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XLR7 wiring standards/survey


SeeKai

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Hey gang,

When it comes to umbilicals and breakaway snakes, hirose and tajimi standards have conveniently been easy to source thanks to SQN and Sound Devices integrating these connections into their mixer recorders.

XLR7 connectors are sourcable, durable and easy to connect/disconnect with one hand, but from what I can tell there is less of an established standard wiring scheme for these.

Are you all up for a "roll call" of sorts?

I instinctively wire them like this:

1 Ground

2 L+

3 L -

4 R +

5 R -

6 return L

7 return R

However some people wire them with the ground as pin 7, and then L/R return connections from 1 through 6.

I love that ^ from a manufacturing perspective as it makes working with the cable cores a lot easier, but like my initial wiring scheme because it follows the pin 1 = ground convention and putting the balanced outs before the return.

Who's up for comparing notes on these?  It would be nice if all our snakes and tails matched, would it not? I'm writing to a few manufacturers to see what their pin out standards are - will report in due course.

Cheers

S.


 

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Hey gang,

When it comes to umbilicals and breakaway snakes, hirose and tajimi standards have conveniently been easy to source thanks to SQN and Sound Devices integrating these connections into their mixer recorders.

XLR7 connectors are sourcable, durable and easy to connect/disconnect with one hand, but from what I can tell there is less of an established standard wiring scheme for these.

Are you all up for a "roll call" of sorts?

I instinctively wire them like this:

1 Ground

2 L+

3 L -

4 R +

5 R -

6 return L

7 return R

However some people wire them with the ground as pin 7, and then L/R return connections from 1 through 6.

I love that ^ from a manufacturing perspective as it makes working with the cable cores a lot easier, but like my initial wiring scheme because it follows the pin 1 = ground convention and putting the balanced outs before the return.

Who's up for comparing notes on these?  It would be nice if all our snakes and tails matched, would it not? I'm writing to a few manufacturers to see what their pin out standards are - will report in due course.

Cheers

S.

I agree with XLR7 standard you posted. What's a pain is the PSC Neutricon 8 pin wiring in their snakes -vs- the Sound Devices snake wiring. PSC uses pin 1 for the return ground followed by the return L & R connections to pins 2&3. A sharp eye is needed when you're making an adapter for an SD product that's going to connect to a PSC made snake.

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I agree with XLR7 standard you posted. What's a pain is the PSC Neutricon 8 pin wiring in their snakes -vs- the Sound Devices snake wiring. PSC uses pin 1 for the return ground followed by the return L & R connections to pins 2&3. A sharp eye is needed when you're making an adapter for an SD product that's going to connect to a PSC made snake.

??

 

Sound Devices doesn't use Neutricons in any of their snakes, just the 10-pin Hirose.

 

IIRC, PSC and Remote Audio Neutricon wiring is different.

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Interesting - I've been thinking about this all day and wiring ground to pin 7 would kind of echo the hirose layout and also provide a solid "anchor" allowing you to minimise any strain on the cores carrying audio.

I made one of these and sent it off to NZ, where the local wireman (apologies for the gender specific term) uses the pin 7 as ground and pins Fortunately my buyer appears to be able to get the XLR7 rewired with minimal problems, though I did offer to cover the labour cost.

Looking forward to more replies on this.

Eric I like neutricon but having switched to XLR 7 I get the same easy interconnection in a cheaper and more widely available connector without having to make up the female end from 7 different parts (and also no having to melt bigger holes in the neutricon boot).  

PSC and Remote audio having different wiring schemes would appear to be a real pest - thanks for the heads up on this.  I'd also be interested in the origin of the different wiring schemes, as I'd like to assume that it's based on something other than locking buyers into any particular brand of cables.

 

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There is a good thread on this-- search "Jwsoundgroup Peter Engh 7-pin". Based on that thread I decided to make my 7-pin XLR snake using the 7th pin as ground.

Thanks Robert

I did read that thread as part of my research, but for some reason (which I genuinely can't really articulate - call it a gut feeling of sorts) I felt like starting a new thread.  

 

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Matt Mayer, on 25 Feb 2015 - 4:40 PM, said:

??

 

Sound Devices doesn't use Neutricons in any of their snakes, just the 10-pin Hirose.

 

IIRC, PSC and Remote Audio Neutricon wiring is different.

 

 

I know that about SD..but when I have to replace a Hirose connector on a snake that's been wired the SD way with a Neutricon connector to be part of other snakes that were wired PSC it becomes a challenge.

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PSC was the first company to use the 8 pin Neutricon connectors for break-away connections in beta snakes.   This happened sometime around 1989 which was before I took over running PSC from Al Kvist.   Al was the president of PSC for the first five years the company was in existence and was in charge when the 8 pin Nuetricon connector became a standard.  (before that time, PSC had used a connector that was somewhat similar to the 10 pin Hirose, but not exactly the same part #)   I am not sure who decided on the pin-outs at that time.  I think the reason they start with the tape returns rather than with the left audio channel is that the Nuetricon connectors at that time did not have any pin numbers on them.   They just had a swirled line that runs from one end of the pins to the other.  There was not even any marking for Pin 1 back then.   PSC has used this same standard pin-out ever since that time period (1989).   Later on, other companies used the same connector, but they all seem to pick their own pin-out standard.  

 

Concerning the 10 pin Hirose standard that is used on many ENG style mixers, that standard was created by Andy Copper at Cooper Sound for his CS104 ENG mixer.   The 10 pin caught on and has been the standard ever since.

 

I hope this clears up some of the confusion concerning these connectors and pin-outs.

 

Ron Meyer

PSC 

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Interesting - I've been thinking about this all day and wiring ground to pin 7 would kind of echo the hirose layout and also provide a solid "anchor" allowing you to minimise any strain on the cores carrying audio.

I made one of these and sent it off to NZ, where the local wireman (apologies for the gender specific term) uses the pin 7 as ground and pins Fortunately my buyer appears to be able to get the XLR7 rewired with minimal problems, though I did offer to cover the labour cost.

Looking forward to more replies on this.

Eric I like neutricon but having switched to XLR 7 I get the same easy interconnection in a cheaper and more widely available connector without having to make up the female end from 7 different parts (and also no having to melt bigger holes in the neutricon boot).

PSC and Remote audio having different wiring schemes would appear to be a real pest - thanks for the heads up on this. I'd also be interested in the origin of the different wiring schemes, as I'd like to assume that it's based on something other than locking buyers into any particular brand of cables.

Very nice low profile 10 hirose. Are they still serviceable or one time use?
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