Many pieces of equipment have two input connectors – a 3 pin XLR, low impedance balanced, often for microphones, and a 2 or 3 pole 6.35mm jack, usually high impedance unbalanced. In almost all cases only one of the inputs is used at a time, so it reduces panel space and costs to combine these into a single connector, also simplifying PCB design.
The I series “combi”, the “XLR with a hole”, are the first XLR/jack hybrid connectors. The jack plug retention is by a separate spring element, and not by the contacts, thus enabling both the XLR and jack contacts to be hard-gold plated. They are available in three versions, each of which is available for solder connection (–S), horizontal (–H) or vertical (–V) PCB applications, and with latch (no suffix) or without latch (–0) suffix. The without-latch type has a spring retention element. Suitable fixings screws are those for the A-series XLR.
| NCJ5FI |
3 pin XLR with unswitched 2-pole jack |
| NCJ6FI |
3 pin XLR with unswitched 3-pole jack |
| NCJ9FI |
3 pin XLR with 3-pole jack with switched normalling contacts |
| NCJ10FI |
3 pin XLR with 3-pole jack with switched normalling and ground contacts |
In all versions, the jack and the XLR contacts are all brought out separately to the PCB. The connector is not suitable for use with B-gauge jacks.