The XLR connector was first developed by James Cannon at ITT and was introduced to the audio market in 1958.  Amazingly, through all the changes in connector standards and component wiring, the XLR is still the audio standard for microphone and patch cables.

One reason for its long life is that the basics of the design, much like good computer software design, have moved into the public domain.  Anyone who has a better idea can bring their own version of the XLR connector to market.

A simple innovation developed by the Switchcraft company is an example of this design concept.

Cannon’s design for the XLR was for a round connector-a good idea since it fit well to a round cable and allowed the cable to be dragged along the floor without catching and tangling.  Cannon’s concept called for both round body connectors on the cable and a round body “chassis mount” connector-the mating female connector found on the equipment or multicable box that the cable connector mated with.

A simple innovation by Switchcraft-changing the body shape of the panel mount connector from round to rectangular-meant that more connectors could be mounted side-by-side in a confined space since they could now fit edge to edge.  You can see the value of that design change today by comparing a contemporary audio mixer to one built in the 1960′s or ’70′s.

Many minds contributing to the evolution of the XLR connector means that it will remain the audio industry standard for many years to come.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.  Our Hosa & MI cables use industry standard XLR connectors.

I was disappointed to learn that her television show was ending, but I came across an article in Front Of House magazine that made this a little less painful.

It seems that one of our long time gaffers tape customers, Special Event Services in Winston-Salem, NC was involved in producing Oprah’s last televison shows, taped at the United Center in Chicago.  SES, along with On Stage Audio put together the largest Martin Audio MLA speaker system ever assembled to provide audio support for the tapings.

If I couldn’t be there in person, its good to think that we might have insured that Oprah didn’t trip over a cable.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

Tape is a great tool and we’d never get the show open without it, but prices for products like gaffers tape have reached the point where some new strategies are in order.

In doing some research for my writing on this subject, I came across a great idea for a velcro-backed cable cover that replaces the task of taping a cable down across carpet with a reusable cover that will last for years.

We are looking for a manufacturer who could help us add something like this to our product line, but, in the meantime, you can make your own.

Here’s a link to an excellent YouTube video that will show you exactly how to do it.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.  Every speaker cable we sell is “Satisfaction Guaranteed“.

There are three versions of the NL series connector, and you can find out more about those here.  The confusion comes from many manufacturers choosing to use the NL4 style connector (4 poles) in applications where only two conductors are needed.  This has led to a sort of “de facto” standardization based on the fact that the Speakon standard has been slowly accepted as the way to go by most speaker cabinet and amplifier manufacturers.

By using the NL4 standard, speaker manufacturers have been able to create a product that can be either “mono-amped”(single signal for all components in the speaker cabinet) or “bi-amped” (separate amp signal for the two different components in the cabinet).  The ability to choose whether a speaker is mono-amped or bi-amped based on internal wiring in the cabinet creates lots of flexibility and this makes the confusion worth while.

Speaker cables from buyspeakercable.com are all two conductor but use the NL4 connector standard.

Best of all (even with yet a little more confusion), the NL4 male connector will fit into the same female connector as the NL2.  They are completely interchangeable.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.  Every speaker cable we sell is “Satisfaction Guaranteed“.

An add for Essential Sound Products caught my eye, as advertising for something like a basic power cord really stands out among full page adds for the latest digital mixers and speaker line arrays.

A quick look at ESP’s web site made it clear that this ad wasn’t about a simple power cable. Not when you’re talking about $159.99 for a 7 foot power cable.

We like to think that we know a little about power cables, so Essential Sound’s claim that standard heavy gauge power cables cause (their words)

-High Frequency Roll Off

-Blurred Imaging

-Bloated, Sluggish Bass Response

caught us by surprise.

There may be some small truth to the possible ability of a well engineered cable to deliver measurable improved audio performance (we use the word “may” here). There is absolutely nothing that a cable that delivers power for the last two meters of its travel to an amplifier (wall plug to audio device) can do to address possible deficiencies in the building wiring, wall plug, service entrance cable or the miles of wire that the power company runs to get to the point where ESP’s cable takes over.  It’s a passive device and  can’t put something into available power that is not already there.

