1.4.1 In General: XLR Connectors and
¼
” TRS Connectors
XLR connectors are more expensive, more reliable and
offer a stronger connection than
¼
” TRS connectors.
They also have the option of a locking latch that helps
to keep the cable from being pulled out accidentally. If
worst comes to worst, you can connect two XLR
cables together to make a longer run. The XLR
connection is strong enough that you can swing a
hand-held microphone around your head like a cowboy
for quite a long time before the mic flies off and knocks
someone’s teeth out. XLR males are used for Outputs
and XLR female are used for Inputs. Makes sense,
right? Many people confuse the male and female XLR
parts because the female plug fits into the male plug to
join together. The male XLR has 3 pins (male pins…)
inside the plug and the female XLR has three holes
inside the plug (female holes…). Check out the
diagrams below:
¼
” TRS
(
T
ip,
R
ing,
S
leeve) cables have male 3
conductor,
¼
” diameter connectors on both ends. These
connectors are cheaper, less reliable and offer less
contact area for the electrical connection and are more
often the site of intermittent connections.
¼
” TRS cables
are easier to use because you don’t have to worry about
which end is which, because both plug ends are the
same. The TRS plug looks like a stereo
¼
” headphone
plug but carries balanced line level, not speaker level like
headphone cables. A mono TS
¼
” cable (a guitar cable)
is
not
a TRS plug as it has only 2 conductors - it won’t
work correctly in any TRS application as it is missing one
of the three conductors.
