Elco Corporation
Elco Connectors | Kyocera | AVX Corporation
Elco Corporation was the technology leader in the interconnect market. Manufactures card edge, rack-and-panel, D-subminiature and specialty telecom electronic connectors.
In 1989, Kyocera acquired Elco Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic connectors. In 1990, Kyocera's global operations expanded significantly with the addition of AVX Corporation, a global manufacturer of passive electronic components, such as ceramic chip capacitors, filters and voltage suppressors.
AVX has three business units. Passive Components includes electrical components for automotive braking, cell phones, copiers, hearing aids, and locomotives. Connectors are used in the automotive and medical industries.
Elco (or Edac)
Edac is a brand and type of multi pin connector used in audio systems and equipment for connecting multi pair cable with one connector (instead of many). Elco is made in the U.S. and Edac is made in Canada and both come in many different varieties. They both come in 20, 38, 56, 90, and 120 pin configurations. There are male and female connectors (plug and receptacle in Edac nomenclature). The male connector can be identified by its polarizing pins on the plug, whereas the female has polarizing sockets. Either sex can have the actuating screw or the fixed nut for attachment. All that is required is that there is one each. On the back of an ADAT, for example, the Elco is a female 56 pin, with fixed nut. The cable you plug in, therefore, is a 56 pin male with actuator screw.
EDAC has been around since 1966, making connectors, pins and connectivity tools for applications ranging from Audio/Video to Aircraft and Military. In the 1960's and very early 1970's Elco and EDAC were one in the same, and were different manufacturing locations. Do you have an older, high channel count patchbay or a large format console? You probably have EDAC connectors. We distribute multi-pin EDAC cables that can be made with any connector configuration to suit your specific needs. Do you have a vintage multi-track recorder with a one-off custom pinout EDAC connection? We got you! Our EDAC cables are all crimped and pinned by hand, using original EDAC-branded components.