Connectors and Wire

Question 1

1/4” TS

Answer 1

tip, sleeve; used for mono and unbalanced signals

has two contact points, the tip and the sleeve; the signal wire sends the audio signal through the tip, and the ground wire passes through the sleeve, protecting the signal from interference

Question 2

¼” TRS

Answer 2

tip, ring, sleeve; has three contact points, enabling a balanced audio signal

tip has positive wire, ring has negative wire, and sleeve acts as shield

Question 3

Banana plug

Answer 3

an electrical connector designed to join wires such as speaker wires to binding posts, or special jacks called banana jacks

Question 4

Binding post

Answer 4

type of terminal which allows wires, such as loudspeaker wires, to be connected to the output of an amplifier

Question 5

Barrier strip

Answer 5

series of connections, usually screw terminals, arranged in a line to permanently connect multiple audio lines to such devices as recording equipment, mixers, or outboard gear

Question 6

Mini plug

Answer 6

3.5 mm male connector used with computer headphones, headset, microphone, and speakers, which connect to the computer’s sound card

Question 7

ELCO

Answer 7

brand and type (like Crescent wrench) of multi pin connector used in audio systems and equipment for connecting multi pair cable with one connector (instead of many); used on consoles

Question 8

DB-25

Answer 8

used to carry balanced analog or digital audio on many multichannel professional audio equipment, where the use of XLR connectors is impractical, for example due to space constraints

Question 9

XLR

Answer 9

common audio connector, used in balanced professional audio applications and for AES3 digital interface; pin number 1 in the XLR plug is always connected to the shield, ensuring that the ground connection is made before the signal connection, pin 2 is wired to the + wire of a balanced pair, and pin 3 is wired to the - wire of a balanced pair

Question 10

RCA plug

Answer 10

also called “phono” plug; advantage of small size, shielded configuration, and low price, but the disadvantages of unreliability and lack of ruggedness

Question 11

Bantam plug

Answer 11

also called TT or tiny telephone; a .173-inch diameter version of a phone plug often used in patch bays

Question 12

BNC

Answer 12

Bayonet-Neill-Concelman; type of coaxial connector mostly used on test equipment such as
oscillators, oscilloscopes, etc., and professional video and digital signals

Question 13

TOSlink

Answer 13

consumer fiber-optic connector used to convey an optical S/PDIF digital audio data stream; it is short for Toshiba Link, for the company that invented it

Question 14

Patch bay

Answer 14

array of patch points (jacks) used to access signals at different points within the audio flow; horizontal rows are arranged in pairs with outputs in the row above feeding the inputs in the row directly below it

Question 15

Patch cord

Answer 15

relatively short audio cable with connectors on each end, used to rerouting audio signals

Question 16

Patch points

Answer 16

allow us to either extract a signal from the console flow, or insert a signal into the flow; generally spread throughout the flow in pairs (output paired with input), and are physically grouped together in a patch bay

Question 17

Full-normal

Answer 17

output breaks on insertion, input breaks on insertion; typically used for microphone lines and preamp inputs

Question 18

Half-normal

Answer 18

output splits on insertion, input breaks on insertion

Question 19

Mult

Answer 19

allows a signal to split to multiple destinations; insert a patch cable into the mult and then use multiple patch cables to route the audio in multiple places

Question 20

Open loop

Answer 20

amplifier operating without feedback is said to be operating on an open loop

Question 21

STP

Answer 21

shielded twisted pair; has two cables twisted together with an outer shield to limit interference

Question 22

Star quad

Answer 22

four inner cores are connected in pairs such that two of the opposite wires are connected together and used as one line, and the other two opposite wires are used as the other; pairs are twisted together along the length of the cable so any interference is induced as equally as possible

Question 23

Shield

Answer 23

a braided metal exterior to a cable that prevents external noise sources, particularly electrostatic noise resulting from electrical spikes and static around or within the audio system, from entering the inner conductors and affecting the audio signal

Question 24

Coaxial

Answer 24

cables that use a solid (or nearly solid) center conductor rather than multiple thin strands, and always have an internal characteristic impedance of 75 Ω to accommodate RF signal transfer

Question 25

Speaker cables

Answer 25

carry two internal insulated conductors, one for the send (+) and one for the return (–) signal, but no shield; because of the higher power involved in driving speakers, and due to the fact that the signal is not amplified further down the audio chain, interference is not an issue