On 20:01 28 Sep 2009, Rich Grise wrote:

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:50:30 +0100, Peter wrote:
On 22:05 25 Sep 2009, Rich Grise wrote:
On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:19:39 +0100, Peter wrote:

I have a 3.5mm TRS plug which is prewired. It looks like
this

http://www.mycablemart.com/store/ima.../1085_large.jp
g

The tip of that TRS plug is connected to the red wire (RIGHT
channel).

Has that been done correctly? I thought the tip of the TRS
plug is the LEFT channel.

(I also have a 3.5mm TRS socket which is prewired and the red
wire is also the tip.)

Does it matter? Can you tell "right" from "left" by ear?
Lessee, strings on the left, brass on the right, percussion in
back...

Of course if it's wrong, just fire up the ol' soldering iron,
and swap them. Takes about four minutes.

Hi Rich. I would love to just resolder the adaptors but my pics
show the connectors are moulded on to the wires.

Worse still, it's not for a fixed setup because I'm testing
mono microphones and need to eliminate disparities in the
recorder and player. Below are some typical set ups.

I use a stereo portable recorder and make a recording with one
test mic on one channel and another mic on the other channel.

To compare the two recordings I might do this: Take the L or R
(and I need to identify which is which because of course that
tells me which mic I am listening to) and feed its signal into
both L and R conductors on the line-in socket on the PC.

When you start your test, tap one mic say, two times, and tap
the other mic three or four times. (tap as in, with your
fingernail.)

Then see which channel they come out on. :-)

To test the recorder, just use one mic.

Of course, if the outputs are _also_ swapped, then you'd need
more experimentation.

Unfortunately, I don't know if there even _is_ a standard for
those TRS plugs/jacks.

Good Luck!
Rich

Thanks for the info. I wrote that the real problem is the ease and
speed of channel identification rather than how to use tapping
procedures to determine which channel is which (and which rely on a
visual indication of recording levels).

I think the problem was probably due to some duff batches which CPC
Farnell were selling off cheaply. I'll check some more of the ones I
bought and see if they'll swap them for correct ones. The moral must
be not to trust CPC Farnell's quality assurance.

Unfortunately the electronic engineering supplier Farnell UK (not CPC
Farnell) also draws from the same stock for these parts and they say
this on their website: Connectors are an important part of every
electronic design and Farnell are committed to bringing you the
latest products from the leading Connector manufacturers

What a cheek!

http://uk.farnell.com/connectors