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[TowerTalk] Connector Tolerances and Quality

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Connector Tolerances and Quality
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2016 09:04:56 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On Tue,9/6/2016 8:33 AM, Zivney, Terry wrote:
To my dismay, I could not  get the two connectors to mate!

For nearly 20 years, I've been a member of the Audio Engineering Society Standards Committee Working Groups on Interconnections, on EMC, and on Microphones. Precise dimensions, and tolerances, are a critical part of making connectors work or not, be reliable, or not. Neutrik, based in EU, and Switchcraft, based in the US, are the two major manufacturers of pro audio connectors worldwide, and their products are of high quality. Both have reported problems with knock-off and counterfeit connectors that don't work because dimensions aren't right. Likewise, major microphone companies like Shure and Sennheiser have reported counterfeiting of their products.

I've seen exactly the issues discussed in this post -- threads too short, so that the connector either does not mate or is difficult to mate.

The metals and insulating materials also matter. I bought a bunch of miniature DIN connectors (no relationship to the coaxial connectors being discussed here) that JA rig mfrs have long used for accessories. The contacts wouldn't take solder and the dielectric melted when I tried to solder them. When I contacted the vendor, RF Connection, to complain, I was told, "hams are cheap." Switchcraft sells this line of connectors, and I believe they import them from EU. They cost a lot more, but they solder well and the dielectric doesn't melt. :)

73, Jim K9YC

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