No....

They do come in handy though... I use XLR-type plugs and jacks for my hose and power head on my home central vacuum system!

Buy yourself a little bench vice to hold the suckers while you solder them and get a Magilamp. The 3 pin ones aren't that bad, 4 pins gets fiddly. But then spare a thought for those soldering 12 pin Lemo connectors.

But why are you soldering them? You can buy almost every combination of plug and socket on the end of a piece of wire already made up for less than the cost of the connectors.

I do a ton (or tonne even) of XLR soldering. It gets pretty easy after a few hundred of them. I can almost do it in my sleep now.

I do have one big recommendation which goes against every bit of advertising and friendly advice i've ever seen though ... do NOT use Neutrik connectors! The strain relief bites into the cable and ends up severing the conductors in pretty short order. I'd say that nearly 3/4 of the XLR soldering i've done involves replacing Neutrik connectors with something better. Kinda ironic since Neutrik is billed as the best connectors money can buy.

The most reliable ones i've ever found are the ones that Radio Shack sells. I'm not sure who makes them, but RCA and a few other name brands sell the same ones. Very solid, and never had to replace one, ever.

Boobolah!

"But why are you soldering them? You can buy almost every combination of plug and socket on the end of a piece of wire already made up for less than the cost of the connectors."

You find me:

* UK supplier

* Fixable rotating m/f right-angled at each end?

* Cabling to be about 40cms?

Go on Bob? I challenge you?

I got me some Neutriks, just the job. Have you seen the latest Neutriks? Awesome!! Their rotators are spectacular! They lock together like a Chinese Puzzle. Very clever.

Lemos!! Huh!!

Grazie

Kelso! just read your bit on Neutriks! DO see their latest offerings. The strain relief thing? Must've been listening to you!!!

G

* Fixable rotating m/f right-angled at each end?

That's going to be very difficult to find.
My co-worker has been looking for a source for these for his band's audio board and has struck out :-(

* UK supplier

Once again, kinda tough. Here's a thread from an audio newsgroup that has some possible links for you.

Lemos!! Huh!!

Try 7-pin DIN connector headset plugs (where's my microscope??) or 30-pin camera cables :-(

Mike

MCM Electronics has them.
JJK

No sweat, I'm pretty certain we bought ours from Sennheiser, use them from the shotgun to the Z1s, certainly stock part from someone.

They're a great connector and have been around for a long time. I've solder many of them on, only cause the boss had a box of them from way back and it was cheaper for me to solder them on than him buy a new cable, cheapskate.

Here's the trick. Remove the black plastic pin holder. Feed the cable thru the cable clamp and through the housing, you'll need to bend the cable 90deg in the process. Solder cable to pins. Then carefully pull the cable back as you push the plastic pin housing into the connector body. Not really that hard once you work it out.

Try to lay the conductors to suit the direction you plan to have the cable exit the connector too. If not add some heatshrink over the long earth braid so it doesn't short to the other pins if you rotate the housing for a different exit angle.

Haven't had one go bad yet. I always add a piece of heatshrink where the cable clamp bites into the cable. Use good quality cable with plenty of strands in the conductors.

Twas going to Skype you but no Grazie online and I'm going to sleep now, long day.

Bob.

Grazie:

Have you looked here?

http://www.vdctrading.com/products.asp?SubSectionID=57