Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating? or
is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?

In article ,
(Buster Mudd) wrote:

Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating?

I've never seen any connector that didn't do this.

or is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?

Not as far as I've seen. It's probably because most TS jacks are just
"shortloaded" TRS jacks. In other words, it's the same jack minus the
ring contact, so there would obviously be no overlap.


Regards,

Monte McGuire

I've not had an issue with it yet, but I'm using primarily switchcraft
and neutrik. If there's one thing I've learned, though, it's never say
'never'.

Buster Mudd wrote:
Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating? or
is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?

Buster Mudd wrote:
Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating? or
is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?

IF you use only short frame jacks, the answer is yes. This is because
there is a standard specification that everybody follows (unlike with
the RCA connectors).
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Buster Mudd" wrote in message
om...
Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating? or
is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?


It sounds like you are trying to reinvent a wheel that may have already been
invented... just a hunch. Can you tell us more about the problem you're
trying to solve? There may be a better solution, or there may be another
issue you're about to run into down the road that we can help you avoid.

"Walter Harley" wrote in message ...
"Buster Mudd" wrote in message
om...
Is the contact spacing on 1/4" TS jacks consistent enough that one can
say with absolute certainty that any TRS plug inserted into any TS
jack will connect the Tip & the Sleeve but leave the Ring floating? or
is there enough variation from unit to unit (or manufacturer to
manufacturer) that that assumption could get someone in trouble?


It sounds like you are trying to reinvent a wheel that may have already been
invented... just a hunch. Can you tell us more about the problem you're
trying to solve? There may be a better solution, or there may be another
issue you're about to run into down the road that we can help you avoid.


I've been offered a great deal on a balanced (TRS) snake, & wanted to
make sure I could confidently use it in an installation that currently
contains about 75% unbalanced equipment.

"Buster Mudd" wrote in message
om...
I've been offered a great deal on a balanced (TRS) snake, & wanted to
make sure I could confidently use it in an installation that currently
contains about 75% unbalanced equipment.

As long as none of the ins or outs that you'll be using with the snake are
*balanced* and as long as none of it is battery-powered, you'll be fine.

The problems will come if you're trying to mix and match balanced and
unbalanced (which usually works with TS cables, but not with TRS); or if you
plug into something battery powered (which usually get turned on by shorting
ring to sleeve, due to plugging a TS plug into a TRS jack).

But remember - what seems like common sense now, in the clear light of day,
will probably cause hours of frustration in the middle of a session, when
you forget that the other end of that TRS cable is actually unbalanced and
the ring is dangling :-)

For that matter, if you're stretching unbalanced cables far enough that you
need a snake, you might be letting yourself in for ground loop and
interference problems.

In article writes:

I've been offered a great deal on a balanced (TRS) snake, & wanted to
make sure I could confidently use it in an installation that currently
contains about 75% unbalanced equipment.

Definootely. But the other 25%, if it goes through the snake, may
require some thought, particularly if you have a balanced output going
to an unbalanced input. But you'd have to think that one through and
perhaps do a little experimenting whether it was going through a snake
or not.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo