5
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 worse comes to worse, 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 stereo
¼
” headphone plug but
carries balanced line level not speaker level like with headphones. A
mono
¼
” cable (like a guitar cable) is not TRS plug as it is only 2
conductor -it won’t work right in any TRS application as it is missing one
of the three conductors!