12 PA User Guide
Cable and Connector Information
You are likely to encounter the following audio connector types:
The XLR connector is 3 wire balanced. This has 3 connector pins: Pin 1 = ground (screen), Pin 2 =
signal hot (+), Pin 3 = signal cold (-). The jack sockets are the 3 pole TRS type. These are wired to
work with either the balanced TRS or the unbalanced 2 pole TS type plugs without cable modification.
The sockets have 3 connector pins: Inputs and outputs are Tip = signal hot (+), Ring = signal cold (-),
Sleeve = ground (screen). Headphones are Tip = left, Ring = right, Sleeve = ground. The RCA
phono connectors are 2 wire unbalanced to connect to equipment such as CD players and domestic
amplifiers.
To ensure best performance, we recommend that you use high quality audio cables and connectors,
and take time to check for reliable and accurate cable assembly. It is well known that many audio
system failures are due to faulty interconnecting leads. Avoid reversing + and - on balanced and
speaker cables as this will result in reverse polarity connections which may cause signal cancellation
and ‘phasing’ effects. Refer to the diagram below for how to wire unbalanced to balanced
connections. It is fine to use a Y-adapter to feed one output to several inputs, but never use a Y-
adapter to sum two outputs into one input.
