DIN connector

The DIN connector is an electrical signal connector that was standardized by the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN), the German Institute for Standards, in the mid 1950s, initially with 3 pins for mono, but when stereo connections and gear appeared in late 1950s (1959 or so), versions with 5 pins or more were launched.

Some DIN connector standards are: The plugs consist of a circular shielding metal skirt protecting a number of straight round pins.

The skirt is keyed to ensure that the plug is inserted with the correct orientation, and to prevent damage to the pins.

[5] There is some limited compatibility; for example, a three-pin connector will fit any 180° five-pin socket, engaging three of the pins and leaving the other two unconnected; and a three-pin or 180° five-pin connector will also fit a 270° seven-pin or either eight-pin socket.

Some high-range equipment used seven-pin connectors where the outer two carried digital system data:[6] if the connected equipment was incompatible, the outer two pins could be unscrewed from plugs so that they fitted into standard five-pin 180° sockets without data connections.

Some "domino" five-pin connectors had a keyway on opposing sides of the socket, allowing it to be reversed.

If used as a serial data connection, the transmit and receive lines could be crossed (although the pinout adopted by Acorn did not allow for this).

[8] Screw-locking versions of this connector have also been used in instrumentation, process control, and professional audio.

[9] In North America, this variant is often called a "small Tuchel" connector after one of the major manufacturers, now a division of Amphenol.

A version with a bayonet locking ring was used on portable tape recorders, dictation machines, and lighting dimmers and controls through from the 1960s to the 1980s, an example being the microphone input connector and some others on the "Report" family of Uher tape recorders.

This connector was commonly referred to as the "Bleecon",[10] an example of its use being the Strand Tempus range of theatrical lighting dimmers and control desks.

Female connectors with screw-locking, Bleecon, or bayonet latching features are compatible with standard DIN plugs.

The 3/180° and 5/180° connectors were originally standardized and widely used in European countries for interconnecting analog audio equipment.

Five-pin DIN inputs for record players and auxiliary signal sources commonly join pin 1 and 5 in order to be compatible both with the 3/180° and 5/180° pinouts.

Some manufacturers, like Philips, Uher and others, did use the connector slightly differently for tape recorders.

Sometimes a person would also need to lower the signal to make a line output fit a microphone level input.

Other uses for example in case of cassette decks were: Input and output, power supply, remote control and record sync.

This interface was rare outside products for the European market, and has progressively disappeared on new equipment, both in Europe and worldwide, since the 1980s, in favour of RCA connectors.

It commonly exists as a panel-mounting female version, and line-mounted male and female versions, although there were rare panel mounted male connectors, for example fitted on the external speaker boxes on certain early 1980s Luxor TV sets.

If standard 5-pin home audio cables were used the automatic antenna connector could also be used for remote starting an amplifier.