Money spent on a well made extension cord or power cable with a large enough gauge to not dissipate power as heat is money well spent.  Any additional expense would be better spent on upgrading your audio equipment.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.  Every extension cord we sell is “Satisfaction Guaranteed“.

The XLR connector was first developed by James Cannon at ITT and was introduced to the audio market in 1958.  Amazingly, through all the changes in connector standards and component wiring, the XLR is still the audio standard for microphone and patch cables.

One reason for its long life is that the basics of the design, much like good computer software design, have moved into the public domain.  Anyone who has a better idea can bring their own version of the XLR connector to market.

A simple innovation developed by the Switchcraft company is an example of this design concept.

Cannon’s design for the XLR was for a round connector-a good idea since it fit well to a round cable and allowed the cable to be dragged along the floor without catching and tangling.  Cannon’s concept called for both round body connectors on the cable and a round body “chassis mount” connector-the mating female connector found on the equipment or multicable box that the cable connector mated with.

A simple innovation by Switchcraft-changing the body shape of the panel mount connector from round to rectangular-meant that more connectors could be mounted side-by-side in a confined space since they could now fit edge to edge.  You can see the value of that design change today by comparing a contemporary audio mixer to one built in the 1960′s or ’70′s.

Many minds contributing to the evolution of the XLR connector means that it will remain the audio industry standard for many years to come.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.  Our Hosa & MI cables use industry standard XLR connectors.

The recent trend in print advertising to have technicians endorse audio products is, in general, a good one.  They normally have a useful perspective and their endorsements have value.  Big Mick has put the value of those endorsements at risk.

Here’s what Big Mick says about his microphone of choice, Audio Technica in May’s Pro Sound News.  “I love Audio-Technica mics.  You can definitely tell an Audio Technica gig as soon as you walk into it.”

Now, I’m no “golden ear” but I do know that between a microphone and my (and Big Mick’s) ears there is (at minimum) a mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and cables, all of which color the sound you hear, regardless of their quality.

The idea that you can identify a brand of microphone just by listening to a live sound system is laughable.

Put on your blindfold, Mick, and step into any music club in America.  Even your ears aren’t that good.

I hope Audio-Technica is paying you well.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.   Click here to sign up for our newsletter.  Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

I learned a lot of my “hands on” production skills working as a stagehand, first as a student, then as a part time employee at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill, on the tech crew there.

One of the first acts I had a chance to do sound for was John Sebastian, soon after he had left The Lovin’Spoonful to go out on his own.

In those days, acts never traveled with sound systems and rarely did any sort of advance work.

The day Mr. Sebastian showed up, the took a look at our sound system and said “where are the monitors?“.  Not only did we not know WHERE the monitors were, we also didn’t know WHAT the monitors were.

After having him explain to us what monitors were and what they did, we decided that we could achieve what he wanted by simply setting up two complete sound systems, duplicate mixers, speakers, mics, stands, everything.  One set for the audience.  The other set for the performer.

I’ll never forget the first thing he said when he hit the stage.  Looking at the audience through a forest of four big, shiny chrome microphone stands, he said “I feel like I’m in jail“.

Next time we produced a concert, we had the monitors.

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We’ll, at least in the realm of portable live sound, there is still at least one area where the sound person’s ability to problem solve still makes him/her valuable.

I’m talking about the use of microphone signal multicables (snakes as they are known) that delivery signal back and forth between the stage and the mix position.

There are so many different standards in use for the digital “snake” that making these links in the signal chain work with the equipment they meet up with on both ends guarantees the sound man will have a job for years to come.

There is a great push to digitize this signal path, because one of the greatest costs affiliated with touring productions is that of moving case after case filled with heavy copper and steel wire.  If the signal moving along these cables can be digitized and then carried along fewer and smaller conductors or along fiber optic cables, the weight and cost savings is significant.

