Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the Institute and
I would appreciate your feedback on this one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering whether it would
make sense to go for RCA (well, they call them 'phono' here) to RCA and
use RCA to jack adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of reliability and/or
sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

Many thanks in advance,

Evangelos

%
Evangelos Himonides
IoE, University of London
tel: +44 2076126599
fax: +44 2076126741

"Allas to those who never sing but die with all their music in them..."


Oliver Wendell Holmes
%

On 25 Oct 2005 10:45:33 -0700, "Evangelos Himonides"
wrote:


To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

That's a good adaptor to have. There are many others that are useful
too.

Julian

"Evangelos Himonides" wrote in
message
oups.com
Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the
Institute and I would appreciate your feedback on this
one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering
whether it would make sense to go for RCA (well, they
call them 'phono' here) to RCA and use RCA to jack
adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of
reliability and/or sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic'
cheap adapter http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

I use 'em quite often, and never saw one fail.

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

"Evangelos Himonides" wrote in
message
oups.com
Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the
Institute and I would appreciate your feedback on this
one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering
whether it would make sense to go for RCA (well, they
call them 'phono' here) to RCA and use RCA to jack
adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of
reliability and/or sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic'
cheap adapter http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

I use 'em quite often, and never saw one fail.



I use them all the time and the cheap ones fail regularly. They come apart when
you try to remove the RCA plug from the adapter. I'd recommend paying a little
more for better-made adapters. Or you can buy the cheap ones by the dozen.

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http://www.offbeats.com/ x
x---------- http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jay/ ------------x

"Jay Kadis" wrote in message

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

"Evangelos Himonides" wrote in
message
oups.com
Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the
Institute and I would appreciate your feedback on this
one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering
whether it would make sense to go for RCA (well, they
call them 'phono' here) to RCA and use RCA to jack
adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of
reliability and/or sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic'
cheap adapter http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

I use 'em quite often, and never saw one fail.

I use them all the time and the cheap ones fail
regularly. They come apart when you try to remove the
RCA plug from the adapter. I'd recommend paying a little
more for better-made adapters. Or you can buy the cheap
ones by the dozen.


My "cheap ones" come from Radio Shack. You mean there's
something *worse*? ;-)

"Arny Krueger" wrote ...
"Evangelos Himonides" wrote
I need to make a small investment for cables here at the
Institute and I would appreciate your feedback on this
one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering
whether it would make sense to go for RCA (well, they
call them 'phono' here) to RCA and use RCA to jack
adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of
reliability and/or sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic'
cheap adapter http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

I use 'em quite often, and never saw one fail.

Arny may automatically (subconsciously) select the more
robust metal kind. The one in the URL cited looks like it
might be moulded plastic and I would avoid those.

I bought a bunch of all-metal ones from Markertek recently
and they seem pretty rugged.

Many thanks guys!
I'll try to get hold of the most robust ones that either studiospares
or canford can offer. I'm glad that no one mentioned anything about
sound deterioration/noise (given of course that the thingy is working
OK).

Best Wishes,

Evangelos

Evangelos Himonides wrote:


Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of reliability and/or
sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

Those are okay, but IME something like a Switchcraft version (#4 on
http://switchcraft.com/products/jack-142.html) will last longer in
moderate to heavy use.

Just to be clear, you do NOT want to allow any of the reverse type (#1
on the page above) which will usually tear up the RCA (Cinch) jacks on
equipment. In such a case, use #2 with a short RCA-RCA jumper.

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:23:41 -0700, "Richard Crowley"
wrote:

Arny may automatically (subconsciously) select the more
robust metal kind. The one in the URL cited looks like it
might be moulded plastic and I would avoid those.

Actually it was the metal ones from Radio Shack that I have seen come
apart. The cheaper plastic ones from Radio Shack I haven't seen as
many failures if any.

Julian

"Jay Kadis" wrote:

I use them all the time and the cheap ones fail regularly. They come
apart when you try to remove the RCA plug from the adapter. I'd
recommend paying a little more for better-made adapters. Or you can
buy the cheap ones by the dozen.


I wasn't able to get my hands on any good ones at the time I needed
them, so I went with Jay's Plan B -- I bought the cheap ones, but bought
five times as many as I needed. Here's why:

This picture is my "client's cheap device adapter." 3.5mm stereo plug
on one end, RCA plugs on the other. The RCA plugs go into 1/4"
adapters. The 1/4" plugs go into XLR3M adapters. That way I can plug
the client's laptop or ipod or whatever other consumer source they bring
into just about anything.

http://www.v5v.ca/adapters001b.jpg


The next two are photos of what the adapters look like by the end of the
session or gig:

http://www.v5v.ca/adapters002b.jpg

http://www.v5v.ca/adapters003b.jpg

That's why you're better off just buying better quality ones in the
first place.


--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 08:04:06 GMT, "Lorin David Schultz"
wrote:

I wasn't able to get my hands on any good ones at the time I needed
them, so I went with Jay's Plan B -- I bought the cheap ones, but bought
five times as many as I needed.

What brand?

Julian

Evangelos Himonides wrote:

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the Institute and
I would appreciate your feedback on this one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering whether it would
make sense to go for RCA (well, they call them 'phono' here) to RCA and
use RCA to jack adapters when needed.

