Phone Connector (audio) - Uses

Uses

Some common uses of jack plugs and their matching sockets are:

  • Headphone and earphone jacks on a wide range of equipment. 6.35 mm (1⁄4 in) plugs are common on home and professional component equipment, while 3.5 mm plugs are nearly universal for portable audio equipment. 2.5 mm plugs are not as common, but are used on communication equipment such as cordless phones, mobile phones, and two-way radios.
  • Consumer electronics devices such as digital cameras, camcorders, and portable DVD players use 3.5 mm connectors for composite video and audio output. Typically, a TRS connection is used for mono unbalanced audio plus video, and a TRRS connection for stereo unbalanced audio plus video. Cables designed for this use are often terminated with RCA connectors on the other end.
  • Hands-free sets and headsets often use 3.5 mm or 2.5 mm connectors. Phone connectors are used for mono audio out and an unbalanced microphone (with a shared ground). Four-conductor TRRS phone connectors are used to add an additional audio channel such as microphone input added to stereo output.
  • Microphone inputs on tape and cassette recorders, sometimes with remote control switching on the ring, on early, monaural cassette recorders mostly a dual-pin version consisting of a 3.5 mm TS for the microphone and a 2.5 mm TS for remote control which switches the recorder's power supply.
  • Patching points (insert points) on a wide range of equipment.
  • Personal computers, sometimes using a sound card plugged into the computer. Stereo 3.5 mm jacks are used for:
    • Line in (stereo)
    • Line out (stereo)
    • Headphones/loudspeaker out (stereo)
    • Microphone input (mono, usually with 5 V power available on the ring. Note that traditional, incompatible, use of a stereo plug for a mono microphone is for balanced output)
    • Laptop computers generally have one line level jack for headphones and one mono jack for a microphone at microphone level. You can use an attenuating cable to convert line level or use a signal from an XLR connector, but it is not designed to record from a stereo device such as a radio or music player.
    • LCD monitors with built-in speakers will need a 3.5 mm male–male cable from the sound card.
Note: Higher end sound cards sometimes sport a breakout panel which supports 1⁄4 in plug devices as well.
  • Devices designed for surround output may use multiple jacks for paired channels (e.g. TRS for front left and right; TRRS for front center, rear center, and subwoofer; and TRS for surround left and right). Circuitry on the sound device may be used to switch between traditional Line In/Line Out/Mic functions and surround output.
  • Electric guitars. Almost all electric guitars use a 1⁄4 in mono jack (socket) as their output connector. Some makes (such as Shergold) use a stereo jack instead for stereo output, or a second stereo jack, in addition to a mono jack (as with Rickenbacker).
  • Instrument amplifiers for guitars, basses and similar amplified musical instruments. 1⁄4 in jacks are overwhelmingly the most common connectors for:
    • Inputs. A shielded cable with a mono 1⁄4 in jack plug on each end is commonly termed a guitar cord or a patching cord, the first name reflecting this usage, the second the history of the jack plug's development for use in manual telephone exchanges.
    • Loudspeaker outputs, especially on low-end equipment. On professional loudspeakers, Speakon connectors carry higher current, mate with greater contact area, lock in place and do not short out the amplifier upon insertion or disconnection. However, some professional loudspeakers carry both Speakon and TRS connectors for compatibility. Heavy-duty 1⁄4 in loudspeaker jacks are rated at 15 A maximum which limits them to applications involving less than 1,800 watts. 1⁄4 in loudspeaker jacks commonly are not rigged to lock the plug in place and will short out the amplifier's output circuitry if connected or disconnected when the amplifier is live.
    • Line outputs.
    • Foot switches and effects pedals. Stereo plugs are used for double switches (for example by Fender). There is little compatibility between makers.
    • Effects loops, which are normally wired as patch points.
  • Electronic keyboards use jacks for a similar range of uses to guitars and amplifiers, and in addition
    • Sustain pedals.
    • Expression pedals.
  • Electronic drums use jacks to connect sensor pads to the synthesizer module or MIDI encoder. In this usage, a change in voltage on the wire indicates a drum stroke.
  • Some compact and/or economy model audio mixing desks use stereo jacks for balanced microphone inputs.
  • The majority of professional audio equipment uses mono jacks as the standard unbalanced input or output connector, often providing a 1⁄4 in unbalanced line connector alongside (or in a few cases in the middle of!) and as an alternative to an XLR balanced line connector.
  • Modular synthesizers commonly use monophonic cables for creating patches.
  • ¼ in connectors are widely used to connect external processing devices to mixing consoles' insert points (see Insert (effects processing)). Two- or three-conductor phone connectors might be used in pairs as separate send and return jacks or a single three-conductor phone jack might be employed for both send and return in which case the signals are unbalanced. The one unbalanced combination send/return TRS insert jack saves both panel space and component complexity, but may introduce a slight buzz. Note that insert points on mixing consoles may also be XLR, RCA or bantam TT (tiny telephone) jacks, depending on the make and model.
  • Some small electronic devices such as audio cassette players, especially in the cheaper price brackets, use a two-conductor 3.5 mm or 2.5 mm phone jack as a DC power connector.
  • Some photographic studio strobe lights have 1⁄4 in or 3.5 mm jacks for the flash synchronization input. A camera's electrical flash output (PC socket or hot shoe adapter) is cabled to the strobe light's sync input jacks. Some examples: Calumet Travelite, and Speedotron use a 1⁄4 in mono jack as the sync input; White Lightning uses 1⁄4 in stereo jacks; PocketWizard (radio trigger) and AlienBees use 3.5 mm mono jacks.
  • Some cameras (for example, Canon, Sigma, and Pentax DSLRs) use the 2.5 mm stereo jack for the connector for the remote shutter release (and focus activation); examples are Canon's RS-60E3 remote switch and Sigma's CR-21 wired remote control.
  • Some miniaturized electronic devices use 2.5 mm or 3.5 mm jack plugs as serial port connectors for data transfer and unit programming. This technique is particularly common on graphing calculators, such as the TI-83 series, and some types of amateur and two-way radio, though in some more modern equipment USB mini-B connectors are provided in addition to or instead of jack connectors. The second-generation iPod Shuffle from Apple has one TRRS jack which serves as headphone, USB, or power supply, depending on the connected plug.
  • On CCTV cameras and video encoders, mono audio in (originating from a microphone in or near the camera) and mono audio out (destined to a speaker in or near the camera) are provided on one three-conductor connector, where one signal is on the tip conductor and the other is on the ring conductor.
  • The Atari 2600 (Video Computer System), the first widely popular home video game console with interchangeable software programs, used a 3.5 mm TS (two conductor) jack for 9V 500ma DC power. Later games machines included the ZX Spectrum (for loading software from cassette) and the Sega Mega Drive (for stereo audio output).
  • The Apple Lisa personal computer used a 3-conductor TRS phone connector for its keyboard.
  • The UniMate authenticator use the TRRS to transfer data to mobile phone.

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