Mini Guitars

A jack plug (UK) is an extremely common audio connector. The terms phone plug (U.S.), and phone jack for the corresponding socket or jack, are also used for these connectors, especially for the original 1/4" size. more...

Home
Brass
DJ Gear & Lighting
Electronic
Equipment
Guitar
Acoustic
Acoustic Beginner Packs
Acoustic Electric
Amplifiers
Bass
Builder, Luthier Kits
Electric
Electric Beginner Packs
Memorabilia
Ads
Apparel
Mini Guitars
Other
Pins
Other Guitar
Parts, Accessories
Vintage, Pre-1980
Harmonica
Instruction Books, CDs,...
Keyboard, Piano
Other Instruments
Percussion
Pro Audio
Sheet Music, Song Books
String
Wholesale Lots
Woodwind

Note that this is in contrast to the terms phono plug and phono jack which normally refer to RCA connectors. Phone plugs were originally used in telephone switchboards and should not be confused with the registered jack-series plugs used to connect telephones to wall outlets. See also: TRS connector.

Modern jack plugs

Modern jack plugs are available in three standard sizes. The original 6.35 mm or 1/4" version, dates from 1878, for use in manual telephone exchanges—making it possibly the oldest electrical connector standard still in use. The 3.5 mm or miniature and 2.5 mm or subminiature sizes were originally designed as two-conductor connectors for earpieces on transistor radios. The 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm sizes are also referred to as 1/8" and 3/32" respectively in the United States, though those dimensions are only approximations. All three sizes are now readily available in two-conductor (mono) and three-conductor (stereo or tip ring sleeve) versions.

Four and five conductor versions of the 3.5 mm plug are used for certain applications. A four conductor version is becoming a de facto standard output connector for compact camcorders, providing stereo sound plus a video signal. This interface is also seen on some laptop computers. Proprietary interfaces using both four and five conductor versions exist, notably the audio connector on the iPod MP3 player, where the extra conductors are used to supply power for accessories. There is also an optical connector used for TOSLINK (mainly on things like portable equipment, hi-fi separates and similar tend to use the standard square connector) that is the same size as a 3.5mm jack. Sockets exist that can make either an optical connection to such a plug or an electrical connection to a stereo jack.

Both two-conductor and three-conductor versions of the three standard sizes are readily available in male (plug) and female (socket or simply "jack") line versions, and panel-mounting female versions. Panel-mounting male versions of these also exist but are rare, as they are vulnerable to mechanical damage and therefore unreliable. Female line versions are also notoriously unreliable and are avoided by many users.

The most common arrangement remains to have the male plug on the cable, and the female socket mounted in a piece of equipment, which was the original intention of the design. A considerable variety of line plugs and panel sockets is available, including plugs suiting various cable sizes, right angle plugs, and both plugs and sockets in a variety of price ranges and with current capacities up to about 15 amperes for the 1/4" version.

Non-standard sizes, both diameters and lengths, are also available from some manufacturers, and are used when it is desired to restrict the availability of matching connectors.

Read more at Wikipedia.org