to be received at all, or only a tiny "leakage" signal buried in hum and other noise.
People around here don't seem to believe this until they run into a problem, and then they wonder why? It's because balanced microphones follow professional standards, and unbalanced preamps/recorders follow the established practice for consumer equipment--but no industry standard explains how equipment from one realm is supposed to connect to equipment from the other realm. Microphones with balanced outputs are designed to work into preamps/recorders/mixers that have balanced inputs.
Not only is the wiring different (three contacts vs. two), but the signal voltages that consumer microphone inputs can handle are often limited so that professional-quality microphones will drive those inputs into distortion, especially when recording loud music. (Which I understand some folks around here are partial to.)
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does the same apply using a microphone preamp?
I wired one up for going sonosax > r-09, and it seems to work fine, also works with the V2. would it be better to use the unbalanced outs of either device as opposed to the 2x xlr > mini cable?
should we start a list of how to wire the cable, specifically for various devices? it seems like this question gets asked more and more as flash recorders get smaller and smaller, using trs jacks instead of xlrs.
I really wish more of them would use dual balanced mono trs input jacks, if only to help with the cabling issue.