Fentronix - Really Useful Little Gizmo Boxes

[Mike Stranks]

As Fentronix have just come up trumps again for me I thought I'd give them a mention here.

Many of us know the situation where we need a particular widget for a particular function that isn't mainstream audio bits 'n' pieces. Yes, sure, we can buy the bits and make one - if we know what we're doing - but 'off the shelf' is often quicker and more convenient.

A few months ago I was looking for a 4 in/1 out switchable audio selector with 3.5mm jack ins and outs. Not expecting much I did an Internet search (various search engines are available ) and Bingo! Fenronix had just what I needed. Neat little box at a sensible price.

Last week I started the search for an inline attenuator that had a much smaller form factor than the common XLR jobbies. Once again Fentronix had just the thing. With this one I decided to take a look inside. Very neatly wired and soldered with appropriate value resistors in the right places.

They have a whole range of stuff fulfilling all sorts of roles - including MIDI stuff - and I shall almost certainly be back for more Really Useful Little Boxes!

Seems like they're only available via EBay... Check 'em out at:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/fentronix

[Martin Walker]

Great discovery Mike - bookmarked for later.

As you say, at those prices they really don't cost much more than attempting the DIY route.

Bravo Fentronix!

Martin

[ManFromGlass]

A buddy sent me this link for a great XLR cabling problem solver for me.
I’ll never need the full 850 feet but two (an In and an Out) are cheaper than 4 fifty foot or longer xlr cables. I’m hoping they can do phantom power, I don’t see why not.

https://www.avshop.ca/wire-amp-cable-ad ... -over-cat5

[Aled Hughes]

A buddy sent me this link for a great XLR cabling problem solver for me.
I’ll never need the full 850 feet but two (an In and an Out) are cheaper than 4 fifty foot or longer xlr cables. I’m hoping they can do phantom power, I don’t see why not.

https://www.avshop.ca/wire-amp-cable-ad ... -over-cat5

I think they ought to carry phantom power if you use shielded CAT5 cabling (or maybe individually shielded CAT7 is better)?

[Hugh Robjohns]

A buddy sent me this link for a great XLR cabling problem solver for me

If you play around with THE GOOGLE (or whatever) you'll find loads of different balanced audio XLR-to-RJ45 converter solutions with up to four channels. Best to use with individually screened cat-7 cable, as already mentioned, especially for longer runs, but screened cat6 is fine for most applications.

The only potential problem issue seems to be a lack of an agreed wiring standard in terms of which XLRs channels are allocated to which twisted pairs within the Ethernet cable. That means that if you mix and match converter boxes from different manufacturers you could find that an input to channel 1 at one end flops out of channel 3 at the other...

So if you're going down this route it would be best to stick with boxes from the same manufacturer at both ends.

[The Elf]

So if you're going down this route it would be best to stick with boxes from the same manufacturer at both ends.

Thomann do their Ssnake 3FC and 3MB, each for less than 20 quid. They're decent for the money and the kind of thing you can add to an order if you're buying anything else - as did I!