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Sex and the balanced interconnect.

Caught your eye, didn't it.

I am contemplating a new line level crossover, and it comes with XLR balanced outputs. My power amps have XLR balanced inputs, so I thought...why not give balanced a try. The problem is that both the crossover and the amps have female connectors, so that the interconnect needs to be male on both ends (just like an rca interconnect). I find cables offered with a wide variety of connector configurations, but I can't find any XLR cables configured male-to-male, although I could put in a special order and have them made.

Is it unusual to require male-to-male configuration?
eldartford
jafox
1,460 posts
 
I have the same concerns as Kr4. On all the products I have had, ARC, BAT, Aesthetix, Counerpoint, Wolcott, etc., the inputs on the electronics has always been female and outputs are male. This is an industry statndard. The only thing the industry did not standardize on was the pinout.

It sounds like maybe your crossover might support single-ended and balanced inputs but perhaps only single-ended outputs as there are no male XLR connectors on the chassis. So before you do anything, you need to verify this.
John
danielk141
489 posts
 
What amps do you have? Are you sure they're truly balanced, and not just using internal conversion to single ended input?
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
check out www.A2Zcables.com
eldartford OP
4,262 posts
 
I have the power amps, CarverPro zr1600, and the manual and inspection of the hardware confirms that a male plug is necessary on the input cable. The connectors on the chassis accept XLR, TRS, or TS 1/4 phone plugs, all male. (TS are used for single ended operation). The circuit is truly a differential input for balanced interconnects, as one can check on the schematic available on the web site.

I do not physically have the crossover: an Ashley is what I am considering. However, I do have the manual which clearly states that the interconnect needs a male connector.

Industry standards don't seem to be universally followed. In reading the Ashley manual I learned that JBL drivers pull the cone IN for a positive input. OUT is standard for other brands. I discovered this for myself when I wired up my subwoofer systems. (Actually I thought I had mixed up the connections at the drivers and didn't unscrew them from the enclosure to check).
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
On most preamps all the RCA's are females. But industrial strength XLR's tell you at a glance which are the inputs and which the outputs. Otherwise, fault finding while in front of a bank of components with speaker arrays roaring could be disconcerting, pun intended. Could Ashley be stating the obvious, that you'll need a male at the other end of the interrconnect? Let us know once the suspect is in custody.
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