At this point, there is no standardization among manufacturers who make this equipment, and it doesn’t look like either the connectors or the transmission protocol are anywhere close to being agreed-on.

Many years ago, the makers of pro audio equipment agreed on the XLR standard for equipment, and it has made it easy to use equipment manufactured by lots of companies together in the same sound system.

More recently, the Neutrik Speakon connector system has been adopted by lots of speaker and amplifier makers, and this connector appears to be well on its way to becoming an industry standard.

Until this lack of standards issue is settled among most of the major pro audio players there will be no rush to adopt the digital mic snake.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.

One of the ideas that comes up over and over is the timeless concept that “the customer is always right“. After many years of selling specialty products online and through catalog sales, I can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.

I field at least a couple of phone calls every day from a prospective customer who needs to be talked out of making a purchase from us. This is sometimes harder to do than one might think, but I would always prefer to lose a sale than to sell you the wrong item.

Over and over, a customer will try to talk me out of recommending that they not use a tape product for an outdoor application because it does not have UV protection and is not intended to stand up to exposure to sunlight.

Time after time, I have to convince a customer that using an extension cord of too small a gauge will create a fire hazard.

I wish I had a nickel for all the times I have tried (unsuccessfully) to convince a caller that the performance of a ProCell battery is identical to that of a Duracell CopperTop.

It has always been our hope that by creating web sites that were deep with information that we could lead customers to make the right choice-a purchasing choice that would provide a product that met their needs. The same theory is at work when we provide information that should help a prospective customer realize that they product they are considering is not the right item to meet their needs.

Sometimes we lose a sale by insisting that the customer is not always right, but, in the end, this is a lot more satisfying than trying to always make the sale.

Are you someone who believes that conventional business wisdom is not always the way to go? Share your thoughts with us!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

The Sony Retro Wireless USB  has a great classic mic look, but is designed to be used with a USB interface on your computer.  Not only is it designed to be used with a USB port, its wireless!

You can use this mic anywhere within a 10 foot radius of your computer without any cables to trip over.  It uses RFI technology and is designed to work with all current Windows and Mac operating systems.  Best of all no special drivers are needed for use with Windows computers.  It even has an on/off switch.

If your podcasting has advanced to the point where your computer’s onboard mic no longer gets the job done, or you just love the idea of “walking the walk while you talk the talk” then this mic is just what you need.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.  We’ve also got cables for “Wired” microphones!

With my background in pro sound, I was familiar with both the quarter inch standard , and the Canon EP    multipin standard. I had never seen the XLR used for speaker cables.  I quickly became a convert. Here’s why.

Because speaker cables with XLR connectors have a male connector on one end and a female on the other, its easy to extend the length of a cable without an adapter.  Not using an adapter  means not losing an adapter.  This is a really valuable feature when doing long outdoor speaker cable runs.

Each pin in an XLR3 connector is rated at 15 amps.   That’s more than enough current carrying capacity for most practical amplifier outputs.

The flexible strain relief boot on an XLR connector is flexible enough to handle 2 conductor 14 gauge, or even 12 gauge cable.

Each pin makes independent contact with the mating connector, unlike a quarter inch connector where the tip must make contact with the sleeve before it mates with the tip.

Finally the solid, easy to use locking mechanism on the XLR3 means that no additional securing of a connection is necessary when cables are linked together.

A couple of amplifier manufacturers adopted this standard back in the 1980′s, but they let it fall by the wayside when the industry as a whole failed to sign up.

On more than one occasion, I must admit that I used a microphone cable as a temporary speaker cable when I ran out of speaker cables.  Try that with a Speakon cable!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

BuySpeakerCable.com is hosted by Speaker Cable Sam , the latest addition to the GoodBuyGuys family. Sam is ready to provide lots of valuable information about speaker cables, speaker cable connectors and the proper set up of sound system speakers. Sam draws on 30 years of work in the concert production industry to help you make decisions about purchasing and using the best speaker cables and accessories, no matter what your application.

