RED XLR > MiniQ

[Anders Holck]

I'm wondering what the story is behind the construction of the RED XLR > TA3 cables.

I was a bit surprised to find a resistor bridge in the XLR end of the cable.
The wiring is like so:


It seems to boost the signal.

Anyone knows what this circuit does exactly, and why it's there?

(Edit: It does not reverse the polarity. Apparently TA3 connectors have pins 2 and 3 swapped campared to a XLR3)
(Edit2: The Red manual pictures a XLR3 connector without the swapped connectors, not a TA3. This must be a mistake)

[Craig Bowman]

Without this setup your audio would come out phase reversed. People who are making their own cables are already wondering why their audio signals are mirrored. Its because you can't just make a pass through adaptor.

[Anders Holck]

Sure, but why put it in the cable and not inside the Red body?

[Georg Misch]

At least this should be documented somehwere. And yes, this looks very strange. The Mini-xlr connectors are available on many pieces of audio equipment such as the SoundDevices Recorders, where they are used for the Channel 3+4 Input on the 744T for instance. I am not aware that there is any special wiring in those.

A clarification from RED wold be great.

Georg

[Alexis Hanawalt]

What is "mini Q"? I just bought some mini-xlr to xlr adaptors from a music store - please tell me they'll work...

[Anders Holck]

Sorry.
TA3=MiniXLR=TinyQ

MiniQ was just me misspelling TinyQ

[Kevin Halverson]

I'm wondering what the story is behind the construction of the RED XLR > TA3 cables.

I was a bit surprised to find a resistor bridge in the XLR end of the cable.
The wiring is like so:


It seems to boost the signal while it also seems to reverse the phase.

Anyone knows what this circuit does exactly, and why it's there?

Your depiction of the mini XLR connector end is incorrect (see attached photograph). You have the label for pins 2 & 3 swapped on the mini XLR end.

This is a common misconception, mini XLR connectors have a different relationship between their physical pin and the numeric assignment when compared to full sized XLRs.

[Anders Holck]

So the "phase flip" is just because the pin configuration is different on the Mini xlr? Makes sense. I edited the original post.

Any clue to the use of resistors?

[Anders Holck]

Hmm....from the RED manual:


Doesn't show pins 2 and 3 swapped as per TA3 spec

[Anders Holck]

Anyone from RED want to chime in? Stuart?
If this is important, shouldn't it be in the manual or something?
Also that schematic in the Manual, is that wrong? Shouldn't pin 2 be at the bottom?

Switchcraft TinyQ Manual

I'm glad I did the research on a RED cable before soldering my 12 short cables and two 4 channel snakes. But I know a few guys that didn't get to see the RED cable before making their own...