Many of these appear in other pages but I've collected them all here for easy reference. Stated as "output" to "input".
All XLR's are wired Pin 2 hot unless otherwise stated.
Connections of greater than 10' should require a balanced input.
All adapters are wired shield intact except for Pin 1 lift adapters. Shield lifting should be situational. If doing permanent installations, adapters can be custom wired sans shield connection.
- ¼" Tip Ring Sleeve Plug to XLR adapter. Balanced ¼" TRS input or output to balanced XLR (male or female) input or output. Any direction.
- ¼" Tip Sleeve Plug to XLR Male adapter. Unbalanced ¼" TS outputs to any balanced XLR input.
- XLR Female to ¼" Tip Sleeve Plug adapter. Transformer or active cross-coupled transformer-like balanced XLR outputs to unbalanced ¼" TS inputs. You can use this adapter with a dynamic microphone to test direct boxes. Caution!! Do not use these with regular active balanced live level outputs - they can distort or fry the output because of the shorted (-) connection.
- XLR Female to ¼" Tip Sleeve Plug adapter. Active balanced XLR line output to unbalanced ¼" TS input. Open (-) prevents shorting out regular active output stages as the previous adapter would do as wired. Caution!! Do not use these with transformer or active cross-coupled transformer-like outputs! Because of the the open (-), a transformer will be rendered unreferenced or "one-legged", suffering frequency response and level anomalies.
- XLR Female to ¼" Tip Sleeve Plug adapter. Universal balanced output XLR to unbalanced ¼" TS input. Resistor shunt to ground allows adapter to work with transformer and all active balanced line outputs. Good for live, on the road, or temporary adapters. Use appropriate type of adapter for longer term applications.
- RCA pin plug to XLR Male adapter. Unbalanced RCA output (standard consumer audio equipment connector) to balanced XLR input - any type.
- XLR Female to RCA pin plug to adapter. Transformer or cross-coupled active balanced XLR output to unbalanced RCA input (standard consumer audio equipment connector). Caution!! Do not use these with regular active balanced live level outputs - they can distort or fry the output because of the shorted (-) connection.
- XLR Female to RCA pin plug adapter. Active balanced XLR output to unbalanced RCA input (standard consumer audio equipment connector). Open (-) prevents shorting out active output stages. Caution!! Do not use these with transformer or active cross-coupled transformer-like outputs! Because of the the open (-), a transformer will be rendered unreferenced or "one-legged", suffering frequency response and level anomalies.
- XLR Female to RCA pin plug adapter. Universal balanced XLR output to unbalanced RCA input (standard consumer audio equipment connector). Resistor shunt to ground allows adapter to work with transformer and all active balanced line outputs. Good for live, on the road, or temporary adapters. Use appropriate type of adapter for longer term applications.
- ¼" Tip Sleeve output to ¼" Tip Ring Sleeve input adapter. Unbalanced ¼'' TS output to balanced ¼'' TRS input. This is a single use adapter. You shouldn't turn this adapter around and use it the other direction (TRS out to TS in). It will short out a TRS active balanced output stage and possibly add distortion because if the shorted (-) connection. However, due to the low signal levels typically involved (<+4dBm), you can get away with it sometimes in a pinch. This is because most active outputs have some degree of output short protection but it can be damaged if run over +4dBm or for long periods of time but this is not recommended. Use this ¼" TRS output to ¼" TS input adapter instead for that application. However, unless clearly labeled these adapters can bite you with some buzz if used in reverse as it opens the (-) to a balanced input.
- RCA pin plug to ¼'' Tip Sleeve adapter. Unbalanced RCA input or output to unbalanced ¼'' TS input or output. Any direction.
