At one time Cannon (now ITT Cannon) made a large circular connector series that was popular for microphones called the P series. Mics used the 3 pin P3 version. Some loudspeakers use the P4 or P8 versions of this connector to this day.

In an attempt to make a smaller connector for the microphone market Cannon came out with the UA series. These were "D" shaped instead of circular and were used on such mics as the Electro-Voice 666, 666R, and 655C.

There was a desire for a smaller yet connector. Someone pointed out the small circular Cannon X series. The problem with this was it had no latch. Cannon rearranged the pins and added a latch, and the XL (X series with Latch) was born. This is the connector others such as Switchcraft and later Neutrik have copied.

Later Cannon modified the female end only to put the contacts in a Resilient Rubber compound. They called this new version the XLR series. No other company has copied this feature. It is amusing that XLR has become the generic term since what everyone else copied was the XL and not the XLR!

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Edited 1/24/2007

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