How do I install female XLR's in Aragon amps?


Long ago I bought two Aragon 8000-series amplifiers with RCA inputs but with blank ports (plates with screws) to allow installation of balanced XLR jacks (female, I presume). I just bought a Krell processor with balanced XLR output, but unfortunately, Aragon has gone out of business and I can no longer find a dealer to convert the amps to XLR. I would rather do it myself by purchasing Neutrik jacks and soldering the wires.

The problem is that I do not know which wires on the RCA jacks to solder to the XLR's. I assume that the outer-shell RCA wire (ground or female) is to be attached to the ground lead of the XLR and the center RCA wire (signal or male) is to be attached to the positive lead of the XLR. Is this right? But where do I attach the third XLR lead in the amplifier? Is there a shield wire? To the chassis?

Aside from the wiring problem, will I have a problem with a larger input voltage or any other unforeseen problem. If Aragon provides the port, I assume not, but I'm not sure. Please help!
dtchafin

Showing 1 response by camino3x2

The 8008ST will have a plate but no XLR jack. The 8008BB has both RCA and XLR input jacks; when the RCA jacks are used, a tiny jumper is inserted into two of the three ports in the XLR jack.

A Palladium II or Palladium 1K uses the same basic layout as the 8008; but is set up internally to be a true balanced design; and is a single-channel (monoblock) amp.

I'm using a pair of RCA-to-XLR adapter plugs on my Palladium IIs; using XLR-to-RCA adapters on your system is probably the simplest, cheapest, easiest solution if your Krell processor doesn't have RCA outputs.

First Guess: if you have reasonable-length interconnect cables, you won't hear any improvement from the balanced connection.

Another option is to sell the 'ST and buy a BB version; you gain the factory-installed XLR connectors along with additional power supply, larger storage capacitors, and 50% more output transistors.