ART Pro Audio XPatch - Three Channel XLR Balanced Patch Bay - Manual (Page 7)

For larger installations you may want to consider our
rack mount P16 Sixteen Channel XLR Balanced Patch
Bay, but try to include several (within reason) patch
bays along an audio signal path (both inputs and
outputs) so that rerouting, patching in temporary sound
sources and sending signals to temporary output
devices can be done without connecting and
disconnecting cables directly to and from your devices,
like console inputs and outputs. For example, bringing
room tie lines up to a XPatch patch bay allows you to
use short XLR patch cables to route mics in the studio
booths to preamps in the control room. This saves wear
and tear on equipment that is much more expensive to
replace than patch bays are.
Using XLR connectors allows you to pass both balanced
and unbalanced signals and use standard XLR adapters
like ground lifts, isolation transformers, filters and
attenuators. The signals may include phantom power for
microphones that require it. The XPatch's outputs are
connected directly to the inputs (pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to
pin 2 and pin 3 to pin 3) so that phantom power passes
through unchanged. Please note, however, that you
should be extremely careful not to connect phantom
power to an input or output not designed to handle it.
However you decide to use it, we're sure you'll find the
ART XPatch Three Channel XLR Balanced Patch Bay to
be an indispensable addition to your audio equipment
arsenal.