- RCA output to ¼'' Tip Ring Sleeve Plug input adapter. Unbalanced RCA output to balanced ¼'' TRS input. You can turn this adapter around and use it the other direction but it will short out an active output stage. But due to the low signal levels typically involved (-10dbm), you can get away with it most of the time. This is because most active outputs have some degree of short protection but it can be damaged if run over +4dBm for long periods of time. Plus it adds distortion. Use this ¼" TRS output to RCA input adapter instead for that. However, unless clearly labeled these can bite you with some buzz if used in reversed as it opens the (-) to a balanced input.
- XLR to XLR Phase Reverse (male to female). Retail units available from Switchcraft, and ProCo
- XLR Pin 1 Lifters. See also Section 4 for details about shield bridging networks .
- XLR Output "Y" has one female XLR to two male XLR's for splitting the XLR output of just about anything.
- Passive XLR Input "Y" combiner Has two female XLR's and one male XLR for combining active output sources. Transformer "Y" combiner versions are available from ProCo
- Single Jack Console Insert and Side Chain adapters. Some are ring return, some are ring send.
- Stereo Mini plug to Left & Right XLR Male adapter. For interfacing your CD, MD, DAT or Walkman outputs to balanced inputs.
- Stereo Headphone plug (¼" TRS) to Left & Right XLR outputs adapter. For adapting a headphone output to Left & Right XLR lines. Wired the same as the Stereo Mini only using ¼" TRS plug.
- Stereo Mini plug to Left & Right XLR Female adapter. For interfacing your CD, MD, DAT or Walkman inputs to balanced outputs.
Retail adapters are available from Whirlwind , ProCo, Sescom, Switchcraft, Radio Shack and at many electronics outlets.
For more graphic wiring diagrams of virtually every permutation of XLR, TRS, TS, and RCA adapters see Rane's famous Note 110.
However!! Be advised that adapters #3 and #4 can be problematic when used with transformer isolated outputs. All balanced to unbalanced adapters should short the (-) to sleeve (shield) when using transformers, otherwise you are inviting level and/or frequency anomalies. Also, some active cross-coupled line drivers, like the Analog Devices SSM-2142, a common audio chip, do not like running single endedly (an open (-) output) unless, as the data sheet suggests, the unused (-) leg is shorted to shield/ground. Rane adapters #3 and #4 used as is in a cross-coupled output would lose -6db, and a transformer output would lose about the same plus sound horrible.
Although adapters #9 and #10 are specified to have the TRS on an output, if the TRS end is used to feed an input (which this adapter could easily do) the low side would be open, defeating the differential action of any balanced input and could introduce hum or buzz.Update 8/2003: Stephen Macatee, who rewrote Note 110 for Rane many years ago, has stated there will be a new version coming that will reflect these issues. I had the good fortune to discuss this and other issues with him online at the Live-Audio.com forum. He also pointed out that the shorting of the (-) output to shield (as typical of many custom adapters) on high current low impedance dual opamp active outputs when adapting them to unbalanced inputs has the potential to fry those outputs. Although the practice was a holdover from dealing with transformer equipped live mixing consoles, in my road experience and that of many others, this had never been a problem due to the nominal operational levels and typical output short protection built into most opamp output stages. However, he is in fact correct and has repair records to prove it. I have changed some adapter specs in this work to reflect this. Thank you Steve. And thank you for all your other excellent contributions to audio and to the subject of grounding.
John Roberts, a well known veteran design engineer also weighing in on the online discussion, suggested that if any shorting of the low (-) in an output is to be done, it should be done in the balanced connector end for best performance. He also suggested introducing a shunt resistor from the (-) output to ground to alleviate the problem of short circuiting active output stages with unbalanced adapters, paving the way for the Universal unbalanced adapters above. Thank you JR. I'm still using the Loftec TS-1 oscillator he designed and has been a permanent fixture in my tool box.
Special thanks to Bink for adding humor and his wealth of experience to the online discussion.
See Problems from Unbalanced Adapters for more info on adapter pitfalls.
High Impedance? Low Impedance? A common belief is that an unbalanced ¼" TS line is "high impedance". Wrong.
See High Impedance - Low Impedance for information.
