Members Telecruiser Posted August 18, 2012 Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 Well here ya go - The XLR connector was invented by James H. Cannon, founder of Cannon Electric in Los Angeles, California (now part of ITT Corporation), and for this reason it was sometimes colloquially known as a Cannon plug or Cannon connector and in Japan as Cannon jack, though this term has since fallen out of common usage in the industry.[citation needed] Originally manufactured as the Cannon X series, subsequent versions added a latch (Cannon XL) and then surrounded the female contacts with a resilient polychloroprene, which resulted in the part number prefix XLR.[2] There was also an XLP series which used a hard plastic insulation, but was otherwise the same.[3] ITT Cannon originally manufactured XLR connectors in two locations Kanagawa, Japan and Melbourne, Australia. The Australian operation was sold to Alcatel Components in 1992 and then acquired by Amphenol in 1998. ITT Cannon continue to manufacture XLR connectors in Japan. The Switchcraft corporation later started manufacturing compatible connectors, followed by Neutrik. Neutrik made a number of improvements to the connector and their second-generation design (known as the X-series) had just four parts for the cable connector and eliminated the small screws used by both Cannon and Switchcraft, which were prone to working loose, falling out, and becoming lost. These improvements made Neutrik the most popular brand of XLR connector. Unbranded XLRs are also made by far-east manufacturers. Originally these were copies of the Cannon or Switchcraft designs, but in recent years the Neutrik designs have also been copied. XLR connectors are available in male and female versions in both cable and chassis mounting designs, a total of four styles. This is slightly unusual as many other connector designs omit one of the styles (typically a chassis mounting male connector). The female XLR connectors are designed to first connect pin 1 (the earth pin), before the other pins make contact, when a male XLR connector is inserted. With the ground connection established before the signal lines are connected, the insertion (and removal) of XLR connectors in live equipment is possible without picking up external signals (as it usually happens with, for example, RCA connectors). The number of pins varies from three to seven. XLR connectors from different manufacturers will intermate, with the exception of Switchcraft 6 pin models, which use a non-standard arrangement for the pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J. Posted August 18, 2012 Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 When I was a young buck working at a radio station, one of our older and experienced engineers sometimes referred to them as "cannon plugs." I asked him what they meant, and he just told me it was an old term named after the company that came out with that particular connector (the same as in your quoted article). It's common in all areas of marketing for a particular brand to become synonymous with the product itself (i.e. Kleenex, Band-Aid, Vaseline, Styrofoam, etc), and it's actually something most companies will try to avoid if they can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark I remember most people referring to Speakon connectors as simply "Neutrik" jacks when they first started coming around in the consumer-level PA stuff. It also makes you wonder why we have the connectors we do. Is it because they were the best available, the most successfully marketed, the most economical, or a combination of all three? The 1/4" phone connection has its obvious and well-documented shortcomings, but it's so common that it's here to stay. Both the Speakon and XLR connectors are good, solid mechanisms in my opinion, but I wonder (I haven't done any research) if they've ever had competitors that have fallen by the wayside. Also, does anyone remember when some companies were using XLR jacks for speaker-level signals? I remember Carvin doing this in the early 90's - their PA stuff (powered mixers and speaker cabs mostly) would feature both 1/4" jacks and XLRs for speaker outs and ins. Peavey did this briefly as well, as I know some of their International Series speakers from the same era had XLR jacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 18, 2012 Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 Wow..I haven't heard the term "cannon plug" in at least 20 years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gspointer Posted August 18, 2012 Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 I hear the term "canon plug" several times a week. Nothing to do with audio though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted August 18, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 For the longest time I alway referred to them as Cannon connectors. Now, and for the past 10 years or so they are XLR's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted August 18, 2012 Members Share Posted August 18, 2012 The choices came down to standardization, availability, cost and reliability. 1/4" phone plugs were a reliable and decent quality connector when they were from the real vendors like Switchcraft. These were followed by cheaper and cheaper copies until they because a poor choice. This was when there were no bridged amps, voltages and currents were low, and amps inherently rugged by design rather than from protection circuitry. An example of a far superior connector that didn't survive is the Cannon EP. The Speak-On was so much cheaper that the benefots of the EP just didn't translate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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