Real World Digital Audio

C

ONNECTING

P

HYSICAL

H

AR DWAR E

If you don’t have experience connecting audio equipment, your first glimpse

at a professional’s collection of cables can be daunting. Audio cables come

in a variety of shapes and sizes. Fortunately, these connectors, despite their

physical differences, do the same thing: they carry signals between equip-

ment. Here are some specific factors to pay attention to:

• Physical connector types: Jacks and plugs are differently shaped con-

nections on your equipment. Generally speaking, a plug (the “male”

side of the connection) has protruding pins and is found at the end of a

cable, while the jack (the “female” side) is found on a panel and has one

or more recesses into which the plug’s protrusions fit. You’ll want to

match up the physical connectors so you’re not literally trying to fit a

square peg into a round hole. You won’t need to buy all new cables,

though. If a connection doesn’t fit, you may be able to buy an adapter.

Adapters won’t convert one type of signal to another, however.

Figure 3.3 Auralex MoPAD

monitor isolation pads. (Photo

courtesy Auralex Acoustics)

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C

HAPTER

3: S

ETTING

U

P

Y

OUR

E

QUIPMENT