Finding the ports on your equipment

The 4 S-Link ports of the Slink-e are used only for connecting to Sony S-Link capable equipment. S-Link connectors on the back of this equipment are identified with the title "S-Link" or "Control-A1". Beware of connectors which say "Control-S","Control-L","LANC","IR IN", or "IR OUT". Also look out for a connector labeled "S-Link / Control-S" – this is in reality just a Control-S connector.

 Cables

The Slink-e comes with one 6-foot S-Link cable which is basically a 1/8" mono phone plug cord. You can purchase additional cords of this type from stores like Radio Shack for a few dollars. Beware of the fact that some cables you might buy have plugs whose shafts are longer than is standard. If you plug one of these all the way into the Slink-e S-Link port, it will become grounded and the Slink-e light will turn orange. If you pull the plug out a little the light will turn green and the cord will work O.K. You can also just buy the connectors and build you own cord with lengths up to 100 feet. The cable should be either coaxial or a twisted pair to operate at these distances.

 Connecting multiple devices to one S-Link port

Many S-Link devices have 2 interconnected S-Link ports on the back, allowing you to conviently "daisy-chain" multiple devices on one S-Link port. More than one device can be connected to a S-Link port as long as it has a unique "device ID". S-Link CD players generally have a selector switch which allows you set their ID to either CD1, CD2 or CD3. Each player should have a different ID and hence up to 3 players can be connected to each S-Link port. Some other types of devices such as S-Link receivers do not have a selectable ID and therefore only one of these may be connected to each S-Link bus.

 If I can, should I connect everything to one S-Link port?

Not always. Many S-Link devices are "passive" and do not attempt to control other S-Link equipment connected on the same S-Link buss. These devices can share one S-Link buss with no interactions. Other devices such as receivers and certain CD changers designed to control another player (e.g. CDP-CX270, CDP-CX90ES, CDP-CX260) will attempt to control other equipment or at least will react to changes in state of other equipment. An example of this is a receiver switching to the CD input when a CD player is playing or paused. Some of these features are handy, and some get in the way of the Slink-e software attempting to control a device. In general, if you are relying on the Slink-e to do most of you system control, it is best to separate these "active" devices on to separate S-Link busses. In a more advanced configuration, it is possible to use relays to switch the interconnection of S-Link busses so that they are disconnected while Slink-e software is running and connected when it is not.