Tight TRS Combo Jacks on R24

[Mark.the.Arc]

I bought a used R24 of fairly recent production and have found the 1/4" TRS part of the combo jacks particularly tight when removing the plug. I had found several older posts about this and it has been a common complaint (evidently not addressed by Zoom yet ). Even my H4n combo jacks seems a bit snug. Has anyone found that over time the jacks have loosened up/worn in so extraction isn't quite as difficult? I did "lube" up a plug with some DeOxit which seemed to help a bit, but I know this is only a short term "fix".

Are there any 1/4" TRS plugs that fit better than others, such as Neutrik/Rean or similar and constructed so as to not lose the tip or other parts. I make most of my cables, so this could be a solution of sorts. Looking at some of my 1/4" plugs, some have a steeper angle on the backside of the tip, which would make it more difficult to ride over the contact in the jack when pulling it out.
I had started to build up some XLR-M to TRS-F cable adapters, but came to realize phantom power could pass to the TRS jack if enabled which may not be healthy for some connected gear .

Overall pretty pleased with the R24 (except for the tight jacks ). I also have a Tascam 2488NEO which is my main recorder, but the portability and ease of use of the R24 I'm really liking.

[AlexeiY]

Hi Mark,
I bought male XLR_female 1/4 jack adapters to get around the problem. They work really well. The XLR plugs into the Zoom and your 1/4" jacks plug into the other end and can be easily removed.
Great solution, as far as I'm concerned. I got mine through my local guitar store - Long&McQuade. They are a Canadian company, so you may have to look around, but that's what Google is all about!
Cheers,
Alex

[Mark.the.Arc]

Hi Alex,
Do the adapters you got isolate the phantom power from getting to the TRS side of the adapter. That was my concern when I started to build similar adapters with a short piece of cable and the connectors, no way to block phantom if it was enabled. Not sure phantom power could damage outboard gear connected, but am hesitant to risk it.

Mark............

[AlexeiY]

Mark,
I don't know as my condenser microphone - which requires phantom power - has an XLR jack, so I don't use an adapter for i/p's 5 or 6. I/p's 7 & 8 have the adapters fitted and the i/p's are TRS cables from the line o/p's of my guitar amp (which is stereo). I've never turned the phantom power on for these channels, nor do I intend to while the guitar amp is hooked up.
So, I have the adapters on channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 8.
HTH...
Alex

[Kites]

If anyone comes back to this, I find that Oyaide - Neo Cables are slightly thinner and go in and out the jacks much more smoothly than all of my HOSA cables and genric brands.
http://www.amazon.com/Oyaide-Neo-Class- ... ds=Neo+trs

They're pricey, but come in pairs, are gold plated, shielded, dead quiet, and come in a flat design casing.

[Mark.the.Arc]

I bought some Rean/Neutrik TRS plugs and have been swapping out some of plugs on problematic cables. Some of the cables that were sticking were older ones I may have gotten from ebay or other retailer and while they didn't look too bad (unless you looked close) and worked well in most of my gear they didn't like the jacks on the R24 very well. I've attached an image of three plugs and #2 was the worst offender and was getting hung up on the steep edge of the backside of the tip. #2 on close inspection also isn't built too well noting the insulator between the tip and ring and its difference in diameter to the metal. The Rean plugs have a gradual rise on the backside that allows the plug to come out easily. #1 is a little snug, but doesn't get caught anywhere like #2.

[Jim_Fogle]

Mark_the_Arc,

Very good picture. Thanks for posting. If you do a forum search you'll likely find an earlier thread where members were talking about trouble with jacks getting stuck and even tips being pulled off! There are some nice prevention tips in that post.

I've read numerous complaints about Monster cabling using oversize jack connectors causing receptacle pins to become distorted to the point the receptacles no longer work. I guess even major manufacturers don't always follow component specifications.

[Straydog]

So I have the same problem. Do I need trs or ts on the opposite end of the xlr? Balanced or unbalanced? Thanks

[Wulfraed]

If you are going to the effort of using true balanced TRS, I'd recommend avoiding the tight fit problem totally and just use a proper XLR connector.

If the source device is just a mono TS, using a TRS on that end won't gain you anything. If the source device is stereo TRS (which is not the same, electrically, as balanced TRS: L/R/Gnd vs S+/S-/Gnd) you do not want to connect to a balanced mono input as it will cancel out the centered sounds leaving only the extreme left/right.

The only source devices I'm familiar with that use balanced TRS (rather than XLR) are Taylor Expression System guitars, and even they don't push the balanced aspect that much (since most all stand-alone speaker/amps are unbalanced inputs).