Making thick RCA cables

[Shpongthan]

Hi everyone, I made some RCA cables using some especially thick wire I bought off amazon but after using it to connect my pc to my stereo I can hear a loud hum, louder than any music I'm trying to play that sounds like a low feedback. Does anyone know why this might be happening? My best guess right now is a ground loop as I have not shielded the cable at all, construction is simply the cable soldered into the middle of each RCA end. Would using a copper braid sleeve as a ground save me? The cable is so thick only one core can fit in each end.

 

[solderdude]

Did you solder the other wire on both sides to the shield, if only from the outside of the connector ?
If not that explains everything.

Consider speaker wire is not shielded and not suited as an interlink anyway.
It could be used for balanced lines (if you can fit it in XLR connectors).

Thickness of cable is not an important aspect except for speaker wires and low voltage systems (12V/24V)

 

[Sokel]

I'm curious to see them,can you post a picture?

 

[Shpongthan]

No only to the positive, as I can only fit one wire in the end. should I be twisting half the core away and soldering it to the shield?

 

[Shpongthan]

I can post a picture this evening when I am home, I've never made these before so I appreciate the help.

 

[solderdude]

The not used wire MUST be connected on both sides to the RCA shield.
The RCA shield is an important aspect in RCA cables.
Then it will work just fine.

This cable is not suited for interlinks nor will it perform better in any way than your average shielded cable wire.

Use the wire for speakers and buy a thick shielded (coax) cable for your RCA interconnects !

 

[Sokel]

No only to the positive, as I can only fit one wire in the end. should I be twisting half the core away and soldering it to the shield?

What you can do is take half of the core of each cable,insulate it some other way (heatshrink,etc) and make a proper connection (one to positive,the other to shield on each end)
Make sure not to mix them,go positive to positive and shield to shield.

 

[DSJR]

You have speaker wire pictured, which is totally unsuitable for RCA line level connections really. RCA cables need a proper coax cable with shield as a return (I'm trying to keep it simple here)

 

[Shpongthan]

There's no unused wire, I twisted each end and soldered them to the centre pin. Cheers for keeping it simple, so its seems I've made 5+5=9 here buying this stuff for RCA. Before I go tucking this reel under my table until I get a new set of speakers, could I perhaps use this stuff as my ground connection?

 

[solderdude]

To make an RCA cable the center pin must be connected to the center pin of the other plug AND the shield must be connected to the other shield. You cannot omit the shield connection.

Why do you want to use speaker cable as interlink ?
Using thicker wire only has downsides for interlinks and no benefits.

 

[Sokel]

ok.to make it simple:

One wire must go to center pin
one wire must go to tab

The same with the other rca.
The wire from center from the one RCA plug must go to to center pin of the other RCA
the wire from the tab of the one RCA must go to the tab of the other RCA.

Make sure no core touches the other.

 

[Lambda]

I think OP is Trolling

 

[DSJR]

A little anecdote...

Keeping with screened 'coaxial' cables here... twenty odd years ago, a chap gave us some VERY THIN coax cables to try as audio interconnect. The thickness was similar to the internal 'wifi aerial cables' inside a typical laptop of old, so around 1.2mm external thickness. They 'sounded' absolutely perfect with none of the subjective crap such cables would normally attract (can't be any good, too thin etc. etc.). I subsequently located a similar coax cable, carefully made it into RCA cables (the RCA plugs had to be cheap low mass plastic cover types as heavier ones would over-stress the fine wires - I should have used some hot-melt glue or similar to anchor the cable to the plug innards). I was able to replicate the subjective vibe I got in the dems I did with it - the stuff simply 'didn't' have a 'sound' to it at all as one would expect! I still have said home made interconnect here and stand by what I've just said...

Seriously, if you need a good RCA to RCA cable at 1.2m or so length, there seriousaly isn't anything wrong with the Amazon Basics cable which someone here (?) cut apart to see what was inside and was impressed. Dress said wire up with a fancy braided cover, put rinky-dink RCA plugs on and you could easily convince an unsuspecting punter to spend a few hundred on it I swear!

 

[DSJR]

I think OP is Trolling

Hope not, but you never know...

 

[Shpongthan]

To make an RCA cable the center pin must be connected to the center pin of the other plug AND the shield must be connected to the other shield. You cannot omit the shield connection.

Why do you want to use speaker cable as interlink ?
Using thicker wire only has downsides for interlinks and no benefits

So my thinking wasn't the greatest I will admit, I assumed higher gauge wire less problems and didn't realise I was shooting myself in the foot. I am now trying my hardest to put this wire to use as I got ahead of myself and bought a spool assuming I could use it for most if not everything.

 

[Shpongthan]

ok.to make it simple:

View attachment 365764

One wire must go to center pin
one wire must go to tab

The same with the other rca.
The wire from center from the one RCA plug must go to to center pin of the other RCA
the wire from the tab of the one RCA must go to the tab of the other RCA.

Make sure no core touches the other.

Thanks, so essentially I've made 40% of a cable and am now wondering why it doesn't work right : /

 

[Shpongthan]

I think OP is Trolling

Simply slow but I understand the confusion : )

 

[Shpongthan]

A little anecdote...

Keeping with screened 'coaxial' cables here... twenty odd years ago, a chap gave us some VERY THIN coax cables to try as audio interconnect. The thickness was similar to the internal 'wifi aerial cables' inside a typical laptop of old, so around 1.2mm external thickness. They 'sounded' absolutely perfect with none of the subjective crap such cables would normally attract (can't be any good, too thin etc. etc.). I subsequently located a similar coax cable, carefully made it into RCA cables (the RCA plugs had to be cheap low mass plastic cover types as heavier ones would over-stress the fine wires - I should have used some hot-melt glue or similar to anchor the cable to the plug innards). I was able to replicate the subjective vibe I got in the dems I did with it - the stuff simply 'didn't' have a 'sound' to it at all as one would expect! I still have said home made interconnect here and stand by what I've just said...

Seriously, if you need a good RCA to RCA cable at 1.2m or so length, there seriousaly isn't anything wrong with the Amazon Basics cable which someone here (?) cut apart to see what was inside and was impressed. Dress said wire up with a fancy braided cover, put rinky-dink RCA plugs on and you could easily convince an unsuspecting punter to spend a few hundred on it I swear!

So with coax cable I don't need to worry about the size? Just buy anything generally recommended and it'll work well enough?

I did stumble upon this car audio page who seems to use copper braid tech flex for the ground : https://www.bcae1.com/rcacable.htm

There's no unused wire, I twisted each end and soldered them to the centre pin. Cheers for keeping it simple, so its seems I've made 5+5=9 here buying this stuff for RCA. Before I go tucking this reel under my table until I get a new set of speakers, could I perhaps use this stuff as my ground connection?View attachment 365760

I appreciate all the help, so far I gather this wire is a lost cause and I'll go grab some coaxial.

 

[solderdude]

So my thinking wasn't the greatest I will admit, I assumed higher gauge wire less problems and didn't realise I was shooting myself in the foot. I am now trying my hardest to put this wire to use as I got ahead of myself and bought a spool assuming I could use it for most if not everything.

O.K. for speaker wire and in car audio (when the cable has one wire marked in some way)

 

[Zek]

I made some RCA cables using some especially thick wire

The attached picture shows a speaker cable that is not suitable for RCA interconnect.
For an RCA interconnect cable, you need a different type of cable that has a center conductor and an outer braided shield.