Trivia - What's XLR mean?

[dickhauser]

I know about the wiring and that, but tonight in an A/V orientation, the presenter said that really, no one (not even Wikipedia) knows. I can't believe that, but I don't know.

Anyone?

Dick H

[cuttime]

Just guessing, Shield, Left, Right? Or Ground (or "cold"), Left, Right? Interesting question.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'd guess crossed (pairs?) left/right.

[stephentayler]

They were known as a Cannon connector when I came to the business -

this from Wiki seems to at least partly explain it:

Originally manufactured as the Cannon X series, subsequent versions added a latch (Cannon XL) and then surrounded the female contacts with a resilient polychloroprene, which resulted in the part number prefix XLR. There was also an XLP series which used a hard plastic insulation, but was otherwise the same.

so it would seem that XLR was a model number that has fallen into common usage

Cheers

SWT

[stephentayler]

... and XLR connectors can have from three up to nine pins - so it can't mean left, right - my stereo mic lead has 5 pins...


SWT

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Man, I should have cheated and looked it up!

[Gravity Jim]

At Stephen's prompting, I now remember when they were commonly referred to as a "Cannon XLR," back when I started plugging them in.

[dickhauser]

"stephentayler" said: [They were known as a Cannon connector when I came to the business -]

Thank you Stephen (and others). As far as I'm concerned, you've explained the derivation. I'll except the Wiki explanation since it matches the experience of someone that was connecting them at the time!