Note: Discussion from rec.audio.opinion, moved over here to
rec.audio.pro to get more informed opinion.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote


I've seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of broken
Neutrik XLR connectors.

Run over by what, a M1 Abrams tank?

Stepped on by musicians or stage hands mostly. For patch
cables the Neutrik connector is OK, but for mic cables
they break with "normal" usage. I'm surprised you
haven't seen this phenomenon.

You're actually the first person I've heard of who has seen a broken Neutrik

Not that I haven't seen broken cables with Neutriks on them, just
that its not the connector that gets broken.


Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the
connector cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the only
person to have seen this.

//Walt

"Walt" wrote in message
...
Note: Discussion from rec.audio.opinion, moved over here to rec.audio.pro
to get more informed opinion.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote


I've seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of broken
Neutrik XLR connectors.

Run over by what, a M1 Abrams tank?

Stepped on by musicians or stage hands mostly. For patch
cables the Neutrik connector is OK, but for mic cables
they break with "normal" usage. I'm surprised you
haven't seen this phenomenon.

You're actually the first person I've heard of who has seen a broken
Neutrik

Not that I haven't seen broken cables with Neutriks on them, just
that its not the connector that gets broken.


Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them? In my
experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the connector
cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the only person to
have seen this.

//Walt

there are Neutrick and Neurtick like designs
I have never had a fail with a genuine neutric and I own thousands of them,
in heavy use on live stages
I have also maybe a hundred of the "neutrick like" connectors and damn
nearly every one has failed at the back cap
it cracks and can no longer be tightened
these were standard issue on Junk I bought from companys like Proel and any
"ebay" snake
Just becuse it looks like and assebles like neutrick doesn't mean it is a
neutrick
George

Walt wrote:

Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the
connector cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the only
person to have seen this.

The Neutriks break off the strain relief. The Switchcraft strain reliefs
break off too. The Cannon ones lose the little screws that hold the metal
clip on and then the strain relief breaks.

They all fail. Life's like that. Use whichever you prefer.
--scott

//Walt






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

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message

Walt wrote:

Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector
break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at
the rear of the connector cracks and breaks fairly
easily. I can't believe I'm the only person to have
seen this.

The Neutriks break off the strain relief. The
Switchcraft strain reliefs break off too. The Cannon
ones lose the little screws that hold the metal clip on
and then the strain relief breaks.

They all fail. Life's like that. Use whichever you
prefer. --scott

Well, if they all fail (and given enough abuse they will) then the relevant
question is which is cheaper and easier to buy and which is easier to
install. IME its Neutrik.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Walt wrote:

Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the
connector cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the only
person to have seen this.


The Neutriks break off the strain relief. The Switchcraft strain reliefs
break off too. The Cannon ones lose the little screws that hold the metal
clip on and then the strain relief breaks.

They all fail. Life's like that. Use whichever you prefer.


Yeah, everything breaks eventually, although I've never had a
Switchcraft strain relief fail. I'm familiar with the Cannon missing
screw phenomenon, but I never really considered that a design failure.
Maybe it is.

The Neutriks I've used have tended to fail within months. Now, I just
looked on Neutrik's website and they make 9(!) different models of XLR
cable connectors, and that's not counting panel mount connectors or
distinguishing between male and female. Presumably, there's a difference
between them vis a vis durability. Maybe I've only used the cheap ones,
or maybe I've used the better models as well and they haven't broken
like the cheap ones. Or maybe Geouge is right that I've been confusing
Neutrik-like connectors with the genuine article.

I've got a bin of broken stuff around somewhere that should have
examples of broken XLR connectors. I'll fish through it and see if I
can determine the model.

//Walt

"Walt" wrote:

Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of
the connector cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm
the only person to have seen this.



We haven't been as lucky as George. We've had many failures (and yes,
we're using the genuine name brand, not knock-offs).

In our case the failures have all been the male connectors. They go out
of round when they get stepped on. We also have many that have broken
at the hole for the locking mechanism.

Surprisingly, we haven't had many (or maybe even any) problems with the
ass end of the connectors.

--
"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)

Arny Krueger wrote:

Well, if they all fail (and given enough abuse they will) then the relevant
question is which is cheaper and easier to buy and which is easier to
install. IME its Neutrik.

I don't think it really matters.

I still like the way the Cannons feel, even though everyone else seems
to dislike them.

Don't forget that Amphenol is now making new-style XLRs too, which seem
pretty solid.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Walt" wrote in message



The Neutriks I've used have tended to fail within months.

