View Full Version : Long Repair Time


Dave Frank
August 12th, 2004, 11:54 AM
Hi, somehow the headphone jack on my Xl-1s got broken. I don't believe it was damaged by someone intentionally, but someone on my crew must have done it. Basically, the green insulator part on the headphone jack is not aligned straight and sticks out a little bit. It is very difficult to get one channel of audio out of lit, let alone 2 channels(next to impossible). I am in the middle of filming a feature length movie and also do commercial jobs with the camera. I talked to someone at Mack Repair and they said it would be roughly a month to fix the problem. I simply cannot wait this long(who the hell could?).

Does anyone know of a way to fix a broken headphone jack or have another way to hook up headphones to the cam(possibly from the RCA audio jacks?). Thanks!

Ken Tanaka
August 12th, 2004, 02:11 PM
This is one way in which such extended warranty operations remain so luxuriously profitable.

Contact Canon Service (http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ServiceLocatorAct&fcategoryid=227&modelid=7376) directly to see if they can give you a more accurate answer.

Adrian Nelson
August 12th, 2004, 03:43 PM
you can simply get an adapter that will run the two rca jacks into a single mini jack that should get you sound for the mean time. What you need is a dual male rca jack to a single female stereo mini jack. I've used them before for other sound related adaptations and they work fine, should only cost a couple bucks, and are widely available.

Dave Frank
August 12th, 2004, 03:46 PM
Actually I just got a RCA to 1/4" adaptor to plug in my headphones to, but the problem is that the audio is quiet as a mouse. I am surprised because I am getting a line level output. Is there any way to boost the audio level. There is no way I can monitor audio when I can barely hear it. Hah.

The other issue is that I can only monitor audio coming out of the Audio 1 jack because I am running 16bit audio. Since I usually have my MA-200 hooked into the Audio 1 jack, this makes it impossible.

Don Palomaki
August 12th, 2004, 07:51 PM
Canon factory service on the XL1/s is usually fast, typically a few work days plus shipping time. Give them a call.

The RCA audio output jacks are nominal consumer line level output, not low enough impedance to drive typical modern headphones, the output impedance is about 3k ohms give or take. (Well. they could drive good old Clevite-Brush crystal headphone, but those great cans are from another era.) A 3000 ohm source trying to drive a 32 ohm headphone amounts to a nearly 40 dB level reduction.

As to output level, a few mfgrs. offer battery powered headphone amps that can boost the audio output from the RCA jacks to drive headphones. But I do not have any recommended makes/models in mind.