[verber]

Quote:

Just wondering if going with a 4-pin XLR and adapter is more "universal."

 
It's does seem to be the trend. I would also note that it's certainly less bulky (1 big connector rather than 2) which might not matter at home, but might make a difference when you care about portability.
 
--mark

 

[pspivak]

I read this morning's blog and was wondering if the mil-spec plug is superior to the proposed ribbon connector. Even though it may speed up production, is this the best solution in terms of quality - both audible and construction?  Just asking the question.

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

Just wondering if going with a 4-pin XLR and adapter is more "universal."

I certainly think so.  I think it is certainly a more streamlined way to do adapters.  Single 4-pin XLR on your main cable, with a host of adapters just makes more sense than a double 3-pin XLR, especially in a transportable package.  

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Did I miss who to email about a pre-order?  And did I hear correctly that there will be 4 flavors?

 

[thegrobe]

I read this morning's blog and was wondering if the mil-spec plug is superior to the proposed ribbon connector. Even though it may speed up production, is this the best solution in terms of quality - both audible and construction?  Just asking the question.

I believe that post meant that that piece will be used only for production and not go to the customers.
...At least that's the way I read it.


On another note, it's good to see that Centrance are smoking along on this project and are doing really good

 

[FraGGleR]

Did I miss who to email about a pre-order?  And did I hear correctly that there will be 4 flavors?

yes:

1. Dual 3-pin female combo XLR
2. 4-pin XLR, 1/4", 3.5mm
3. RSA balanced, 1/4", 3.5mm
4. Dual 3-pin male combo XLR (pro version)

 

[Trogdor]

1. Dual 3-pin female combo XLR
2. 4-pin XLR, 1/4", 3.5mm
3. RSA balanced, 1/4", 3.5mm
4. Dual 3-pin male combo XLR (pro version)

For the record FraGGier, I took your words to heart, did a little research and I now on the 4-pin XLR train.

 

[AndreYew]

Quote:

I read this morning's blog and was wondering if the mil-spec plug is superior to the proposed ribbon connector. Even though it may speed up production, is this the best solution in terms of quality - both audible and construction?  Just asking the question.

The mil-spec connector (the blue rectangle in that blog post) is used for the M8 all the time.  The M8 appears to be a two-board design with one board sitting on top of the other.  The two boards communicate through that mil-spec connector.  One consequence of this sandwich design is that the two boards are very close together, so you may not be able to physically access the parts of the boards that are facing each other.  You may want to do this to make measurements or adjustments during production.
 
What Michael is making is a breakout board that lets the two boards be apart and not in a sandwich configuration:  think of an open-face sandwich where the two pieces of bread are lying side by side instead of on top of each other.  This production rig (which is used only when assembling the M8s on the assembly line) translates the tiny blue mil-spec connector into a standard ribbon cable connector so that the two boards can be connected through a ribbon cable and still function as a complete M8 without being on top of each other.  
 
See the text on the board where it says "Plug under Digital PCB" (and the analogous Analog on the left side)?  That describes what the board does.  The analog PCB would plug onto the blue connector on the left.  You'd run a ribbon cable from the two rows of yellow connectors on the left (board 1) to the two rows of yellow connectors on the right (board 2), and then you'd plug the digital PCB into the blue connector on the right.
 
Here is an annotated picture that may help.  There are two boards in that picture, too.  FYI, I don't have inside info on Centrance, but I do make electronics (in a completely unrelated industry), and a lot of what Michael's going through is familiar to me, and fairly standard practice.
 

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

A question for Michael / Centrance - Will the 1/8" and 1/4" single ended jacks on the 4 pin XLR version be wired to the same amp section(s), or will they each be to a different set of the internal amps..

There is one stereo, balanced amp in the product and (depending on the version) all sorts of jacks that connect to that amp.
 
Let's say you have a unit with a 1/4" and a 1/8" jack on the side panel (in addition to the RSA or 4-pin XLR jack). If you have a set of stereo headphones plugged in to the 1/4" jack and another set of headphones plugged in to the 1/8" jack, you may be experiencing different audio levels in the two headphones, depending on their individual sensitivities. You will not harm the amp by doing so, but note that there is no separate volume control for each jack. We intended that you would use one or the other jack most of the time. The two jacks are there for convenience and so that you don't have to hunt for a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter.

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

Did I miss who to email about a pre-order?  And did I hear correctly that there will be 4 flavors?

You may want to hurry up. In 24 hours the pre-order "gate" will be closing. More on this in today's blog post (May 2nd).

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

[Email deleted]
 
yes:
 
1. Dual 3-pin female combo XLR
2. 4-pin XLR, 1/4", 3.5mm
3. RSA balanced, 1/4", 3.5mm
4. Dual 3-pin male combo XLR (pro version)

Just a friendly request - spam bots crawl these sites regularly and collect stray email addresses.
 
Please remove the email you had in your original post and convert it to hifi-m8 [at] centrance [dot] com.
 
Reason: We would like to minimize the amount of spam coming in, so that your emails receive the highest priority. Thanks!

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

For the record FraGGier, I took your words to heart, did a little research and I now on the 4-pin XLR train.

Please kindly edit the quote with same request to remove the email address for one of our folks. They will be very glad you did!

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

...
 
Here is an annotated picture that may help.  There are two boards in that picture, too.  FYI, I don't have inside info on Centrance, but I do make electronics (in a completely unrelated industry), and a lot of what Michael's going through is familiar to me, and fairly standard practice.
 

Thank you for your kind explanation. All true.
 
And to add to that - we will not have any audio pass through the mil spec, gold-plated connector between boards. What passes through that connector are digital signals. Analog signals are generated on the analog board and are immediately fed to the amp and then to the output jacks, to avoid compromising signal integrity.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Just a friendly request - spam bots crawl these sites regularly and collect stray email addresses.
 
Please remove the email you had in your original post and convert it to hifi-m8 [at] centrance [dot] com.
 
Reason: We would like to minimize the amount of spam coming in, so that your emails receive the highest priority. Thanks!

 
As much as we like to think "hiding" the email addresses like that will fool the spam bots, it really doesn't. I know guys who's jobs were to literally create those bots. Programming in the sequences to search for the [at] and [dot] replacements is practically the first thing they do. 

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

 
As much as we like to think "hiding" the email addresses like that will fool the spam bots, it really doesn't. I know guys who's jobs were to literally create those bots. Programming in the sequences to search for the [at] and [dot] replacements is practically the first thing they do. 

I agree. You can't outsmart the smartest. Let's try to outsmart the dumbest at least
 
My request was to replace the person's email with "hifi-m8". That person will continue to receive emails, while the hifi-m8 email address will likely be taken down or at least de-emphasized as soon as the product is released.