What's your application?

Now, I just looked on Neutrik's website and they make
9(!) different models of XLR cable connectors, and that's
not counting panel mount connectors or distinguishing
between male and female. Presumably, there's a difference
between them vis a vis durability.

Most of the 9 have obvious differences, such as being emi-resistant,
water-resistant, having machined contacts, right angle models, having a
theft-prevention feature or having built in switches.

That gets you down to two models that are comparable but different, the
origional X and newer XX models. The newer XX series have fewer pieces and
are alleged to be easier to solder, among other things. AFAIK the plastic
pieces you find breaking are made of the same plastic in about the same
thickness and with a similar shape.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote

The Neutriks I've used have tended to fail within months.

What's your application?

Live audio, mic cables. At least that's where they seem to get the
abuse that causes the failures. But now that I think about it, I don't
know that I've ever observed one actualy breaking, I've just encountered
many many broken ones. Elves, perhaps?


Now, I just looked on Neutrik's website and they make
9(!) different models of XLR cable connectors, and that's
not counting panel mount connectors or distinguishing
between male and female. Presumably, there's a difference
between them vis a vis durability.

Most of the 9 have obvious differences, such as being emi-resistant,
water-resistant, having machined contacts, right angle models, having a
theft-prevention feature or having built in switches.

That gets you down to two models that are comparable but different, the
origional X and newer XX models. The newer XX series have fewer pieces and
are alleged to be easier to solder, among other things. AFAIK the plastic
pieces you find breaking are made of the same plastic in about the same
thickness and with a similar shape.

I'm probably talking about the original X model. I try to dig up an
actual example.

//Walt

Walt wrote:

I'm probably talking about the original X model. I try to dig up an
actual example.

The XX is definitely less prone to breaking than the original X model. But
they can still break.

I am going to refrain from making any comments about Teamsters today. Because
some of them are careful guys.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I've spent most of my time in the realm of live sound over the years
and I've experienced far too many broken or flaky Neutrik XLR
connectors. In fact I have a cable right here in front of me that I
brought home for repair the other night. It has genuine Neutrik
connectors on the ends but whenever the female end was slightly touched
by the singer the mic went out. I pledged my allegiance to Switchcraft
a long time ago.

Walt wrote:

The Neutriks I've used have tended to fail within months. Now, I just
looked on Neutrik's website and they make 9(!) different models of XLR
cable connectors

They keep changing them. Every trade show I stop by the booth and they
show me the new connector that looks just about like the old connector.
There are indeed, as Arny pointed out, some special ones. There's a new
EMI-shielded one (but they still don't have enough of them to give out
samples).

The last several models have that feindish one-way screw-on strain
relief that you can't get apart. And not even the Neutrik reps at the
show booths really understand it. When I pointed it out to one of them,
he said that in Europe, the engineers didn't think anyone would ever
want to take them apart, but that the US people told them to change
that, so he said that the batch in that series that would be shipping
would be unscrewable.

A year later, I picked up a sample at a show, screwed it together,
tried to unscrew it, and asked the rep what was up. He hadn't heard the
other story and said "Oh, it doesn't do that when you have cable in
it." But it does.

I won't buy them. I'm a Switchcraft man, but I've been told that
Switchcraft has changed the design from the last batch I bought a dozen
years ago that I still have some of.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've spent most of my time in the realm of live sound over the years
and I've experienced far too many broken or flaky Neutrik XLR
connectors. In fact I have a cable right here in front of me that I
brought home for repair the other night. It has genuine Neutrik
connectors on the ends but whenever the female end was slightly touched
by the singer the mic went out. I pledged my allegiance to Switchcraft
a long time ago.

my guess here is not fully mateing the connector due to the rubber o ring
I started with all switchcraft a/3 terminated to belden 8412
with my nuber of mic cables approaching several hundred right now and the
cost of buying in bulk for a reasonable good 25 foot neutrik/85% swerved
sheild 22 guage wire under 10$
I really consider them consuables and simply toss them when they fail
I have stopped building or even fixing mic cables
it just simply isn't worth the effort
If I was only going to own ONE cable it would be cannon/8412
anything else is just simply disposable as far bas live sound goes
george

Yeah, everything breaks eventually, although I've never had a
Switchcraft strain relief fail. I'm familiar with the Cannon missing
screw phenomenon, but I never really considered that a design failure.
Maybe it is.

Switchcrafts can break, the rubber boot gets pulled out, & the screws
get lost. Anything with non-captive screws in a live sound audio
connector I would consider an inferior design.

