Neutrik NJ5 FD-V

These vertical format jack sockets are quite an old design so I was glad to find them here. I bought these jacks for a repair of a 1990s Soundcraft Spirit Folio Rac-Pac mixer. It uses a mix of NJ5 FD-V (5 pin) and NJ3 FD-V (3 pin) jacks but the NJ5 FD-V can be used as a substitute for the NJ3 FD-V, if you ignore the extra normalling contacts. These jacks should fit other Spirit Folio mixers and also other 1990s mixers such as the Soundtracs Topaz.

The important thing to know with these jacks is that the footprint/pin layout is unique to them. Newer vertical jacks (Neutrik NYS-234, Rean RJ5VM and Switchcraft 112 clones) use a different pin spacing and will not fit PCBs that use the NJ5 FD-V format.

The NJ5 FD-V jacks are all plastic, with a plastic nut that twists on with a quarter turn. I'm not keen on the all plastic construction. Over time, if the plastic nuts are exposed to sunlight they tend to go brittle and end up cracking when you try to remove them.

The contacts are gold plated, but they are quite thin and seem susceptible to damage. This is probably why the design changed in newer Neutrik vertical jacks. If you insert a jack plug into one of these sockets, you can seethat it's only the plastic nut that is stopping the tip of the plug going too far into the socket and potentially bending the contacts. My Rac-Pac has only had light home use and several of the sockets have gone bad to the point of a plug not fitting inside them. I'm not sure if this is mangled contacts or the cracked plastic (as mentioned above) clogging them up.

I'm glad Thomann stock these. If supplies of these jacks dry up there will be a lot of good equipment that will end up being beyond economic repair. I have to emphasise again, most modern vertical jacks use a format that is incompatible with these jacks, despite looking similar. I would not recommend them for use in new projects or repairs of jacks that do not need this particular format.