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Neutrik have announced a twist on the ubiquitous XLR audio connector [link], providing both male and female connections in one device.
Having recorded a device called the "ambi-jack" in my lab notebook back in 1974 (said device would accept either "RCA" or 1/8" phone plug connectors), I am pleased
to see another advance in this area.
But I think the idea should be extended to all sorts of signal connectors (power wiring probably not such a great idea.) I have a large briefcase full of adaptors for the standard audio / video interconnections (RCA, BNC, 1/4" mono and stereo phone plugs, 1/8" ditto, XLR, dual banana, F-type, etc. etc.)
Not all of these are susceptible to the Neutrik approach, but certainly one could imagine the cable-type 1/4" plugs (for instance) having a lockable retractible male appendage which could also retract sufficiently to function as a female connector.
Other types are left as an excercise for the student.
Unisex cable connector
http://showdaily.bi...view&id=19&Itemid=1
Scroll down a page to see the article [csea, May 07 2008]
Combo
http://www.neutrik..../productsearch.aspx
Another receptacle for XLR or 1/4" phone [csea, May 07 2008]
IBM Token-Ring connector
http://www.cablesdi...txtKeyword=CTRC5-BA
These were designed that way, but the were huge, ungainly and ugly to boot. [krelnik, May 07 2008]
[link]
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You didn't provide the idea portion of your idea. Do you need to select the end first, or does the mechanism move and connect automatically? How would, say, a pin change to a socket? Will it be compact enough to fit in a bank of receptacles? It's hard to tell what it does, from the link. |
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[+] mostly for the usage of the word 'hermaphroditic'---the only problem is, it will be difficult for these connectors to really understand 'who they are', and they may go through life with deep-seated confusion and anxiety. |
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Is anyone else thinking of *that* scene from *that* movie? |
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If you cut the head off a hermaphroditic signal connector, would it grow another one? |
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I'm with [Amos Kito] - where's the idea here? |
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// would it grow another one? // |
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Hmmm. If you cut the cable in the middle, surely it should grow a new connector at each end ? |
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What would happen if a mass of cables like this were left shut away in a dark cupboard ? Wire coat hangers are bad enough for multiplying, this is some new horror .... we sense a movie coming ...... Mutant Hermaphrodite Cables from Mars ..... |
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On a related note, Apple makes an audio connector on its Airport Express and some high-end laptops that will take either a 1/8" stereo analog audio cable, or a Toslink-style fiber-optic digital audio cable with the "Mini-TOSLINK" end. Its quite ingeniously designed. |
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Yes, I've been using it on my MacBook to get SPDIF into it optically. It's a multipurpose 3.5mm jack. I think some of the snoudblaster cards had the same. |
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OK, perhaps I should clarify. Imagine an (n)-pin connector, where the pins are spring loaded, but fully retractible into sockets deep enough to conceal the pins. When introduced to a female connector, the pins are forced into the socket by the spring loading (and presumably there is a latch on the body, as on an XLR connector.) |
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Should such a connector be required to mate with a male connector, the spring-loaded pins are pushed back into the surrounding sockets. |
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Similar mechanisms would work for a standard 1/4" TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) connector, twice as deep as regular, with all 3 contacts retractable into the housing. Instead of a latch, for this type of connector, one could imagine an annular threaded ring to keep the contacts inserted. |
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And, yes, my DAT machine uses a Sony 1/8"-toslink fiber connector. |
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"OK, perhaps I should clarify."
You're describing the XLR connector and suggesting all connectors should be like that. I don't thinkg that's an idea in the halfbakery sense. |
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