Scott Fraser

Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the
connector cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the
only
person to have seen this.

Nope, never a single instance I can recall of Neutriks breaking in use,
over the course of thousands of concerts & recording sessions.

Scott Fraser

In article . net,
"George Gleason" wrote:

"Walt" wrote in message
...
Note: Discussion from rec.audio.opinion, moved over here to rec.audio.pro
to get more informed opinion.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Walt" wrote


I've seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of broken
Neutrik XLR connectors.

Run over by what, a M1 Abrams tank?

Stepped on by musicians or stage hands mostly. For patch
cables the Neutrik connector is OK, but for mic cables
they break with "normal" usage. I'm surprised you
haven't seen this phenomenon.

You're actually the first person I've heard of who has seen a broken
Neutrik

Not that I haven't seen broken cables with Neutriks on them, just
that its not the connector that gets broken.


Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector break on them? In my
experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at the rear of the connector
cracks and breaks fairly easily. I can't believe I'm the only person to
have seen this.

//Walt

there are Neutrick and Neurtick like designs
I have never had a fail with a genuine neutric and I own thousands of them,
in heavy use on live stages
I have also maybe a hundred of the "neutrick like" connectors and damn
nearly every one has failed at the back cap
it cracks and can no longer be tightened
these were standard issue on Junk I bought from companys like Proel and any
"ebay" snake
Just becuse it looks like and assebles like neutrick doesn't mean it is a
neutrick
George

My 1.5 cents worth...

I haven't seen any broken Neutrik XLR connectors in perhaps 8 years.

This may be partly because I swore off using them anywhere I had a say
in the matter about 10 years ago!

To be totally honest though, I will admit that I do run across Neutriks
in service, and it's been quite a while since I've seen a broken
one...maybe they've gotten better since I got ****ed off at them years
ago for breaking at the collet and/or collet ring.

Now their bantam patchcords are another story....studio bought 50 or 75
of them, and within 2 years they began failing. We've tossed more than
half of them by now (10 years). Haven't had more than one or two of the
Switchcraft ones fail in that same period.

Chestek

--
Anti-Spam email address in effect.
My real email should be pretty obvious to an actual human being.

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message

Walt wrote:

Hmmmm. Anybody else ever had a Neutrik XLR connector
break on them?
In my experience the plastic screw-on strain relief at
the rear of the connector cracks and breaks fairly
easily. I can't believe I'm the only person to have
seen this.

The Neutriks break off the strain relief. The
Switchcraft strain reliefs break off too. The Cannon
ones lose the little screws that hold the metal clip on
and then the strain relief breaks.

They all fail. Life's like that. Use whichever you
prefer. --scott

Well, if they all fail (and given enough abuse they will) then the
relevant question is which is cheaper and easier to buy and which is
easier to install. IME its Neutrik.


I agree. Neutrik XLR's are the quickest and easiest to wire up - lookalikes
may be cheaper but nearly always take longer.
And those Switchraft and Cannons with their screws that get lost and strain
relief that pops off take 2 or three times as long to wire up, total
nightmare IMHO.
I regularly undertake wiring jobs and will not use anything other than
Neutrik - the job is cheaper, easier and far more reliable than anything
else on the market and "nobody ever got fired for using Neutrik". Win win
win win win.




Gareth.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Walt wrote:

I'm probably talking about the original X model. I try to dig up an
actual example.

The XX is definitely less prone to breaking than the original X model. But
they can still break.

So I rooted around the junk bin and came up with examples - all Neutrik
X model. That's the connector that make me swear off Neutrik 15 years
ago or so. If they've improved their product in that time, good for them.

//Walt

"Walt" wrote in message
...
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Walt wrote:

I'm probably talking about the original X model. I try to dig up an
actual example.

The XX is definitely less prone to breaking than the original X model.
But
they can still break.

So I rooted around the junk bin and came up with examples - all Neutrik X
model. That's the connector that make me swear off Neutrik 15 years ago
or so. If they've improved their product in that time, good for them.

//Walt

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny screw
that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me swore off
switchcraft forever
george

George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny screw
that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me swore off
switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?

//Walt

Walt wrote:
George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny screw
that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me swore off
switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?

The narrow screwdriver blade on the Leatherman Wave fits perfectly.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Walt" wrote in message
...
George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny
screw that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me
swore off switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?


