XLR connector order from Shopee

I bought these XLR connectors from Shopee about a week back and it arrived in Singapore a couple of days back. I bought 10 male ones and 10 female ones, making a total of 20 connectors. The price including shipping came up to $16. These connectors admittedly are not as robust as the Neutrik ones or even the Seetronic ones. But as they say, you pay your money and you get what you pay for. These connectors will be used for projects where cost is a concern. These new connectors I feel cannot beat those ITT Cannon type ones that I ordered also from the same online shop. However, they work and that is all that matters. I just made a couple of cables with these connectors and they seem to work fine.

Long XLR cable and DI box rental

Remember some time back, I made a post about about a long XLR cable that I created on the fly for a rental of sorts. In any case, after that rental, I took my cable back home and chucked it in a corner, thinking nothing much about it. Imagine my surprise when I got asked if I could rent it out again! This is turning out to be a very pleasant surprise. Imagine…cable that was discarded at a site…I take it home and soldered it up for a rental and here we go again with another rental! I was just going to solder it up for the first rental and then decommission it or at the very least, chop it up and sell the cable in smaller lengths. Now it looks like I will have to keep it for further rentals. That is my cable above at the venue, with my ever-trusty Whirlwind IMP 2 DI box and summing cable.

40 metres long, shielded BMS cable makes for excellent XLR cable

A few months back, while at a building construction site, I came upon this tangled mess of shielded two core cable with draining wire. Now, in the building trade, Building Management Systems use this cable. It also makes for excellent XLR cable for us in the audio trade. So anyway, back to the story. I came upon this mess of cable chucked in a corner. It was in a big, tangled mess and I think the main contractor did not want to coil it up nicely again so they just chucked it in a corner. I came across it and told myself that it would come in useful someday. And it certainly has.

Just yesterday, or at least a couple of days back, I was asked if I could provide a long XLR cable feed to connect two audio systems in two different rooms. I immediately remembered that I had this cable. Breaking out my stash of old XLR connectors and soldering iron, I soon had two Neutrik XLR connectors soldered to them. Testing them with my SoundTools tester, they passed the test with flying colours. Now all I need is a DI box to connect them from the unbalanced output of a mixer in a room to the balanced input of the mixer in another room 20 metres away. And the cost of all, this? Nothing. Just a few minutes of my time soldering the connectors.

New balanced cables made from the leftover DNE 2-core cables

Remember a post some time back about some leftover cables I had made by DNE? Well, I took some time today to solder some balanced cables with them. I also used the ITT Cannon type XLR connectors that I bought from Shopee some time back. This cable is actually pretty good. It coils well and the outer sleeve is tough. In any case, in that previous post, I asked if anyone knew about these DNE branded cables that were used for the Building Management System or BMS. The reason why I ask is because I might want to get more of them. The cables are very easy to solder and the drain ground wire is not too thick, which makes it easy to solder. Plus, these China-made XLR connectors were pretty good too. I made these cables for experimentation purposes…to see how BMS cables can hold up as audio cables. These cables, and the connectors they were soldered to, passed the test. Looks like I had better be getting more of these China XLR connectors!

One metre long XLR Y-cable connected to DI box

I have a project coming up where we are setting up a boardroom with speakers and a projector. One little problem though. The mixer and the amplifiers are delayed, thanks in no small part to this global supply chain issue that we are having. So what we are going to use in the interim is the same shitty Behringer mixer that we have in our store, the one I wrote about some time back. The reason I say shitty is because firstly, the sound is horrible and it is noisy like hell and secondly, that Behringer mixer does not have any balanced outputs. But as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers so we have to live with it for the time being. The temporary amps that we loaned from our store to put in the client’s place all come with Phoenix connectors or Euroblocks. So what we are going to do is to connect that mixer to a DI box with a summing cable. After that, we are connecting the DI box to the amplifiers via this Y-cable. There will be two amplifiers in that boardroom and we will daisy-chain them for the time being, until the delayed digital mixer gets in. The system is a mono system with some mics connected to it. That being said, it is not the most ideal of solutions but it is the only solution that I have at my disposal for the time being.

Mini XLR Mixer from AVLifesavers

I was browsing the Internet a couple of days back and I came across this little XLR mixer from AVLifesavers.com. I for one would think that this is a great addition to many an audio person’s toolkit. I for one am using something like this which is the Extron MIX 301 which works very well. What this device does better than that Extron MIX 301 is the fact that it requires no power. It is totally passive. Plus, it uses Bourns potentiometers. If you are in the audio industry, you would know about Bourns and what great products they make. Also, this device uses big pots to control the volume whereas for the Extron MIX 301, I have to use a tweaker or small screwdriver to do so. So far, I do not think I have a need for something like this as the Extron MIX 301 is serving me just fine. But as I said, this would be a great addition to your toolbox.

