Color Coded Plugs

G

ggrantly

Veteran
Is there any left-right convention on color coded XLR cables? Red = ?? Blue = ?? Dumb question, but is there any SOP for this?

Thanks,
Grant
 
Don't cut the blue wire!

But seriously... are you talking about the individual conductors inside the cable?
 
return...no that's something else.... don't think about that color...

for inside cable, it would be tip ring sleeve, hot, cold, sleeve, red blue and that other wire....
 
If you are talking about the inside wires that make up the cable, it doesn't really matter as long as both ends are wired correctly.
 
Nah, I was just curious about the channels.

Red right return is an inside joke for the nautical crowd. Didn't mean to confuse the issue.

Grant
 
it doesn't matter indeed, but it's a trick I use

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRred = RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRight

and then red = 1 = hot

In a way it's more "logic" to say "red blue" then "blue red".... it's also always "Jack & Jill" and not "Jill & Jack"..if you say "jill & Jack" it sounds...weird...
it's like "snowhite and the 7dwarfs or "Tom and Jerry" and not the 7 dwarfs and Snowhite" and "Jerry and Tom"

So "red - blue", "1 - 2" :-p
 
connectivitygroup said:
Red is normally hot but on a xlr it is NOT pin 1. Pin 1 is ground pin 2 is hot or + and pin 3 is cold or -.
Click to expand...

Not always. It used to be that the East Coast (US) was generally pin 3 hot and the West coast was pin 2 hot. So with older equipment you may find some pin three hot XLR connectors.

As a general rule with color Red = Right = channel 2 (assuming stereo). XLR's are generally not color coded so I don't think there is a "standard" but I would go with Red = Right.
 
Noiz2 said:
Not always. It used to be that the East Coast (US) was generally pin 3 hot and the West coast was pin 2 hot. So with older equipment you may find some pin three hot XLR connectors.

As a general rule with color Red = Right = channel 2 (assuming stereo). XLR's are generally not color coded so I don't think there is a "standard" but I would go with Red = Right.
Click to expand...
I had totally forgotten that!

Man I had a tech call at work the other day and a guy was saying his mic was out of phase, and I told him, it's not the mic, it's gotta be in your cable. Thanks for the reminder. I will call him tomorrow and find out if he is running vintage gear.
 
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