any pros try exotic XLRs?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Anyone have any experience with exotic XLR connectors like the Bocchino
Audio BAXLR (http://www.bocchtech.com/bocchinoaudio/baxlr.htm) or the
Furutech FP-602
(http://www.furutech.com/new1/produ_2.asp?ProdNo=45&noCache=9007.593) ?

I'm specifically curious about professional engineers using these in
pro audio applications. Are there *any* merits to these designs that
would make them superior to a typical Neutrik or Switchcraft connector?
Or is this just more fodder for the recent Snake-Oil thread?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

The Bocctech site seems to be down right now. What's wrong with regular
old Neutrik connectors? I haven't used Neutriks in high moisture or
outdoor situations, so maybe you can find a less corrosive-prone metal
than the Neutrik stuff, but Neutrik may resist corrosion just fine
AFAIK; I've only used them in relatively climate controlled conditions.

What are the prices on these connectors? Are the solderless or anything
fancy?

Cheers,
Trevor de Clercq

Buster Mudd wrote:
> Anyone have any experience with exotic XLR connectors like the Bocchino
> Audio BAXLR (http://www.bocchtech.com/bocchinoaudio/baxlr.htm) or the
> Furutech FP-602
> (http://www.furutech.com/new1/produ_2.asp?ProdNo=45&noCache=9007.593) ?
>
> I'm specifically curious about professional engineers using these in
> pro audio applications. Are there *any* merits to these designs that
> would make them superior to a typical Neutrik or Switchcraft connector?
> Or is this just more fodder for the recent Snake-Oil thread?
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

More brag and hype!!
Any old XLR connector, as long as its pins or receptacles are not badly
tarnished or coated, will conduct a milliwatt or so. And Phantom current
rarely exceeds 3mA. All this fuss and inflated sales talk for a utility
thing to join A to B.
Stay with Cannon, S/Craft, Cliff or Neutrik or similar: they have been going
donkeys' years.

Have you *ever* considered that the most perfect concentric or
radial-positioned three- or four-pole connector, using untapered pins with a
pre-requisite air gap to prevent collision and to ease mating, should
actually fail to connect when on target, or should arc at least!!!
Best 100% reliability connectors for me are the lockable multipole
Varicon/Edac type with slotted blades where each cross-mate is done
positively from 8 touching gold-plated interleaves. I have used thousands on
pro jobs. Pity there is not AFAIK an XLR-sized format using such integrity.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <NLWdndXE8v3wEazfRVn-hw@comcast.com> arnyk@hotpop.com writes:

> The XLR basic design is so good and bullet-proof that the more interesting
> question is how much it can be cheaped-down from the standard products
> (Switchcraft, Neutrik) before further cheapening causes problems. The answer
> seems to be: It can be cheapened quite a bit, not an infinite amount.

It seems that the difference between cheap and more expensive XLRs is
in ease of soldering, assembly, and method of strain relief. A lot of
folks around here seem to be in love with the Neutrik but I'm sticking
with Switchcraft, at least until I encounter one that I don't like more
than I don't like the Neutrik.

I've had problems resulting from leads broken inside an XLR shell.
male cable connectors whose shell has been stepped on too hard and is
no longer round enough to go into a socket, and an occasional chassis
mounted connector that's been abused to the point where the insert is
loose in the shell. But I've never had a problem with an XLR that
didn't make good contact, and that's really all it has to do.

> Given the competitive pricing of the standard XLR products, the idea of
> cheapening them down further is really pretty strange.

Pricing of quality connectors is competitive if you buy them in the
right place. But a guitar store prefers to stock lower quality XLRs,
blister packed, for about the same price as you can buy a Neutrik or
Switchcraft from Markertek if you buy then ten at a time. And to
cable assembly manufacturers, it makes a big difference. Saving a
couple of dollars retail cost is attractive to people who figure a
cable is a cable and they'll never have to fix it (or when it goes
bad, they'll eventually throw it away after being in denial for a
while).

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Mike Rivers" <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1110552711k@trad
> In article <NLWdndXE8v3wEazfRVn-hw@comcast.com> arnyk@hotpop.com
> writes:
>
>> The XLR basic design is so good and bullet-proof that the more
>> interesting question is how much it can be cheaped-down from the
>> standard products (Switchcraft, Neutrik) before further cheapening
>> causes problems. The answer seems to be: It can be cheapened quite a
>> bit, not an infinite amount.
>
> It seems that the difference between cheap and more expensive XLRs is
> in ease of soldering, assembly, and method of strain relief.

Yeah Neutrik!

However there are some pretty fair clones of Neutrik designs that are
around.

>A lot of folks around here seem to be in love with the Neutrik but I'm
sticking
> with Switchcraft, at least until I encounter one that I don't like
> more than I don't like the Neutrik.

> I've had problems resulting from leads broken inside an XLR shell.

I generally blame myself for that - proper stress relief is still up to the
user, to some degree.

