[Mister Crash]

I tried doing a couple searches to see if this has already been discussed here, but I didn't find anything.

I have a CD player with a standard 3-pin XLR output (pin 1 = ground, pin 2 = hot, pin 3 = cold).

I also just got a Stax amp, and it looks like the XLR inputs have a different configuration (pin 1 = ground, pin 2 = cold, pin 3 = hot).

Can I just connect a regular balanced cable between the CD player and the amp, or do I need some kind of adapter to switch pins 2 and 3 on the output? Would it produce the right results if I changed the CD player output so that it was 180° out of phase?

 

[gregorio]

It's just the way you are looking at it, the outputs pins have to be the opposite way round to the input holes. As you look at the male and female connectors, the pin on the right of the male connector will plug into the hole on the left of the female connector.

don't worry about it if my explanation hasn't made sense, just plug it in and it will work fine (and in phase).

G

 

[WesMiaw]

Actually, I saw a Stax amp at Can Jam and pins 2 and 3 were actually reversed as labeled on the silkscreen. Yours may be wired reversed as well. Everything will work fine using a regular balanced cable, just 180° out of phase which apparently your CD player has the ability to compensate for.

Still, even if it didn't that's okay. As long as both channels are in-phase with respect to each other things will sound fine.

 

[Mister Crash]

gregorio,

That doesn't sound right. Pin 3 is always in the center, so there really wouldn't be a way to confuse that with either of the other pins. I understand that the male and female connectors will have pins 1 and 2 on opposite ends from each other relative to pin 3, but both the CD player and amp specifically label the pins as 1, 2, and 3, and specify which one is hot, cold, and ground.

NekoAudio,

Thanks. I guess I'll give it a shot both ways and see which one sounds better. I was kind of afraid that the mismatch would produce some kind of bizarre electrical imbalance that would fry one of my components, so I thought I should ask first.

 

[WesMiaw]

Whether or not hot is pin 2 or pin 3 brings up the idea of absolute polarity. The concept of absolute polarity is that the initial edge of any sound should push the air a specific direction relative to you. e.g. if a sine wave is starting with a positive voltage, then the initial air direction should be pushing against you instead of pulling away.

I won't state an opinion on whether or not this actually matters, because I'm not convinced it does. But even if you do believe it makes a difference, there are people who argue that you then have to identify if the recording was made with the right polarity. And if it wasn't, then you should push that button which reverses polarity. With this claim, it doesn't matter if you wired hot to pin 2 or pin 3 because you'd still have to push that button on half your CDs.