HP N31.5 manual Conductor Source Component Link Cable

Which Cables Go Where?

Having cleared up (we hope) the conceptual difficulty with how Linking works and with the names of the various Link communications ports, we move on to the purely pragmatic: what size cables do I use? Where?

The Link system uses standard telephone company modular connectors, similar to the ones used in your telephone or computer modem. All communications cables through to the preamplifier use an eight-conductor flat cable with an eight-pin modular plug (RJ-45) at each end. These cables are made “straight-through,” the same way the phone company uses them: Pin #1 at one end is connected to Pin #1 at the other end, #2 to #2, etc. The Pins are num- bered from left to right as seen from the “pin” side of the modular plug, as shown below.

12345678

(locking tab behind)

Counter-intuitively, you must insert a 180° twist in the wire to build this “straight- through” cable (since the plugs are pointing in opposite directions), as shown below:

From Mark Levinson digital processor	To Nº31.5
Locking tab	Locking tab

8-Conductor Source Component Link Cable

The Link between the preamplifier and the first power amplifier is dif- ferent: it uses a six-conductor version of the same idea, as shown below:

To Nº38 Master	To Nº333 Slave In
Locking tab	Locking tab

6-Conductor Preamp-Amp Link Cable

If you have more than one power amplifier in the system, it is important to en- sure that the daisy-chain is preserved: slave out to slave in, out to in, etc.

To minimize the chance of accidentally plugging a slave out to a slave out (which would damage the communications circuits), we use different sizes of modular connectors at each end of the power amp daisy chain. We are still using only six connections and therefore six conductors, but we have placed an eight- pin connector at the slave out end of the cable, as shown below:

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