constructing balanced xlr to 1/4 inch cables

T

thedogmixer

New member
Hi there, i want to consract my own balanced xlr to jack cables, does any one know where i can find out instructions to do this, or can soemone give me instructions, please, cant seem to find them anywhere on the net

cheers

Matt w
 
I make my Own sometimes...I Connect the Tip to Pin 2 and the Sleeve to pin 3 and you can then try Shorting pin 1 to the Ground Pin and you should get a Ballanced Signal.....

Cheers
 
thedogmixer said:
Hi there, i want to consract my own balanced xlr to jack cables, does any one know where i can find out instructions to do this, or can soemone give me instructions, please, cant seem to find them anywhere on the net
Click to expand...

Don't. Unless you're talking about an instrument pre (and to some extent, even then), 1/4" jacks are intended for high impedance mics. Any cable you can build will result in roll-off problems.

Spend the $10-12 on a matching transformer. Saving three or four bucks by using a transformerless adapter isn't worth the sound quality loss.

https://homerecording.com/impedance.html
 
The 1/4 to Male XLR cables that you buy don"t have a Transformer in them at least not the ones that I buy and they are wired exactly the same way as the Ones I wire myself so i don"t understand were Impedance comes into it....

Is there something in the Cables that you Buy that I can not see by takeing the Cables apart???

I don"t hear any Humm or any differance in sound when useing 1/4 in jacks or 1/4 in to XLR Jacks?? I actually just use them to Connect the Ouput from my Delta 44 into the XLR Input on my Monitors and I do not Notice any sound differance at all cuz If I did I would simply use the 1/4 in Jacks and not the XLR....

Is it because the Cables are Short (6 feet)....
Also many of the Store bought Cables I have that Go from 1/4 in to Male XLR/ Female XLR seem to sound the Same as the Regular XLR cables or 1/4 in cables....
In the Link you posted there were examples of Recordings useing different Cables and I did notice a sound Differance in the sample that didn"t use the Impedance Matching Transformer But I don"t get that effect at all with my Cables...Is it because they are Short??

ThanX
 
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Minion said:
The 1/4 to Male XLR cables that you buy don"t have a Transformer in them at least not the ones that I buy and they are wired exactly the same way as the Ones I wire myself so i don"t understand were Impedance comes into it....

Is there something in the Cables that you Buy that I can not see by takeing the Cables apart???
Click to expand...

Impedance is a property of the input (your mixer) and the output (your mic). An impedance mismatch occurs when you feed a device intended for a (relatively) low impedance input into a (relatively) high impedance input.

Companies that make cables that "adapt" XLR to 1/4" should be taken out and beaten behind the woodshed. Those cables are evil; they completely remove all the advantages of using a balanced cable, create a high frequency roll-off problem, and drop the mic's output level by 6dB (which further reduces the sound quality by requiring higher preamp gain to make up for it). They are entirely the wrong way to solve this problem....
 
This thread is to the point where people will be more ingorant after they read it.

To anyone who finds it- save yourselves, stop reading after the second post.
 
Minion said:
If those Cables are Evil how are you supposed to connect a Mic into a 1/4 input??
Click to expand...


Generally you don't unless you are using one of those super cheap high impedance karaeoke mics. Let's try it this way... what are you trying to run your microphone into? If the answer is a guitar amp, then you need to use a transformer like this:

246468.jpg


Note, this is not an adaptor as it has an actual transformer in it. You can get things that look similar that are adaptors and have no transformer. If you are really curious, this is essentially a DI box.
 
thedogmixer said:
im actually using the cables balanced xlr to jack to connect via pre amp to sound card, no mic, this still ok?
Click to expand...

Yes! And better than unbalanced.
 
Maybe, it depends if your sound card has balanced inputs. If yes, than you are set. If no, then there is no point and you probably want to use a unbalanced line out of the pre if it has one.
 
There is nothing wrong with using xlr to 1/4 balanced cables.

If you are using it to carry line level signals, you are fine.

If you are using it as a mic cable, that is a problem. Not because the cable is evil, but because you shouldn't be plugging low impedance mics into high impedance inputs. That is the only reason to use the transformer.

Cables are cables, the type of connector has nothing to do with what type of signal is being passed. You ALWAYS have to know what type of signal is coming out of a piece of equipment and what type of signal the next piece of equipment is expecting.
 
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