One of the beauties of DIY is the fact that we're not stuck with standards adopted by the industry-at-large. No better example of this are the connectors used to tie our various components together; RCA and XLR connectors for line level connections and the multi-way binding post for speaker connections.
While each of these (though much less so the XLR) have been much refined over the years by specialty manufacturers seeking better performance over the bog standard commercial offerings, they're still locked into the basic standard in order to maintain compatability.
Yet in spite of not being ball-and-chained to standard connectors, most all DIY projects end up using them in one flavor or another.
About 13 years ago while having lunch with the area Lemo rep (a real character of a Scotsman named Andrew Baxter--which I only mention because I'm surprised I still remember his name) regarding some Lemo connectors I was interested in for a commercial project, he reached into his sample case and tossed me this little thing, suggesting I give it a try:
<center>
<img src="http://www.q-audio.com/images/redel.jpg">
</center>
Basically, a medical grade (autoclavable) plastic version of the Lemo B series metal shell connectors made by <a href="http://www.redel.com">Redel</a>.
I thanked him, but didn't have any plans to use it on a commercial product at a time when everyone wanted things made out of precision machined metal.
However sometime later when I was making some major changes in my personal system, I plucked the Redel out of my sample box and gave it serious consideration.
It had a number of attributes that appealed to me in spite of it being made of plastic. It was small, not much larger than the beefier RCA connectors. It was a locking connector that was exceedingly simple to use. Just push it in until you hear it lock in with a click and while no pulling on the cable will disconnect it, all you have to do is pull on the body and it disconnects with a breeze.
The nested cylindrical construction of the plug/recepticle provided a gas tight environment for the connectors proper. And the connectors are small, simple pin/socket arrangements which result in what amounts to a simple inline splice for the wire as oposed to tacking the wires to large chunks of metal.
The plugs are available with either crimp or solder connections. The recepticles are available with crimp, solder as well as straight and right-angle PC mount versions. They're also a keyed connector available with four different keying (I use three different ones, one for line level, one for speaker level and one for DC power).
To make a long story short, I've compared them to a fair variety of RCAs, XLRs and even proper Lemos and for me, the Redels have always come out the winner. In fact, I even use them for my loudspeaker connections.
I use a quad geometry cable for both my line and speaker connections and use the 4-pin version of the plug (the photo's the 7-pin version I was first given as a sample). It lets me maintain the quad geometry all the way through the chassis.
The closest I found to the Redels were some plastic shell Neutrik XLRs. But I find XLRs to be rather laughably large for what they have to do.
Anyway, if you're feeling rebellious and would like to try something different, take a look at the Redels.
se
While each of these (though much less so the XLR) have been much refined over the years by specialty manufacturers seeking better performance over the bog standard commercial offerings, they're still locked into the basic standard in order to maintain compatability.
Yet in spite of not being ball-and-chained to standard connectors, most all DIY projects end up using them in one flavor or another.
About 13 years ago while having lunch with the area Lemo rep (a real character of a Scotsman named Andrew Baxter--which I only mention because I'm surprised I still remember his name) regarding some Lemo connectors I was interested in for a commercial project, he reached into his sample case and tossed me this little thing, suggesting I give it a try:
<center>
<img src="http://www.q-audio.com/images/redel.jpg">
</center>
Basically, a medical grade (autoclavable) plastic version of the Lemo B series metal shell connectors made by <a href="http://www.redel.com">Redel</a>.
I thanked him, but didn't have any plans to use it on a commercial product at a time when everyone wanted things made out of precision machined metal.
However sometime later when I was making some major changes in my personal system, I plucked the Redel out of my sample box and gave it serious consideration.
It had a number of attributes that appealed to me in spite of it being made of plastic. It was small, not much larger than the beefier RCA connectors. It was a locking connector that was exceedingly simple to use. Just push it in until you hear it lock in with a click and while no pulling on the cable will disconnect it, all you have to do is pull on the body and it disconnects with a breeze.
The nested cylindrical construction of the plug/recepticle provided a gas tight environment for the connectors proper. And the connectors are small, simple pin/socket arrangements which result in what amounts to a simple inline splice for the wire as oposed to tacking the wires to large chunks of metal.
The plugs are available with either crimp or solder connections. The recepticles are available with crimp, solder as well as straight and right-angle PC mount versions. They're also a keyed connector available with four different keying (I use three different ones, one for line level, one for speaker level and one for DC power).
To make a long story short, I've compared them to a fair variety of RCAs, XLRs and even proper Lemos and for me, the Redels have always come out the winner. In fact, I even use them for my loudspeaker connections.
I use a quad geometry cable for both my line and speaker connections and use the 4-pin version of the plug (the photo's the 7-pin version I was first given as a sample). It lets me maintain the quad geometry all the way through the chassis.
The closest I found to the Redels were some plastic shell Neutrik XLRs. But I find XLRs to be rather laughably large for what they have to do.
Anyway, if you're feeling rebellious and would like to try something different, take a look at the Redels.
se
is the absolute undisputed heavyweight champion as far as audio connectors are concerned.