China XLR connectors

A few days back, I received an order of XLR connectors that I purchased from Shopee. They are ITT Cannon replicas by the looks of them. They were being sold in a set of two…one male and one female. So I bought three sets for a “princely” sum of  $6, which also included shipping. When they reached here, I tested them out. The female plugs were a little loose where the barrel fits in the shell. A little tape wrapped around the barrel fixed the situation. The advertisement on the Shopee shop that sold the plugs said that they have their own factory making these but I normally take claims like these with a pinch of salt. These connectors are not Neutrik or even Seetronic quality-wise but I dare say that for some installs, they can be utilised if there is no budget. I think I will stick to Seetronic connectors from now on and use Neutrik connectors for cables that get used a lot for events.

Amphenol plastic XLR clip a problem

Remember I did a post some time back, raving about these plastic Amphenol XLR connectors? Well, I had a rude shock a couple of days back while I was at a client’s place. I was testing their sound-system and I plugged their Audio-Technica dynamic mic into the female XLR connector while I went to plug the male XLR connector into the XLR point on the wall. I noticed that the male XLR point had some issues sliding into the wall XLR socket. I just shrugged it off though and proceeded to test the wall points, saying that the client probably installed cheap XLR sockets. However, I had an issue when I tried to unplug the female connector from the mic. It simply could not come out! No matter how many times I tried to press the release catch, it just would not budge. Finally, I had to unscrew the  XLR connector, pulled out the internals and when the spring on the internals was released, the connector shell could be pulled out.

When I went back home, I tested the Amphenol plastic plugs again and I still had issues. So I decided to not use them anymore. I tested my other XLR cables with the metal connectors and all of them have no issues. Oh well…no more plastic connectors for me. They may be light, granted. But the disconnection woes are something I am not prepared to put up with.

Amphenol thermoplastic XLR connectors terminated to Mogami cables

I managed to get myself some of these plastic Amphenol XLR connectors recently which I terminated to Mogami AES/EBU cable. These Amphenol connectors are described as being made of thermoplastic, whatever that means. If you think these connectors are fragile, you had better think again. The plastic compound they are made of is absolutely strong. I now have a pair of strong and light XLR cables that I can bring to gigs. My other XLR cables that I terminated to Canare cable are great but they are a tad heavy, especially when you are toting a backpack with a heavy Macbook Pro and a controller. I had the chance to try these cables out last week and they work great.

Roland DJ-707M DJ controller

There are DJ controllers, and then there are professional DJ controllers that can really do almost everything. Take this Roland DJ-707M for instance. This DJ controller is a professional 4-channel, 4-deck Serato controller that’s packed with a massive amount of control and I/O in a compact package.

What’s in the package? Well, for starters there are Master, Booth, and Zone outputs, plus a separate output EQ and multiband compressor on each. Compressor? Yep. You heard that right. Compressor. Also, there are 10 onboard scenes so you can create go-to event settings for audio routing, loudspeaker management, and system setups. The DJ-707M offers seven inputs allowing for a whole choice of options including dual XLR channels to add vocals or external instruments to your setup. Dual USB inputs allow up to two instances of Serato to be run on separate computers, creating seamless transitions and back-to-back performances between DJs or backup rigs.

So does this controller have a drum-machine like the DJ-808 and such? Well, deck 3 of the DJ-707M contains 808 and 909 drum sounds and launchable preset rhythms. The are two platters which are optimized for scratching, while the eight dedicated touch pads offer control over the included full version of Serato DJ Pro with several modes such as hot cue, roll, slicer, TR, pattern, and sampler. The unit also offers a standard 5-pin DIN MIDI output, allowing you to connect and synchronize other outboard gear. The front panel includes a pair of 1/4″ inputs that can be used mono/stereo with mic/line levels. There is also a dedicated 3.5mm stereo input, which allows you to run a music source through the DJ-707M and out to the Zone output for creating a separate mix for another room. This is a list of its features:

• Versatile four-channel controller with seven dedicated inputs and three assignable output sections 
• Stereo Master Out with balanced XLR and RCA connectors, plus stereo Booth Out and Zone Out 
• High-quality dual XLR mic inputs with three-band EQ and selectable effects such as reverb, echo, auto-pitch, and anti-feedback  
• Comprehensive control panel and LCD screen for clarity and ease of use
• Dual USB input for multiple Serato sessions on separate computers 
• Built-in TR drum patterns for on-the-fly remixing or instrumental accompaniment 
• One-shot sound effects for energetic performances 
• Standalone mixer can be used with multiplayers or turntables connected to the line and phono inputs; Serato DVS upgrade-ready 
• MIDI output to sync external devices with Serato DJ Pro 

The thing is, I am really thinking of getting this but I need to look at the harsh reality of things. Firstly, I do not DJ full-time so a controller like this is a want, not a need. Secondly, I already have two controllers already so this will be something extra that I do not really need. But if you, dear reader, are a mobile DJ, this is something right up your alley.