Questions on XLR and balanced and unbalanced

[antispatula]

So I'm interested in XLR in more detail. So there are three pins; one of them is "hot"? what's that mean?

And one is "grounded"? What's that?

And I need to re-wire pins 2 and 3 because the unit I need it for is old enough to need a pin 2 xlr cable. If I re-wire the cable, can I use it for other things too? If I plug it in to a new mixer, will it mess it up, or just give no signal?

And I don't really get balanced and unblalanced. Just some general info on that would be great.

Thanks for helping out an ametuer when it comes to this kind of thing, even if you can only answer one or two of the questions!!

[ssscientist]

Google is your friend.

Here's what I found on my first try --- LINK!

[DonGraham]

Originally Posted by antispatula

So I'm interested in XLR in more detail. So there are three pins; one of them is "hot"? what's that mean?

And one is "grounded"? What's that?

And I need to re-wire pins 2 and 3 because the unit I need it for is old enough to need a pin 2 xlr cable. If I re-wire the cable, can I use it for other things too? If I plug it in to a new mixer, will it mess it up, or just give no signal?

And I don't really get balanced and unblalanced. Just some general info on that would be great.

Thanks for helping out an ametuer when it comes to this kind of thing, even if you can only answer one or two of the questions!!

look at it as positive , negative and ground.....make sure you are wiring negative and ground together.....don't just go by pin number on the cord........some manufacturers like to switch pin configs..(Crest Audio comes to mind).......this should work on any XLR i/o.....you just won't get the benifits of a balanced connection.

[Farview]

There is no real need to switch pin 2 and 3. You are just switching the polarity. If it is a mixer you are plugging into, everything you plug into it will be reversed, so it doesn't matter. Don't connect the negative to ground (pin 3) to ground. If your unit is old enough to have a backwards pinout, it might be old enough to have a balancing system that will fry if you don't send it a balanced signal.


In a balanced connection pin 2 carries you signal, pin 3 carries a polarity inverted copy of your signal (upside down if you were to see it) pin 1 is ground. In electronics, electricity has to travel a loop. Ground is the return path. (very simplified explanation)

[DonGraham]

I was just referring to tha fact that some older equipment is wired with pin 3 hot rather than the standard pin 2. In that case you would need to swap pins 2 and 3 or your signal would be phase reversed.

I don't know if that is what antispatula meant or not.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by DonGraham

I was just referring to tha fact that some older equipment is wired with pin 3 hot rather than the standard pin 2. In that case you would need to swap pins 2 and 3 or your signal would be phase reversed.

I don't know if that is what antispatula meant or not.

Yea, but you told him to wire negative and ground together. That is a bad idea. It might not be what you meant to say.

[DonGraham]

Originally Posted by Farview

Yea, but you told him to wire negative and ground together. That is a bad idea. It might not be what you meant to say.

negative and ground would be tied together to make XLR on one end to a 1/4" unbalanced on the other........Yeah that could be taken wrong how I stated it though.

[5ergo]

So if playing back CD its a unbalanced signal and balanced cables makes no benefit?
Does the cable quallity matter if connecting active monitors to a component such as Presonus central station?
What do you think of Klotz cables?

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by 5ergo

So if playing back CD its a unbalanced signal and balanced cables makes no benefit?

The signal on the CD is unbalanced (no reason to store its mirror image), but it can be converted into a balanced signal with an electronic circuit. Pro CD players often have balanced outs to avoid interference over a long cable run.

Does the cable quallity matter if connecting active monitors to a component such as Presonus central station?

To an extent, yes, but anything above the crap range should be fine.

What do you think of Klotz cables?

Never seen 'em.

[Farview]

Cable quality always matters, but the difference between mediocre and great cables is durability. Mid line cables will do fine as long as you don't move them a lot.

[5ergo]

Thanks for replys!
I payed 4Euros/meter for cables i guess they should be fine for my setup.