Find yourself without one on a gig in bimbuk idaho needing to do feild
service and you will understand
everything is easy when you have the right tools, with neutricks all I need
are my fingers, never leave home without them.
george

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Walt wrote:
George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny
screw
that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me swore off
switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?

The narrow screwdriver blade on the Leatherman Wave fits perfectly.
--scott

I don't need a screwdriver "at all" to CHECK the n.
george

George Gleason wrote:
"Walt" wrote
George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny
screw that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me
swore off switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?

Find yourself without one on a gig in bimbuk idaho needing to do feild
service and you will understand
everything is easy when you have the right tools, with neutricks all I need
are my fingers, never leave home without them.

You can solder with just your fingers? I'm impressed.

//Walt

"Walt" wrote in message
...
George Gleason wrote:
"Walt" wrote
George Gleason wrote:

I have had tons of problems with worn or oversized holes in the A3f
that and that crappy rubber boot pulls free, the reverse thread tiny
screw that needs a special screwdriver to access/feild repair has me
swore off switchcraft forever

You consider a little green screwdriver a "special" tool? WTF?

Find yourself without one on a gig in bimbuk idaho needing to do feild
service and you will understand
everything is easy when you have the right tools, with neutricks all I
need are my fingers, never leave home without them.

You can solder with just your fingers? I'm impressed.

would you say the majority of cable fails involve a solder joint?

i guess this is getting quite pointless though
my point is I find it extreamly unlikely you have "thousands " of failed
neutrik xlrs, to do so you must own 10's of millions of them
I do own "thousnads of neutrik connectors and find them by far the most
reliable easiest to instal and service xlr connector on the market
I thought I'd died and gone to heaven ,discoverd sliced bread when I used
my first neutrik and could finally get away from the IMO much more poorly
designed and vastly more unreliable A3f/m connectors

if you do have thousands of failed neutriks on your hands I will gladly pay
the shipping to take them as neutrik will replace them free of charge
george

George Gleason wrote:
"Walt" wrote
George Gleason wrote:
"Walt" wrote
George Gleason wrote:

Find yourself without one on a gig in bimbuk idaho needing to do feild
service and you will understand
everything is easy when you have the right tools, with neutricks all I
need are my fingers, never leave home without them.

You can solder with just your fingers? I'm impressed.

would you say the majority of cable fails involve a solder joint?

I'd say that the majority of cable repairs involve soldering, regardless
of the failure mode.

i guess this is getting quite pointless though
my point is I find it extreamly unlikely you have "thousands " of failed
neutrik xlrs,

I didn't say I *have* thousands of them, I said that I've *seen*
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of failed neutrik XLR connectors. The true
number is probably somewhere betwen 200 and 500, but I can't say I've
kept an explicit count.

Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the ends
has failed - somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Patch cables, and snake ends are a different story, they don't tend to
get stepped on as much.

if you do have thousands of failed neutriks on your hands I will gladly pay
the shipping to take them as neutrik will replace them free of charge

Most of them long since thrown away.

//Walt

Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the ends
has failed -

bull****

somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using them
after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30 connectors
that broke.

Patch cables, and snake ends are a different story, they don't tend to get
stepped on as much.
I have hundreds of mic cables used on stages all over the east coast
acts from hard core metal to gospel chiors
what you saying simply is not supported by experiance

you at the very least VASTLY exagerating your claims, IMO your simply not
being truthful
so you have a axe to grind BFD
either that or the artists and help you have haate you and they are stomping
your cables just to spite you
I have seen the following drive over my cable ends without fails
a Bulldozer(cat d-6)
a 33000 lb truck
a zamboni
a Hillclimb motorcycle with huge chains on its wheels
hundreds of cars at car shows
a abrams tank
again
your claims just sound like ouright bull****
keep proclaiming them if you like
but I don't buy it
george

George Gleason wrote:

I do own "thousnads of neutrik connectors and find them by far the most
reliable easiest to instal and service xlr connector on the market
I thought I'd died and gone to heaven ,discoverd sliced bread when I used
my first neutrik and could finally get away from the IMO much more poorly
designed and vastly more unreliable A3f/m connectors

I don't understand this. What's poorly designed and unreliable about a
Switchcraft A3M/F connector? There's only one free part, and that's the
insert, and it's some soft of glass filled plastic that's really hard
to melt. Everything else else stays together. The various Neutrik
designes I've had in my hands have a strain relief (plastic), a collet
that holds the cable (plastic), an insert (plastic) and the metal
shell. And the insert on at least some models is easy to melt and the
pins get out of alignment. I've done it. And then there's that o-ring
that makes the females hard to plug together with Switchdraft males
unless you remove it, and then they feel a little loose.

