I have a question about installing - attaching the back of these to XLR (balanced) cables.  HOW?  I envisioned simply attaching the other end of a cable to the back, but of course, ignorance proved me wrong.
 
I've attached pictures of the front and back so you can see what I'm talking about.  Is there some sort of adapter I need to attach this to a cable?
 
Any advice will be appreciated!!  Links too!
 

EDIT:  Bear with me, the IMAGE URL link isn't working for some reason!!!  (GRRR).  Off to Photobucket!
 

 

You need to get a hold of some shielded microphone cable, and a soldering iron with solder. Wiring shouldn't really matter as long as you wire the connectors the exact same on both ends. You can get bulk cables from partsexpress.com

-eB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLR_connector

Spindle,

Did you not research this carefully before purchasing the wall plate? What will you be connecting the XLR cables to? A mixer? A soundcard? Are you knocking a hole in a wall to install the wall plate? If so, how are you planning to run the cables to the appropriate destination?

Without knowing the end result you desire to achieve it's really hard to give you the proper advice. Running cables in a studio isn't always as simple as connecting point A to point B.

Papa, I researched as carefully as I knew how.  This is a fairly simple question however.  I am simply running the wires from here into a patch bay, which will then be routed to my PreSonus Firepods.

Yes, I am in the process of installing electrical boxes (plugs) as well, in addition to these wall mounts; I am also installing 4 - 1/4" plates as well.  The wires (balanced) will run down the wall into the control room.  I am still in the process of building the walls in the basement I am finishing for my studio.  I will post pics when I get time.

The question was pretty much answered by eBlue, and I have no problem with that.  I was hoping to make my own line anyway, and build my own mic cables for the studio, so this is perfect!

Thanks eBlue for the link!!  FUn fun fun.

Since you know how to solder this will be no problem, those are solder lugs on the back.  Tin the wire and heat the little lugs and melt some solder in them, push
the wire in as far as it will go while keeping the cup (lug) heated.  When the solder on the wire melts also take away the iron and let it cool. Use something to hold the cable so the wire doesn't move during the cooling.   Make sure you verify the lug numbers.  The shield goes to pin 1, positive to pin 2 and negative to pin 3.  In most cases the shield will be too much so half it and twist both then cut one off clean as close to the wire cover as possible. Make sure no little strands can touch any of the contacts.

I also like to shied the back some way. The best way is to use a metal box but you can also use shielding foil after electrical tape.  If you don't want to go to the trouble try it first without and see if you pick up any RFI or EMI, if not then it's not an issue.  To make it neater try to find bulk snake cable. I use Mogami W2549 for all single cables.

Some studio guys also suggest to use the same brand and model cable in the wall you use for your leads so if you plan to make cables also just buy a bunch of the same stuff to outfit the entire studio. I'm not sure why but they say not to chain different model cables from one active device to the other. But it's OK to have a different cable on the output of an active device.

Frank, that was totally great, your instructions!  Thanks so much for that!!  We've found at Parts Express the shielded wall cable , 250' for less than 50 bux!! 

I guess my only other question is on the "receiving end", I was considering putting in a patch bay.  I was going to solder Male XLRs on the studio end of these runs, but patch bays only use 1/4" TRS.  As I'm going to be using Presonus Firepods should I even worry about using patch bays?  I just thought it would be neater.

Thanks again!

spindlebox


Frank, that was totally great, your instructions!  Thanks so much for that!!  We've found at Parts Express the shielded wall cable , 250' for less than 50 bux!! 

I guess my only other question is on the "receiving end", I was considering putting in a patch bay.  I was going to solder Male XLRs on the studio end of these runs, but patch bays only use 1/4" TRS.  As I'm going to be using Presonus Firepods should I even worry about using patch bays?  I just thought it would be neater.

Thanks again!

I have buitl my own custom panel for my sound room. I have 16 XLR and 4 1/4 connectors in the panel. The first row of XLR Are straight XLR. The second row is hybrid XLR-1/4 jacks. I wired all of the first XLR row to XLR Male connectors in the harness. I wired channels 9-12 as TRS and 13-16 as Male XLR. I used shielded wire. If I were to do it again, hindsight you know, I would use the thinnest shielded wire I could find. My harness has 16 shielded cables probably the size of 10 guage wire and 4 heavy guage speaker cable channels through it.
 
If you want, you can see the harness coming from my sound room on the right of this picture below the right mnitor.
http://www.joyfulnoiseproductions.org/studio/DSC02096.JPG
 
here is a picture of the wall plate:
http://www.joyfulnoiseproductions.org/studio/P9140024.JPG
 
Each connection was hand soldered. I made the panel too. What a chore that was without a punch.

From someone who's done this a few thousand times in his life (literally - in a previous job I was NASA certified in soldering) use only rosin core solder not that stuff plumbers use. And no matter what is said about some solders being no-clean or water clean, take some isopropyl alcohol and brush down the connections after soldering to remove any leftover flux.

Another little tidbit that'll help keep you from getting into trouble with shorts on the back of the wall plate - get some heat shrink tubing to go over each connection. What you do is put the heatshrink on each individual conductor BEFORE you solder it to the XLR; keep it away from the heat while soldering. Clean the connection and THEN slide the heatshrink down and shrink with either the heat from the solder iron (but don't touch the heatshrink with the iron) or a hair dryer. Don't get heatshrink that's too large a diameter - it'll only shrink down to half it's original diameter.

Guitarmech,

I see you have a patch bay.  As I'm having XLRs come into the studio, in addition to TRS, I was thinking about using a patch bay, and then going from there into my Audio Interface (will be Presonus FIREPOD)

Any suggestions?  I was thinking about using an XLR to TRS coupler; like this but a stereo version:  http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-396

Thoughts?