Why did McIntosh use Female XLR jacks as output connections on some preamps?

I bought it a long time ago at an electronics flea market. I don't think it was modified, it looked factory with rivited XLRs. I would guess that it was made in the late 1970's?

I made adapters for it, then dumped it for a 367.
 
This should get all excited......Mc7200 and MC7300 schematics show balanced XLR pin 2 driving a 5532 differential IC pin 2 amp which of coarse is a - input. XLR pin 3 which is labeled - drives the + input of the same IC. So for all you phase inversion followers......Does it invert phase?

Well since the output of that 1/2 of the IC drives the - of the other 1/2 of the IC I guess not.........but then again I was taught the beauty of balance connections happened in the transmission line itself not some miracle inside the electronics. Think long 50-100 meter microphone runs and such.
 
Arguably, the miracle does happen in the electronics with the rejection of common mode noise by the differential amp.
 
C35 was built both ways. This is a standard XLR connector which you can change if you so chose.

Thanks,
Ron-C
 
C35 was built both ways. This is a standard XLR connector which you can change if you so chose.

Thanks,
Ron-C

But why Ron, why did Mc not follow convention? Just curious.....
Yeah, you could very easily pop those females out and slip some males in....
 
That was not settled in the mid 80's as stated by others.

Thanks,
Ron-C

Odd, I've been an audio engineer since the early '80s and every bit of gear I had or used back then followed convention as we know it now....
But, yes it was early days so perhaps it hadn't filtered through the whole industry at that point...
I find it interesting....So are you saying the customer could just specify what gender they wanted? At least it was an option...
 
That was not settled in the mid 80's as stated by others.

Thanks,
Ron-C
The the pin wiring may not have been, but the direction of In & Out with the locking XLR certainly was. The way mac did the female out would severely reduce compatibility with most other power amps and anything else forcing the use of RCA if at all possible.

I'm glad this came up because buying used stuff, I wouldn't think at a glance that the XLR would be of no use at all for me.
 
The way mac did the female out would severely reduce compatibility with most other power amps and anything else forcing the use of RCA if at all possible.

I'm glad this came up because buying used stuff, I wouldn't think at a glance that the XLR would be of no use at all for me.

It's not a show stopper.

http://www.markertek.com/product/sc...3-pin-xlr-male-to-3-pin-xlr-male-3-foot-black

or

http://www.markertek.com/product/na...male-to-3-pole-xlr-male-audio-adapter-coupler
 
In the mid 80s I had one of those 'pin 2 hot/ pin 3 hot' spin the wheel joke freebies from the NAB convention, but I thought signal direction was settled long before that.
 
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As I posted, there are male-male cables or adapters.
I don't like adaptors, I like short signal paths with the least amount interference and corruption to the signal. Then you have the fact of buying nice equipment, cabling and stick a cheap adaptor in the mix. I know, one can adapt away stringing tons of gear together and have a cabling nightmare that's a magnet to RFI noise. That's never been my goal, and if the C100 wasn't so good at staying out of the way, I'd be Passive Pre at this point.
 
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I guess McIntosh was not an 'Early Adapter' of the de facto standard. Just checked my Mc2102, no Markertek same gender patches in place. Whew.
 
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I don't like adaptors, I like short signal paths with the least amount interference and corruption to the signal. Then you have the fact of buying nice equipment, cabling and stick a cheap adaptor in the mix. I know, one and adapt away stringing tons of gear together and have a cabling nightmare that's a magnet to RFI noise. That's never been my goal, and if the C100 wasn't so good at staying out of the way, I'd be Passive Pre at this point.

I know for a fact Cardas will reterminate cables. And, I'd guess most high end cable mfgs would as well, or whip up a pair. If the Mogami, Belden, or Canare isn't good enough.

Point is, there is nothing material stopping one from doing it. The only road block is in the mind.

Or, failing all that, have the females replaced with males. Easy peasy.
 
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