What Does "XLR" Mean? -- Official Answer

Al Gershen wrote:

> I've searched over the Internet and I haven't been able to find a
> defination for what the letters "XLR" mean.
>
> Can you help me?

Dear Group,

This topic doesn't seem to have arisen for quite a while, but I was asked
this recently and did a bit of digging on usenet. Not trusting what I heard
(there were a whole load of different answers, all claiming to be
authoritative), I asked Cannon/ITT what the acronym XLR stands for and they
replied with the following:

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

Subject: ITT Cannon - Contact Us
Date: Monday 17 Nov 2003 12:14 pm
From: Technical Query >
To: '"
>

Hello David

As far as I know the XLR is just a series part number, it may have had an
original meaning, however we have no info here on it.

regards

John Embleton
Technical Support
ITT Industries,
Cannon Connector Division,
Basingstoke.
UK

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So that's the official answer. Ray A. Rayburn gives further information
which ties in with this at http://www.soundfirst.com/xlr.html which gives
the origin of the 'L' and the 'R' if not the 'X' - after reading all the
conflicting stories on the subject it's hard to be sure on anything but I
thought I'd add that link cos it doesn't seem to have been mentioned in one
of these threads and does seem plausible.

Hopefully this post will end up being searched when anyone Googles on this
subject and will be useful - this information isn't currently readily
available without some minor amount of digging as I found out.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Remove the opinion on spam to reply.

My guess -- and it's only a guess -- is that the LR part stands for "locking
receptacle."

In article > writes:

> As far as I know the XLR is just a series part number, it may have had an
> original meaning, however we have no info here on it.

That seems to be as good an answer as any. There apparently was an XL
series of connector that was the same size and layout, but with a hard
insert. The XLR had a somewhat flexible rubber base for the insert,
and that's where the "R" came from (according to other folklore,
sometimes traceable to ITT Cannon).



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"Mike Rivers" > wrote in message
news:znr1069087689k@trad...
>
> In article >
writes:
>
> > As far as I know the XLR is just a series part number, it may have had
an
> > original meaning, however we have no info here on it.
>
> That seems to be as good an answer as any. There apparently was an XL
> series of connector that was the same size and layout, but with a hard
> insert. The XLR had a somewhat flexible rubber base for the insert,
> and that's where the "R" came from (according to other folklore,
> sometimes traceable to ITT Cannon).
>
>
>
> --
> I'm really Mike Rivers - )
> However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
> lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
> you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
> and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo


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"Dave Turner" > wrote in message
...
> Al Gershen wrote:
>
> > I've searched over the Internet and I haven't been able to find a
> > defination for what the letters "XLR" mean.
> >
> > Can you help me?
>
My GUESS is that it was part of a mil spec part number that became common
George


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Maybe I just dreamed this up but I thought X meant Ground, L meant Left and R
meant Right, corresponding to the three pins in an XLR connector. Works for me,
anyway.


Ted Spencer, NYC

"No amount of classical training will ever teach you what's so cool about
"Tighten Up" by Archie Bell And The Drells" -author unknown

Ted Spencer wrote:

> Maybe I just dreamed this up but I thought X meant Ground, L meant Left and R
> meant Right, corresponding to the three pins in an XLR connector. Works for me,
> anyway.
>
>
> Ted Spencer, NYC
>
> "No amount of classical training will ever teach you what's so cool about
> "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell And The Drells" -author unknown

You know, that's so crazy it just might work :-)

I was working in Broadcast when "XLR's" came out. I don't recall any
reason for the designation.

As I recall, they first appeared on non-broadcast mikes from
Electrovoice and Shure as a better smaller answer than the abominable
screw-on cheapos previously used. The EV654 was the first mike I had
with XLR built into the case. Still have it. It's not good for much!

The 'standard' in the 40's was (As I recall) The "M" round 3-pin
connector about 1 inch in diameter, as seen on the old RCA OP4, OP6 and
OP7 Remote Amplifiers. The Gates elcheapos had the screw-on type. (What
the heck were those called??) I have and old OP-4 and a Gates remote
amplifier.

In the 50's the 'new standard' was the "D" shaped Cannon "UA" with gold
plated pins. It has a real positive locking mechanism. The first piece
of gear I ever bought with them new-fangled Transistors in it was a
Collins remote amplifier. It came with "UA" type connectoirs, and by
1960 we had lots of cables with male UA on one end, that plugged into
the Collins, and out in-the-studio-wall mike connectors. The other end
was female XLR for the 'cheap mikes'. The 'Good Mikes' like RCA 77DX's,
had their own cable connected inside the mike case, like It Should Be.
RCA didn't change that when the BK-5 and BK-5B mikes came out in the
60's. So you had to put your own connector on the cable end of a new
RCA mike.

Jeez, who the heck wanted to know about this?? Sorry...

X-L-R
1-2-3
Ground-lead-return

I may have dreamed this.

--------------------------------------------------
Denny Fohringer
Itinerant guitarist
--------------------------------------------------
Lessons and music:
http://surf.to/dennyf
Bands:
http://bluepearlband.com http://doubletakeband.com
--------------------------------------------------
"Ted Spencer" > wrote in message
...
> Maybe I just dreamed this up but I thought X meant Ground, L meant Left
and R
> meant Right, corresponding to the three pins in an XLR connector. Works
for me,
> anyway.
>
>
> Ted Spencer, NYC
>
> "No amount of classical training will ever teach you what's so cool about
> "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell And The Drells" -author unknown

XLR stands for eXtra Large Receptable. Hasn't anyone heard this before?