Gimme Switchcraft (at least the ones that I have in my stock). Like
computers, though, I'm sure there have been a few changes for the worst
in an attempt to give the buyer the latest cool features, whatever they
might be on an XLR connector.

Mike Rivers wrote:
George Gleason wrote:

I do own "thousnads of neutrik connectors and find them by far the most
reliable easiest to instal and service xlr connector on the market
I thought I'd died and gone to heaven ,discoverd sliced bread when I used
my first neutrik and could finally get away from the IMO much more poorly
designed and vastly more unreliable A3f/m connectors

I don't understand this. What's poorly designed and unreliable about a
Switchcraft A3M/F connector?

The female connector has the connector holes surrounded by a hard light
blue material (not sure what it is). Since it's rigid, the holes have
no 'springiness' unlike the genuine Cannon connector which have rubber
as the surround material. Eventually the holes can become loose making
for flaky connections, but this is after a couple decades of use.

Minor point, but you asked. Other than that, I'm not sure what George
is on about.


//Walt

George Gleason wrote:

bull****..

what you saying simply is not supported by experiance

you at the very least VASTLY exagerating your claims, IMO your simply not
being truthful
so you have a axe to grind

Calm down, George. You're expirience is different than mine. That
doesn't mean I'm a liar, or that I have an axe to grind.

There may be a good explanition for the differences e.g. the time period
(most of my experinece with the bad neutriks was 15 years ago), a bad
batch of connectors that made their way to my part of the world,
environmental variables (gear in the truck overnight in sub-zero
weather), or something else. Maybe I'm just unlucky.


I have seen the following drive over my cable ends without fails
a Bulldozer(cat d-6)
a 33000 lb truck
a zamboni
a Hillclimb motorcycle with huge chains on its wheels
hundreds of cars at car shows
a abrams tank

Speaking of difficult to believe claims...

//Walt

Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the
ends
has failed - somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Every one? You're not exagerrating for effect here? Every single one of
30 Neutrik-equipped cables you've owned has broken? Brother, either you
got some seriously bad luck, or this is a case of incomprehendable user
misuse.

Scott Fraser

Scott Fraser wrote:

Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the
ends
has failed - somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Every one? You're not exagerrating for effect here? Every single one of
30 Neutrik-equipped cables you've owned has broken? Brother, either you
got some seriously bad luck, or this is a case of incomprehendable user
misuse.

Well, some of them may have been stolen or lost. The last time I bought
a mic cable with neutrik ends was over 15 years ago. They're all gone
now - I either replaced the ends or threw them away.

From others comments here it appears that Neutrik has improved their
product in the interveneving years.

//Walt

Scott Fraser wrote:
Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the
ends
has failed - somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Every one? You're not exagerrating for effect here? Every single one of
30 Neutrik-equipped cables you've owned has broken? Brother, either you
got some seriously bad luck, or this is a case of incomprehendable user
misuse.

Scott Fraser


It seems that there is more than a little hyperbole being thrown around
on this subject. I like the Neutriks, in general. I like the
Switchcrafts as well. I've had 'some' trouble with both. I do like
that the inserts on the Switchcrafts are available separately. I've
fixed a lot of A3F's (and a few A3M's--but they don't break as often)
cheaply by replacing those.

I'm waiting for a 'bullet proof' XLR; which is both extremely durable
and easy to install/service. I don't think it exists, so I'll deal with
what's available.

I don't see any need to get upset about it; or making up wild stories (a
bulldozer? I'd like to see that one...maybe on soft ground, but....) to
support my decision.

jak

Scott Fraser wrote:
Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the
ends
has failed - somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Every one? You're not exagerrating for effect here? Every single one of
30 Neutrik-equipped cables you've owned has broken? Brother, either you
got some seriously bad luck, or this is a case of incomprehendable user
misuse.

Every single mike cable I've ever owned has failed, or will fail someday
in the future.

Incomprehensible user misuse is what music festivals are ALL ABOUT.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

jakdedert wrote:

I'm waiting for a 'bullet proof' XLR; which is both extremely durable
and easy to install/service. I don't think it exists, so I'll deal with
what's available.

Bendix used to make one. It used crimp-on connectors (requiring a tool
that cost several hundred dollars for the cheap non-pneumatic version)
and a screw-together body sort of like the Amphenol Series 96 connectors.

