XLR Cables

How a balanced XLR lead works

A three-pin XLR lead carries a balanced signal: the same audio travels on two wires in opposite polarity, inside a screen. Any interference picked up along the way arrives on both wires equally, and the mixer cancels it out when it recombines them. That is why microphones and stage equipment use XLR, and why a balanced lead can run the length of a hall without the hum an unbalanced lead would collect. Phantom power for condenser microphones travels down the same lead from the mixer, so one lead serves dynamic and condenser microphones alike.

The locking latch is the other reason. An XLR plug clicks into its socket and stays there until you press the release, so a lead does not pull out when someone steps on it mid-song.

Microphone leads in black and in colours

Most of our XLR to XLR leads are balanced microphone leads with a female plug at one end and a male plug at the other. Black suits a stage where leads should disappear against the floor. The coloured leads, in blue, red, green and yellow, make it quick to trace which microphone goes to which channel on a busy stage or in a rehearsal room, and they speed up packing away at the end of the night. For a band, a set in one length and several colours is the quickest way to label a stage, and a spare of each length saves a hunt when one fails.

A microphone takes the female end; the male end goes to the mixer, the stage box or the next lead in a run.

XLR to jack for mixers, interfaces and laptops

Not every input is an XLR socket, so the range includes XLR to 6.3mm jack leads for mixers, amplifiers and audio interfaces, and 3.5mm to XLR leads for connecting a laptop, a phone or a tablet to a desk. A TRS jack, with three contacts, keeps the signal balanced; a mono TS jack does not, which matters less over a short lead than a long one. Many audio interfaces have combination sockets that take either an XLR or a jack, so an XLR to XLR lead is often all a home studio needs.

Check which way round you need: a lead from a microphone to a jack input uses a female XLR, and a lead from a jack output to a mixer's XLR input uses a male XLR.

Twin leads for stereo sources

Stereo sources need two channels, so our twin leads carry a left and a right in one lead. Twin XLR to RCA leads connect a DJ mixer, a media player or a hi-fi output to a PA mixer's XLR inputs, or run the other way to feed a home amplifier. Twin jack to twin XLR leads link keyboards, drum machines and effects to a mixing desk without two separate leads tangling. In a DJ booth, a pair of twin leads takes the mixer's main output to the PA and its booth output to the monitors.

Keep the pair together on the desk: left to the odd channel and right to the even one is the usual layout.

Choosing the right length

Measure the run from the source to the input, then add a little slack so the lead can drop to the floor and round a stand without pulling on either plug. A lead that is far too long leaves coils underfoot, and one that is too short pulls on its sockets, so it pays to have a few lengths in the bag. As a guide, a vocal microphone at the front of a small stage reaches the mixer or the stage box on a mid-length lead, while a drum kit at the back of a large stage needs the long ones.

Our Cable Length filter groups the leads by length, from short patch leads to long stage runs, so you can pick a set of lengths in one go.

Looking after XLR leads

Coil leads over and under rather than round the elbow, which twists the conductors and shortens their life. Release the latch before you pull a plug, and hold the plug rather than the cable. Keep leads off the floor where wheels roll over them, and store them loosely coiled with a tie so they come out of the bag ready to run.

A lead that crackles when you move it has a broken conductor near the plug, and it is worth replacing before the next show rather than during it.