Jack leads instead of XLR on radio mics

[bonzodog]

I always use XLR leads for mics in our band and although if I'm honest I don't fully understand why they are better other than the noise reduction issues they work better as I can use same leads for mics and active speaker leads.

In another project i am doing i have a radio mic receiver and a media player with Mic input housed together in a 2U flight case. I want it all to be pre-wired but the problem is when I put the covers back on the front of the flight case the Mic lead sticks out quite a bit when plugged into the media player and is rubbing on the inside of the cover.
Both the radio mic and media player can accept jack leads and i have a few L shaped Jack leads which would be ideal but I've never used jack leads for mics.

am I likely to see a loss in quality or volume? As they are in same case the lead only needs to be a few inches long and the Mic is only being used for talking not singing.

Not sure if you can get L shaped XLR leads.
Thanks in advance

Edited October 31, 2017 by bonzodog

[BigRedX]

You can get right-angle XLR leads Neutrik make them in both [url=http://www.neutrik.co.uk/en-uk/xlr/rx-series/nc3frx]female[/url] and [url=http://www.neutrik.co.uk/en-uk/xlr/rx-series/nc3mrx]male[/url] versions.

[EBS_freak]

As above... or if you fancy a project..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-XI6doQWIM

For that length of cable, you shouldn't be able to hear any difference between a balanced mic run vs unbalanced jack run. Having said that, I don't know what the units are - but they may be expecting a balanced connection over a jack using a TRS jack. Have you got any further info about the components?

[obbm]

I have some brand new generic right-angle male and female XLRs which are £1 each plus postage if you are interested.

[bonzodog]

Thanks for the advice so far. I think I will set it up tonight and try it with one of my jack leads. The problem I suppose with a right angle XLR is there are knobs either side of the input so at least a jack can be swivelled around.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1509473298' post='3399267']
Thanks for the advice so far. I think I will set it up tonight and try it with one of my jack leads. The problem I suppose with a right angle XLR is there are knobs either side of the input so at least a jack can be swivelled around.
[/quote]

IIRC the better right-angle XLRs allow the body to be rotated to each of the four 90° positions when you assemble it.

Edited October 31, 2017 by BigRedX

[obbm]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509474247' post='3399278']
IIRC the better right-angle XLRs allow the body to be rotated to each of the four 90° positions when you assemble it.
[/quote]

Not true for all makes of right-angle XLRs.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1509475117' post='3399289']
Not true for all makes of right-angle XLRs.
[/quote]

Probably not, but I'm pretty sure that all the Neutik ones I've bought over the years are capable of this.

[Jack]

Are the jack sockets balanced? Because right angle TRS leads are easier to find and then you'd still have all the high-gain, noise free stuff that you want from XLRs.

[roman_sub]

To address one of the OP questions, there should not be any volume loss between XLR and TRS formats - i.e. both balanced cable runs, and it's just different connections. I doubt you're using phantom power microphones, however definitely avoid putting 48 volts down a TRS cable!

There would be signal loss (6db) if you used a regular (mono) TS jack instead of XLR / TRS formats, and a higher noise floor.