> male cable connectors whose shell has been stepped on too hard and is
> no longer round enough to go into a socket,

Not having to deal with roadie-proofing, I've never had the problem.

> and an occasional chassis mounted connector that's been abused to the
point where the insert is
> loose in the shell.

Seen that happen to the "good" ones. Nothing is totally abuse-proof, and
chassis mounting seems to facilitate it.

> But I've never had a problem with an XLR that
> didn't make good contact, and that's really all it has to do.

I have. Mate a good but connector with a loose-fitting too-cheap mate, and
you're there. Part of what you get for the money is a tighter fit, but still
no sticking.

>> Given the competitive pricing of the standard XLR products, the idea
>> of cheapening them down further is really pretty strange.

> Pricing of quality connectors is competitive if you buy them in the
> right place.

Yes. Radio Shack wants more for cheap (admittedly usually fair-enough)
clones than Markertek wants for the real thing.

> But a guitar store prefers to stock lower quality XLRs,
> blister packed, for about the same price as you can buy a Neutrik or
> Switchcraft from Markertek if you buy then ten at a time.

Never saw it but I'll take your word for it.

> And to cable assembly manufacturers, it makes a big difference.

I've used some cheap cables and they are all over the map. Musician's Friend
outright gave me some Nady cables that seemed to want to break their inner
conductors at the solder joints. The hassle they caused more than offset the
low, low price. However once fixed they stayed fixed. Strange. OTOH, after
about 9 months on stage, some cheapies from Orange County Speaker seem to be
holding together pretty well.

> Saving a couple of dollars retail cost is attractive to people who figure
a
> cable is a cable and they'll never have to fix it (or when it goes
> bad, they'll eventually throw it away after being in denial for a while).

If you've got a complex setup, or do live sound, the cost of a broken cable
in terms of lost work, hassle and potential embarassment can offset any
possible cost savings.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Buster Mudd" <mr_furious@mail.com> wrote in message
news:1110478970.368073.22730@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Anyone have any experience with exotic XLR connectors like the Bocchino
> Audio BAXLR (http://www.bocchtech.com/bocchinoaudio/baxlr.htm) or the
> Furutech FP-602
> (http://www.furutech.com/new1/produ_2.asp?ProdNo=45&noCache=9007.593) ?
>
> I'm specifically curious about professional engineers using these in
> pro audio applications. Are there *any* merits to these designs that
> would make them superior to a typical Neutrik or Switchcraft connector?
> Or is this just more fodder for the recent Snake-Oil thread?

How much is $745 Australian? If this the price of 4 connectors, I would
have to assume we're in snake oil territory.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Arny Krueger <arnyk@hotpop.com> wrote:

> The XLR basic design is so good and bullet-proof that the more interesting
> question is how much it can be cheaped-down from the standard products
> (Switchcraft, Neutrik) before further cheapening causes problems. The answer
> seems to be: It can be cheapened quite a bit, not an infinite amount.

> Given the competitive pricing of the standard XLR products, the idea of
> cheapening them down further is really pretty strange.

Well...I bought some cheap generics that were Switchcraft style---seemed to
be solidly made and all---but the barrels were too thick. I had trouble
getting the males into females on the back of rackmount gear where you
have an outside lip going over the barrel.

Rob R.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Arny Krueger wrote:

> Radio Shack wants more for cheap (admittedly usually fair-enough)
> clones than Markertek wants for the real thing.

Last year in Austin TX I had need for a few banana plugs and bought some
ITT-Pomona lookalikes from RS. The metalurgy is not up to the originals.
The steel in the plug tips is too stiff and will obviously fail if
applied in a pro setting where daily plug/unplug cycles occur.

And yes, they weren't inexpensive, either, even if they were cheaply
made.

--
ha

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <39gp9pF61ik5dU1@individual.net>, Kurt Albershardt <kurt@nv.net>
wrote:

> hank alrich wrote:
> >
> > Last year in Austin TX I had need for a few banana plugs and bought some
> > ITT-Pomona lookalikes from RS. The metalurgy is not up to the originals.
> > The steel in the plug tips is too stiff and will obviously fail if
> > applied in a pro setting where daily plug/unplug cycles occur.
>
> And if you want industrial-strength bananas, take a nod from Kimber and
> try this:
>
> Rip the plastic completely off a Pomona plug, leaving just the metal
> innards. Remove the setscrew. Tin your 12 ga. or 10 ga. wire, insert
> into the back of the plug instead of the side. Heat the whole thing
> with a 40-50W iron and solder it up like a giant solder cup. Heatshrink
> over the body and cable end with 3:1 glue-lined heatshrink. IME these
> outlast any other solution, certainly at the price.
>


Do be sure to heat the plug very well and be sure the solder flows. I've had a
couple of these develop cold joints, but generally they are pretty reliable. I
use the ones without a set screw, where the plastic shell clamps down on the
wire through the side of the plug.

-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