Sure, you can do that, or you can have a bunch of XLR to RCA cables.

Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of reliability and/or
sound deterioration?

Well, all RCA connectors are flaky and fall apart. Do not expect any
of them to be reliable. If you use an expensive spring-loaded type (like
the Whirlwind or Canare ones), they will tend to be more reliable. But
there is no real diameter standard for the RCA... so they are all slighly
different diameters and no two necessarily mate well.

To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

Sure, it's fine. Get twice as many as you think you need, and expect to
pitch a lot of them. I always carry a stack of them because they often
come in handy. I also have some 4-channel RCA-RCA snakes made with old
video cables, and a bunch of RCA-XLR cables. Sooner or later you will
need them all.
-==scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Julian wrote:

"Richard Crowley" wrote:

Arny may automatically (subconsciously) select the more
robust metal kind. The one in the URL cited looks like it
might be moulded plastic and I would avoid those.

Actually it was the metal ones from Radio Shack that I have seen come
apart. The cheaper plastic ones from Radio Shack I haven't seen as
many failures if any.

I'm finding the RS stuff to be seriously deficient in the metalurgy
department. From RCA's to faux ITT bananas, the metal is both stiff and
brittle.

--
ha

hank alrich wrote:
Julian wrote:

"Richard Crowley" wrote:

Arny may automatically (subconsciously) select the more
robust metal kind. The one in the URL cited looks like it
might be moulded plastic and I would avoid those.

Actually it was the metal ones from Radio Shack that I have seen come
apart. The cheaper plastic ones from Radio Shack I haven't seen as
many failures if any.

I'm finding the RS stuff to be seriously deficient in the metalurgy
department. From RCA's to faux ITT bananas, the metal is both stiff and
brittle.

I remember getting some RS RCA connectors in the seventies that were
chrome plated. Solder just did not wet....
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:

hank alrich wrote:

I'm finding the RS stuff to be seriously deficient in the metalurgy
department. From RCA's to faux ITT bananas, the metal is both stiff and
brittle.

I remember getting some RS RCA connectors in the seventies that were
chrome plated. Solder just did not wet....

Shiny, though!

--
ha

Kurt Albershardt wrote:

Switchcraft 345A (#4 on http://switchcraft.com/products/jack-142.html)

About $5.50 in small quantities these days. Mine are 20+ years old and
still usable.

Evangelos Himonides wrote:
Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the Institute and
I would appreciate your feedback on this one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering whether it would
make sense to go for RCA (well, they call them 'phono' here) to RCA and
use RCA to jack adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of reliability and/or
sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

The only inherent problem with this kind of adapter is that it
unbalances an otherwise balanced signal. If your wiring is good and
noise-free, however, this shouldn't be an issue - you're really just
losing some noise rejection.

Other than that, I'd go for a full complement of adapters - XLRM to RCA,
XLRF to RCA, TR to RCA, TRS to RCA, XLR to TRS, etc etc etc. You'll
eventually have a use for every one of them.


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0543-1, 10/25/2005
Tested on: 10/26/2005 7:38:43 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

hank alrich wrote:
I'm finding the RS stuff to be seriously deficient in the metalurgy
department. From RCA's to faux ITT bananas, the metal is both stiff and
brittle.

My uncle used to call that "brickle", Hank. Also known as "pot metal".

A good source for connectors, etc. in my experience is
www.partsexpress.com. Kinda looks like part sex press...

Steve

"Julian" wrote:

What brand?



These things have brand names? Who knew?

I have no idea... they're whatever was in the two-for-three-bucks bin at
a local electronic parts retailer.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

Evangelos Himonides wrote:
Hi guys,

I need to make a small investment for cables here at the Institute and
I would appreciate your feedback on this one.
We have more than enough XLR2XLRs and I was wondering whether it would
make sense to go for RCA (well, they call them 'phono' here) to RCA and
use RCA to jack adapters when needed.
Has anyone had any problems with those, in terms of reliability and/or
sound deterioration?
To be more specific, I was thinking about this 'generic' cheap adapter
http://tinyurl.com/aqxja

Many thanks in advance,

Evangelos

%
Evangelos Himonides
IoE, University of London
tel: +44 2076126599
fax: +44 2076126741

"Allas to those who never sing but die with all their music in them..."


Oliver Wendell Holmes
%

I have used such adapters for years, just be careful about phasing. In
general the rule is equip that requires RCA or phono is not considered pro.

Dean

Tiernan wrote:
I have used such adapters for years, just be careful about phasing. In
general the rule is equip that requires RCA or phono is not considered pro.

Unfortunately, sometimes you've gotta take signal from that kind of
equipment into the inputs of your pro equipment. Adapter plugs and
adapter cables are a basic part of the toolkit; better to have and not
need than need and not have.

Joe Kesselman wrote:
Tiernan wrote:

I have used such adapters for years, just be careful about phasing. In
general the rule is equip that requires RCA or phono is not considered
pro.


Unfortunately, sometimes you've gotta take signal from that kind of
equipment into the inputs of your pro equipment. Adapter plugs and
adapter cables are a basic part of the toolkit; better to have and not
need than need and not have.
NO argument....just a caveat