Originally Posted by
sgs233a
While I don't fly an Airbus, I do have 2 A20s - one a headset and the other in a helmet, and they've been fantastic. Don't know if the A30 is worth upgrading for, as others have said. If buying a new one that's what I'd likely get today though.
My comment is on the choice of plug if flying both airline and GA; consider one with a LEMO plug. The aviation headset LEMO jack is now a fairly standard powered, stereo headset connector found alongside the standard dual GA jack on some GA aircraft. The nice thing about a headset configured with LEMO is it provides: stereo audio, mic, power. The XLR plug is mono audio, mic, power. The dual GA plugs are stereo audio, mic. Of note, Bose sells an inexpensive STC'd LEMO jack that's a quick installation if you have your own GA aircraft you'd like to add a powered, stereo (depending on audio panel) headset jack to. On a GA aircraft without a LEMO jack, there are 14/28v accessory cigarette lighter adapter cables that plug into cigarette lighter and dual GA jacks and give you a LEMO jack for headset power.
The stereo matters only if you're flying something with a stereo audio panel and wiring, and the ability to get music into the audio panel.... point is, if you get the XLR plug, you will only ever be able to get mono audio into it. If you get the LEMO, you can use that with a LEMO jack, or with dual GA jacks (with the Bose adapter cable), or with an XLR jack, or whatever else, with the appropriate adapter cable. The headset variant with LEMO plug is the only one of the A20/A30 variants that accepts BOTH external power AND stereo.
You can also change out the cable on your existing A20 (or A30) for one with a different plug for a reasonable cost - I did that a few years ago with my older headset, and sold the old dual GA cable on eBay for close to what I paid for the new one. Both of my A20s have the LEMO plugs, and around three quarters of the planes I usually fly have a LEMO jack...the rest are dual GA.
The LEMO headset plug is now pretty standard - in addition to Bose A20 and A30, the DC ONE X and the Lightspeeds have these available, and I'm sure that others do as well.
Cheers,
Colin
this is very confusing, how many poles on those jacks? XLR is an inherently more solid and wear-proof format, and thus preferred for professional applications, it can be had with any number of poles. The most used is XLR-3, but it can be much more. Depends on the aircraft-installation, but that would need to be modified anyway to have stereo music, or? Jacks is as old as telephone, tolerances aren’t super-tight , and there is for instance not any industry standard to on the small-> large jack plugs. A constant source of frustration. It is a weak construction compared to Canon-plugs(XLRs).
anyway, changing from one to the other by means of converting plugs is trivial.
how many poles are common? Whats the different aviation standards?