[BC] The XLR pinout debate

[Peter Smerdon]

It is confused - but there has been an AES standard since the mid 
nineties - pin 2 hot. The standard also defines pin 2 as opposite pin 1.
That is the numbering I've seen on all XLRs I've handled - 
Cannon/Alcatel, Switchcraft and Neutrik.
Though, Otari did have a record of using "different" connector numbering 
schemes - the Jones plug remote sockets on the 5050 had a different 
numbering to the mating plugs I bought for them from another source.

The standard is on the AES website.
Look for AES14-1992 at http://www.aes.org/publications/standards/

I'm recalling that before the standard, pin 2 hot was common in UK and 
Europe, and pin 3 hot in US and Japan.
Australia was importing pro audio gear in about equal measure from both 
camps, so it was a right royal mess down here.

Alan Alsobrook wrote:
> I continue to say that this debate is somewhat confused.  I first 
> noticed Pin 2 being + in some older Otari manuals. I of course was a bit 
> confused since it had always been pin 3 to my knowledge. Then I looked 
> further in this same manual and their drawings had the center pin 
> labeled as #2. This is quite contrary to the way that Switchcraft and 
> others number the pins when they build the device. From this I drew the 
> conclusion and have stuck with it, that somewhere, some how, someone 
> mislabeled the pin numbers and that the actual location of the wires 
> have remained the same.
> So for me, pin 3 (the offset one in the middle) is still and will always 
> be +.
> 
> John Buffaloe wrote:
> 
>> I'll take pin 2 for $250 Alex.
>>
>> John A. Buffaloe
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> [mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Mark Humphrey
>>
>> Now, on to a bigger debate:  on an XLR connector, should pin 2 be
>> wired "hot", or pin 3?  I say 2, but I know some stubborn guys out
>> there that will go to their grave insisting it's 3....
> 

-- 
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Peter Smerdon.

Radio 3mp - Easy Listening
sen-1116  - Let's Talk Sport

Melbourne, Australia.
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