Remember these five types of plugs, and your audio journey will take another big step!

Although there are many and complicated audio combinations and types, they are surprisingly simple and rare in the world of audio "wires" and "connectors". However, in my experience, in addition to the several audio knowledge I shared with you earlier, there is another question that I am most often asked by beginners in audio: "What is the purpose of this audio connector?".

For beginners, what 3.5 plugs, RCA plugs, banana plugs, etc. are basically complicated and difficult to understand, but if you want to build a set of audio, you must understand the purpose and characteristics of these audio plugs. Focus. So today's "Sound Research Room" will share with you, what types of connectors are commonly used in audio, and what are their uses. I will not instigate the following, but will directly introduce the commonly used analog signal connectors for audio!

Note: In order to avoid confusion, we will only introduce the analog signal plugs used in traditional audio today. As for the digital coaxial, optical, USB and other plugs, we will talk about it in the future! In addition, all audio plugs will have different grades and prices due to manufacturing technology, material grade, surface treatment technology, etc., and different grades of plugs have no less impact on the appearance of the audio sound than the wire, so choose the appropriate connector level It is also very important!

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1. Audio connector you must have seen: 3.5 headphone plug

3.5 Headphone plug is the "headphone plug" that we use to connect headphones to mobile phones and walkmans. This kind of plug can be said to be the most exquisite and the most complicated of all audio plugs: the earphone plug can transmit the left and right sound channels at the same time as long as one plug. The four rings for smart phones (the golden part is divided into four Section) The plug can even add wire control functions such as volume adjustment and confirmation buttons.

The earphone plug is made of a multi-section metal sleeve. There are different price levels due to the gold-plating technology, the grade of copper used, and the processing and manufacturing technology. For example, the plug in the picture above uses a patented one-piece sleeve design and is completely non-magnetic. Special surface treatment, although the price is higher than that of the general marketed earphone plugs, it can also provide better sound quality performance.

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2. A big headphone plug: 6.3 headphone/microphone plug

Generally speaking, this kind of plug can only be seen in three places: microphones, over-ear headphones, and electronic musical instruments (electric guitars, keyboards, etc.). 6.3 The headphone plug can be said to be an enlarged version of the 3.5 headphone plug. However, in order to be suitable for microphones, electronic musical instruments, etc., it is specially divided into two-section metal Mono mono and three-section metal Stereo stereo version. The former is used for microphones and Electronic musical instruments; the latter is used for over-ear headphones and other purposes. 6.3 The headphone plug has the characteristic of "one plug handles all two channels", and can provide a more stable connection than the 3.5 headphone plug (because it is larger!), so it is often used in broadcasting systems, recording systems, and stage performance systems. and many more.

Note: In fact, there is also a smaller 2.5 plug for the earphone plug. Many mobile phones used this plug before, but it is rare now. In addition, 2.5, 3.5, and 6.4 all refer to the diameter of the headphone plug, so you can judge from the numbers which one is bigger!

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3. The most common audio system plug: RCA plug

This kind of plug has two aliases: plum blossom plug and "AV terminal". In fact, strictly speaking, the AV terminal cannot be regarded as a general term for the RCA plug. It is just that most of the AV terminals we used to talk about in the past use this kind of plug.

The RCA terminal is a plug widely used in radios produced by Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1930, so this plug is named "RCA plug". RCA plugs are mostly used to transmit audio signals between the source and the amplifier. One plug can only transmit one channel, so generally two channel audio must use two to transmit the left and right channel sounds! In the past, RCA plugs can also be used to transmit images, such as analog AV terminals, high-quality component terminals, etc., but now they have been replaced by HDMI, VGA and other plugs, so the biggest use of RCA at present is to transmit audio signals!

Note: Many TV and computer speakers now also use RCA plugs to act as speaker terminals. Therefore, if your speakers are connected to a TV or amplifier by this kind of thing, then when you buy a cable, you have to emphasize to the boss "I The speaker terminal is an RCA terminal", so that the boss won’t give you the wrong thing! In addition, the "coaxial cable" in the audio digital cable also uses this kind of plug. I will explain to you when I talk about digital cables in the future!

