Sex and the balanced interconnect.

I find this difficult to understand. The gender of XLR connectors is defined by whether they are outputs or inputs. You might check the crossover to see if you are looking at the right ones.

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

What amps do you have? Are you sure they're truly balanced, and not just using internal conversion to single ended input?

check out www.A2Zcables.com

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).