Buyspeakercable.com features cables from Mitee Cable. Mitee cables use quality connectors and wire to insure that your speaker cables deliver all the sound possible from your amplifier to your speakers. They have tough rubber jackets and copper wire that is durable, easily coilable and ready to stand up to the tough use sound and audio visual pros subject their equipment to every day.

Of particular interest is the in depth information provided about Speakon connectors, the new standard for pro audio speaker cables. Mitee Cables feature Speakon connectors that are fully compatible with the Neutrik NL2 & NL4 series connector, available at a fraction of the Neutrik price. Here, you will find valuable guides about wiring and using Speakon connectors, along with adapters that make Speakon speaker cables compatible with other connector types.

With the addition of BuySpeakerCable.com, you can turn to GoodBuyGuys.com for all of your audio visual and sound system cable needs.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

As with most popular products based on good design, lots of copies of the original Speakon have made their way into the marketplace. Neutrik has wisely decided to allow these “knock offs” to prolifierate, realizing that the more products on the market built to be compatible with their brand means the more connectors they will sell. This is how they have managed such total market penetration in an industry that always challenges change.

Our line of Speakon speaker cables is designed to mate effortlessly with Neutrik branded connectors and to perform comparably. Mitee Speakon cables use the same quality components as the Neutrik version and can be counted on to deliver the same reliability over a very long life.

Mitee Speakon speaker cables have locking tabs and are designed to latch securely to Neutrik panel mount connectors, whether mounted on a speaker cabinet or on an amplifier. A simple twist insures a solid connection. Strain relief is provided through a spring loaded “press to release” tab.

Just like the Neutrik version, Mitee Speakons are fully shielded so that there is no risk of ever touching an energized contact. All conductors are recessed and the connector body is heavy duty, non-conducting plastic.

Speakon connectors have a unique design that insure they are not switched with XLR, quarter inch, or any other low current audio cables. They are never used on microphones or signal processing equipment, only speaker cables.

Mitee Speakon speaker cables utilize the four pole connector, even though the cables are two conductor. The four pole standard has been adopted by amplifier manufacturers that equip their amps with Speakon connectors so that the amp can be switched internally between mono and biamped. This means that you can be sure that speaker cables from buyspeakercable.com will mate with all popular Speakon equipped amplifiers.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords & OnStage Stand mic stands.

Now featuring speaker cables at BuySpeakerCable.com

The biggest impediment to having rank and file sound people (not those on the bleeding edge) embrace this technology has been that there were too few knobs capable of doing too many things. Sound people with years of analog mixing experience couldn’t just step up to a new mixer and build a mix. Intuition as to which knob will give the desired result simply didn’t matter anymore.

Digico, long a leader in digital mixers, has introduced a new series of consoles, the SD7 that speak directly to this problem. Instead of embracing the line of thinking that computer processing power would allow the manufacturer to decrease the number of knobs on the mixer (now called “control surface” in digital-speak), Digico is turning this idea on its head.

Decreases in cost and size of computer processing allows the SD7 to have MORE knobs and sliders. The result is that this mixer looks almost like a conventional analog desk. This is the part of the digital puzzle that has been missing, and it is an idea that will lead a whole generation of “over 40 something” sound people to take the digital plunge.

Recognizing that having separate knobs for tone control (eq) and aux busses (monitors and effects) is of more value than making a mixer as small and multi-functional as possible is an idea that is long overdue.

The Digico SD7 is expensive and you shouldn’t expect to see them in churches and schools anytime soon (probably never!). What you will see is some of the more reasonably priced offerings from companies like Yamaha and Mackie following Digico’s lead and using additional processing power to make their lower priced digital mixers something that late adopters will actually recognize.

When that happens, I just might come out of retirement.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands . Now offering Mitee Speaker Cables at buySPEAKERCABLE.com.