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4. Dedicated for stage performance, recording system, high-end audio system: XLR balanced terminal (Cannon head)

This is the plug invented by James H. Cannon, so it is called the Cannon plug. Later, a plug with a protective rubber at the end (Robber) and model Cannon XL (L stands for Lock) appeared. Therefore, this plug has an additional "XLR" plug name.

This plug provides more than three signal terminals at the same time, so it can transmit more signals than RCA terminals at the same time. In addition, it has a spring lock to prevent the plug from loosening. Therefore, it is often used for stage performances, microphones (handheld microphones). The end is this kind of plug), recording system and other equipment.

In recent years, many high-end audio systems and headphone systems have also begun to use this kind of plug. Because the circuit design must adopt a "balanced" circuit design, it can provide better separation and better dynamic sound quality performance. At present, almost all high-end audio systems Everyone will use this kind of connector, which is a very noteworthy high-end plug.

In order to cope with the use of the headphone system, you can also see the mini XLR plug as shown in the picture above. Compared with the huge XLR plug (about 1.5 cm in diameter and about 7 cm in length), the Mini XLR is reduced to 3.5 The size of the headphone head, but it has more than three signal terminals like the XLR plug, so it can provide the same signal transmission effect as the XLR plug. It is a balanced headphone system or some interchangeable headphones (such as AKG K240 MK2) Commonly used signal terminal.

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Five, passive speaker must: speaker plug (banana, wave, Y type plug)

Except for the active speakers with built-in amplifiers, all speakers must rely on speaker plugs to connect with the amplifier. There are three common speaker plugs: banana, wave, and Y-type plugs. These three plugs have the same characteristics and transmission functions. Only the three characteristics of shape, fixing method and sound performance are different.

Speaker plugs are different from the multi-contact plugs mentioned earlier. A speaker plug can only conduct "one polarity (one of the positive and negative poles)". Therefore, one channel must use "two" plugs to complete the transmission. More troublesome than RCA plug. However, the speaker plug has a large contact area and can accommodate thicker wires, and the energy of transmitting signals is larger than that of the previous plugs. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for speaker wires that must emphasize the signal energy.

The whole golden plug in the picture above is the so-called "banana plug". The English name is Banana Plug, which is very interesting. This kind of plug uses the rotating metal cover in the middle to break forward and only open the flexible arc-shaped metal head, so that the metal plug can be tightly fixed in the speaker socket, so that the speaker wire will not loosen; the plastic plug below is The so-called "wave plug", this kind of plug is stamped from a copper sheet with higher hardness. The "wave shape" is cut out at the cut where the copper sheet is pressed into a circle, so that the plug can maintain the elastic force of the outward support. Allow the plug to support itself in the socket and ensure that the plug will not loosen.

Another type of plug that is not "inserted into" the speaker terminal block is called "Y-shaped plug". This kind of plug must first unscrew the knob on the speaker socket, and then insert the gap of the above plug from the unscrewed place. In the speaker terminal block, turn the knob back to clamp the speaker plug so that the plug will not fall off.

However, some players believe that the contact area of the Y-type plug is small and the connection with the speaker terminal is in right-angle contact (the banana and the wave plug are directly inserted into the speaker base, so they are in linear contact), so the sound dynamics, high and low frequency extension It is inferior to banana plug and wave plug, but audio is basically a personal experience of individual practice, here is not the question of who is better and who is bad, just share the opinions of some players with you, please play by yourself Experience it!

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Common audio analog transmission terminals are probably the above five types. These five types of terminals are used to transmit "analog audio signals". Therefore, all terminals in the application can be specially customized for special cables that can be connected to each other, such as mobile phones. , The 3.5 to RCA plug that the Walkman plugs into the stereo, the 6.3 to RCA plug that converts the recording card to the stereo, etc., as long as you can find a store that is willing to provide customized cables (or you can learn DIY by yourself), you can do it in the above Among these plugs, different patch cords are made according to the purpose!