XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic?

Greg Miller · December 14th, 2012, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Soucy

3.5 mm plug/ socket: tip - ground, ring 1&2 - left and right signal, can't remember which is which

2.5 mm plug/ socket: tip - +5 volts, ring - not connected

Chris, thanks for the photos. Looks like a respectable job.

I would expect the following connections:

TIP=left, RING=right, SLEEVE=ground. That's fairly standard for stereo mics (also headphones etc). I'm a bit puzzled by your designation of "ring 1 & 2" as a normal 3.5mm stereo plug has only one ring.

I'm also a bit surprised that they use the ground on the audio jack for power ground also, given that the jumper inside the camera (between circuit boards) uses five separate conductors. I will double check this before building.

By the way, can you give me a very exact centre-to-center dimension between the two plugs? That's something I don't know.

Thanks again.

Steven Digges · December 14th, 2012, 11:24 PM

Chris, Thank you for the pictures and information! The most difficult part over here would be finding the EverReady 9V with the black cat on it from the sixty's!

Steven Digges · December 14th, 2012, 11:32 PM

Greg & Chris,

That is not 3 pin XLR.....looks like 5 pin DMX? Could we combine the left/right channels and go mono so we don't need the extra pins?

Steve

Chris Soucy · December 15th, 2012, 01:53 AM

Guess I'll leave it to one of you guys to check out those connection conundrums, my memory is pretty damn hazy, as it was at least 9 years ago.

Yep, they used signal ground as power ground, that I do remember, no biggie.

Pin denotion, well, they could (and did) basically make it up as they went, it being proprietry, no one else was getting a look in on this one, so they could put any damn signal wherever they wanted.

Best way to check it is to put two unshrouded plugs into the camera sockets and crank up the old multimeter, best way to do it, unless you have the schematics.

Well, it was sold as an "XLR", worked as an "XLR" and looks (to me) like an "XLR", so WTF, it's an "XLR".

I'll dig out the micrometer (NOT joking) and let you know the dimensions, centre to centre. I do know I had a devil of a time trying to find components to butt up against another to get there, and even then, the plug gets a bit out of shape in the process.

Yeah, interesting battery, still being sold in the UK circa 2003, hey, you use what you can get.

CS

Greg Miller · December 15th, 2012, 04:46 AM

Steven:

I was planning to use either one 3.5mm stereo jack, or two RCA jacks, for the output from the adapter box. Either way, you could then use a standard cable to connect from the box to any unbalanced audio input. I think a 3-pin XLR would be confusing, because that normally implies a balanced signal. Since this will be unbalanced, we might as well use a connector that's normally used for that purpose.

If you think you would sometimes want a mono signal, it would probably be simpler for me to use two RCA jacks. Then if you want to combine channels, you could use a common RCA Y cable to combine the channels.

If Chris is right about non-standard pinouts on the mic's pigtail, then I would need to have the mic here to be sure the box works correctly. But the schematic (on p. 177 of the manual) shows standard connections: TIP = left, RING = right, SLEEVE = ground. So I feel fairly safe building the box to those specs.

Steven Digges · December 15th, 2012, 12:11 PM

Greg, Lets go with the TRS 3.5 output. Did you get the e-mail I sent yesterday?

Chris, Yes, there are so damn many audio cables, and each one with it's own acronym depending on who you talk to. This is the way I see it. Cables fail a lot, especially when we are building a complex AV systems with a couple of miles worth of cable spaghetti at the tech table. So.....any cable in the system that fails instantly becomes the "WTF" cable. Same thing with mixers, anyone that has ever run live audio reinforcement knows that every mixer has an unlabeled button on it. It is the SUCK button, if you touch the SUCK button then your work sucks and your entire audience will know it instantly. Been there, Done that!

Steve

Greg Miller · December 15th, 2012, 01:09 PM

Steve,

Yes, I got one EMail from you, and sent one EMail reply.

Steven Digges · December 15th, 2012, 03:08 PM

The mail must have gone to the account that is down, makes sense, that is the address registered here, sorry.

Use my back up corporateshow at gmail . com

December 14th, 2012, 11:24 PM	#17
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Chris, Thank you for the pictures and information! The most difficult part over here would be finding the EverReady 9V with the black cat on it from the sixty's! __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

December 14th, 2012, 11:32 PM	#18
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Greg & Chris, That is not 3 pin XLR.....looks like 5 pin DMX? Could we combine the left/right channels and go mono so we don't need the extra pins? Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

December 15th, 2012, 01:53 AM	#19
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,690 Images: 18	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Guess I'll leave it to one of you guys to check out those connection conundrums, my memory is pretty damn hazy, as it was at least 9 years ago. Yep, they used signal ground as power ground, that I do remember, no biggie. Pin denotion, well, they could (and did) basically make it up as they went, it being proprietry, no one else was getting a look in on this one, so they could put any damn signal wherever they wanted. Best way to check it is to put two unshrouded plugs into the camera sockets and crank up the old multimeter, best way to do it, unless you have the schematics. Well, it was sold as an "XLR", worked as an "XLR" and looks (to me) like an "XLR", so WTF, it's an "XLR". I'll dig out the micrometer (NOT joking) and let you know the dimensions, centre to centre. I do know I had a devil of a time trying to find components to butt up against another to get there, and even then, the plug gets a bit out of shape in the process. Yeah, interesting battery, still being sold in the UK circa 2003, hey, you use what you can get. CS

December 15th, 2012, 04:46 AM	#20
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,791	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Steven: I was planning to use either one 3.5mm stereo jack, or two RCA jacks, for the output from the adapter box. Either way, you could then use a standard cable to connect from the box to any unbalanced audio input. I think a 3-pin XLR would be confusing, because that normally implies a balanced signal. Since this will be unbalanced, we might as well use a connector that's normally used for that purpose. If you think you would sometimes want a mono signal, it would probably be simpler for me to use two RCA jacks. Then if you want to combine channels, you could use a common RCA Y cable to combine the channels. If Chris is right about non-standard pinouts on the mic's pigtail, then I would need to have the mic here to be sure the box works correctly. But the schematic (on p. 177 of the manual) shows standard connections: TIP = left, RING = right, SLEEVE = ground. So I feel fairly safe building the box to those specs.

December 15th, 2012, 12:11 PM	#21
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Greg, Lets go with the TRS 3.5 output. Did you get the e-mail I sent yesterday? Chris, Yes, there are so damn many audio cables, and each one with it's own acronym depending on who you talk to. This is the way I see it. Cables fail a lot, especially when we are building a complex AV systems with a couple of miles worth of cable spaghetti at the tech table. So.....any cable in the system that fails instantly becomes the "WTF" cable. Same thing with mixers, anyone that has ever run live audio reinforcement knows that every mixer has an unlabeled button on it. It is the SUCK button, if you touch the SUCK button then your work sucks and your entire audience will know it instantly. Been there, Done that! Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

December 15th, 2012, 01:09 PM	#22
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,791	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? Steve, Yes, I got one EMail from you, and sent one EMail reply.

December 15th, 2012, 03:08 PM	#23
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: XL1 to bone yard, can I salvage the mic? The mail must have gone to the account that is down, makes sense, that is the address registered here, sorry. Use my back up corporateshow at gmail . com __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!