It was intended for military folks who were used to A&N and KPT connectors
and went together in the same way. Some of the military cable guys are
very heavily into gastight crimps and don't like solder-type connectors
for high vibration work.

I don't know how much it cost but it went together with the same tooling
the KPT connectors used so it couldn't have been cheap.

I don't see any need to get upset about it; or making up wild stories (a
bulldozer? I'd like to see that one...maybe on soft ground, but....) to
support my decision.

I once saw a remote truck drive away without all the cables being disconnected.
The Belden cable broke before the Switchcraft XLR did. But not after
considerable damage had been done by the console being towed through
the wall...
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Incomprehensible user misuse is what music festivals are ALL ABOUT.


I've supervised a lot of stage crews consisting primarily of lighting
guys, stage carpenters or untrained volunteers. They can do stuff to
kink up a cable I never thought was possible, but they've never broken
an XLR connector on a gig I've been on. Maybe I don't wear the right
kind of Doc Martens & I don't weigh 400 lbs, but how do you break an
XLR by stepping on it? You need to be trying.

Scott Fraser

Walt wrote:

The female connector has the connector holes surrounded by a hard light
blue material (not sure what it is). Since it's rigid, the holes have
no 'springiness' unlike the genuine Cannon connector which have rubber
as the surround material.

This sounds like near-precision alignment to me. g The holes in the
insert are slightly larger in diameter than the pins on the male plug
and serve to guide the pins into the socket. If the pins are badly bend
on the male end, the holes in the insert keep you from inserting the
bad connector and ruining another connector. I suppose that some "show
must go on - I don't have time to get another cable" brutes will try to
force it anyway.

Eventually the holes can become loose making
for flaky connections, but this is after a couple decades of use.

All connectors have a finite number of insertions. I don't see this
number being significantly different among the various manufacturers,
though I haven't looked for an actual number. That's Arny's assignment,
if he chooses to accept it.

If you're a busy guy like George with a lot of rental gear going out to
the same kind of people who abuse rental cars because they're not their
own, I can see that the life of any cable in months is going to be
shorter than that for someone like me. The only XLR style problems that
I've ever had has been with the female chassis mounted connectors (D3F)
when the latch tab (the thing that says "PUSH" on it) gets bent into a
position where you can't push it and the plug won't go in. This usually
occurs on a stage box that's been dragged across the stage connector
side down.

But "modern" connectors have solved that problem - look, ma, no latch!

George Gleason wrote:
...I really consider them consuables and simply toss them when they fail
I have stopped building or even fixing mic cables
it just simply isn't worth the effort...

That makes perfectly good sense as a cost/benefit analysis. The main
reason I'll sit down and repair cables is because I honestly enjoy
soldering and similar tasks. Soldering cables is just of of those weird
activities I like because it puts me in a certain state of mind. Its
the same reason I wash all the dishes by hand even if I'm standing next
to a functioning dishwasher. Or when I decide to drive 6-8 hours in
each direction just to pick up something I could probably have shipped
to my door for less than the gas I would burn in the car.

"George Gleason" wrote in message
ink.net...

Every single mic cable I've ever owned that had neutrik XLRs on the ends
has failed -

bull****

somebody steps on the conector, the plastic screw-on
strain relief cracks, and the connector falls apart. I stopped using
them after a couple of dozen, so I've probably only owned about 30
connectors that broke.

Patch cables, and snake ends are a different story, they don't tend to
get stepped on as much.
I have hundreds of mic cables used on stages all over the east coast
acts from hard core metal to gospel chiors
what you saying simply is not supported by experiance

you at the very least VASTLY exagerating your claims, IMO your simply not
being truthful
so you have a axe to grind BFD
either that or the artists and help you have haate you and they are
stomping your cables just to spite you
I have seen the following drive over my cable ends without fails
a Bulldozer(cat d-6)
a 33000 lb truck
a zamboni
a Hillclimb motorcycle with huge chains on its wheels
hundreds of cars at car shows
a abrams tank
again
your claims just sound like ouright bull****
keep proclaiming them if you like
but I don't buy it
george


I'm with George on this. I have just run over a Neutrik XLR in my car about
20 times and I can't break it. How about someone with a truck doing the
same thing? Oh, George has already done that.



Gareth.

Gareth Magennis wrote:

I have just run over a Neutrik XLR in my car about
20 times and I can't break it.

You need harder tires.

GEEZ, LOOWEEZE! WHY DO YOU PEOPLE DO THIS? Do you run over your
computers too? (sometimes I think I'd like to do just that)