[sdiy] Minijacks

[Brock Russell]

At 11:10 PM 7/4/2007, Colin Hinz wrote:
>On Wed, 4 Jul 2007, Seb Francis wrote:
>
>>The actual size is 3.5mm.  It's a bit confusing because 1/4" jack 
>>sockets are in fact 1/4" (6.35mm).  I guess this is where it comes 
>>from that people call the small ones 1/8".  Personally I blame Americans ;)
>
>Makes sense to me. I'm waiting for US nomenclature to discover the
>nanofarad. :-)
>
>>Note however that not all 3.5mm jacks are the same - some have 
>>narrower tips that do not contact well with some sockets.  Cliff 
>>CL1384 (as opposed to CL13841) are an example of such sockets.
>
>Interesting. The reason I asked in the first place is that I bought a bunch
>of phono-to-minijack adapters at a supposedly reputable music store, and
>the minijack plugs just don't fit into PAiA minijacks without an insane
>amount of brute force.


It could be that the PAIA minijacks really are 1/8 inch jacks.

I bought a few hundred 1/8 inch jacks and plugs in 76 when I started 
my modular. (I wanted an Aries but couldn't afford one.) Not 
surprisingly the plug diameter is 1/8 inch and the jack inner 
diameter is about 10% greater, 3.5 mm. Also not surprisingly, new 3.5 
mm plugs have diameters of 3.5 mm are either a tight fit or do not 
fit at all in the old jacks if the plugs are on the high side of the 
manufacturers tolerance. The biggest pain is that I seem to have a 
tendency to twist the plugs when I pull them out and if they are 
really tight they turn the jack, loosening the nut.

I've been contemplating switching everything over to bananas, it 
seems cheaper and more reliable.

Brock