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RCA plugs questions and suggestions?

Jeff M. said:
I just fixed my typo errors. Sorry about the mistake on my spelling.
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More curious about intent rather than spelling....still unclear why the total rebuild of wire.
 
Chrispy said:
More curious about intent rather than spelling....still unclear why the total rebuild of wire.
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Well me too. There was no intent about me rebuilding all my own wires. I have no cables now so am building my own wires. I don’t want to support the cable company’s out there. That was it. So if my wording or spelling or angle or approach came across differently or wrong I apologize for this. I just wanted some advice on RCA plugs and what you all think about them.
 
Jeff M. said:
Well me too. There was no intent about me rebuilding all my own wires. I have no cables now so am building my own wires. I don’t want to support the cable company’s out there. That was it. So if my wording or spelling or angle or approach came across differently or wrong I apologize for this. I just wanted some advice on RCA plugs and what you all think about them.
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Thanks, like I said have generally so many rca cables on hand no need to even consider making my own (except in special cases like an xlr to rca type cable).
 
levimax said:
I am not even shure the ground is connected at all? Anyway I agree these should be avoided. Many better and cheaper options available.
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The ground is there - it's a small strip which I've marked in the image.

This idea was started by a company whose name I have forgotten - I believe their idea was that there should be a single point ground connection instead of the entire shroud, which makes no sense. Needless to say, their plugs were supposedly 'audiophile' and expensive.


1778399703204.png
 
audio_tony said:
The ground is there - it's a small strip which I've marked in the image.

This idea was started by a company whose name I have forgotten - I believe their idea was that there should be a single point ground connection instead of the entire shroud, which makes no sense. Needless to say, their plugs were supposedly 'audiophile' and expensive.


View attachment 531299
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Ah yes, the good audiophile practice of making a ground contact as small and flimsy as possible :facepalm: :D

(I still hate that strain relief too lol)
 
audio_tony said:
I enlarged the image - they are using polymer.

View attachment 531310
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That defeats all the shielding purpose though.
It's easy to test when measuring, exposed, un-shielded wires does not do nice results.

To max it, put them close to something like a LED lamp PSU and watch the FFT lighting up like Christmas.
Coaxial or star-quad configuration nice cables only to be destroyed by bad plugs :facepalm:
 
Also, depending the cable and its heat resistant, it's not the worst idea to put some heatshrink before soldering, both at line and ground wires and pre-tin them.
That will not let stray strands around and (depending the cable) will not stick wires together down the cable (Mogami star-quad can suffer from this for example) .

And again, no un-shielded/un-twisted wires out of the plug, so keep the ones to be soldered short.
 
I go for "good enough for the money from Amazon" (good returns policy) for cables and connectors.

I'm good at soldering and do tidy work, being a bit OCD, but what's wrong with buying pre-made cables? Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend more than a few quid to get a fine cable....
 
Redacted said:
I go for "good enough for the money from Amazon" (good returns policy) for cables and connectors.

I'm good at soldering and do tidy work, being a bit OCD, but what's wrong with buying pre-made cables? Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend more than a few quid to get a fine cable....
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Custom lengths is one reason, like longer (and most importantly really shorter, like for measuring) .
Joys of DIY too :)

(one more, is the reassurance of original parts when shopping from places like Mouser for example, the flood of knock-offs out there is staggering)
 
Redacted said:
I go for "good enough for the money from Amazon" (good returns policy) for cables and connectors.

I'm good at soldering and do tidy work, being a bit OCD, but what's wrong with buying pre-made cables? Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend more than a few quid to get a fine cable....
Click to expand...
If you can make a professional level pair for 10 moneys, with known (!) construction quality and parts, infinitely durable and repairable, I see no reason not to do it unless you just don't want to bother with doing it yourself.

Cheap cables are made by overworked, underpaid factory salary slaves with a tight quota and the supervisor breathing down their neck. Impossible to do good work under these circumstances.
 
Sokel said:
Also, depending the cable and its heat resistant, it's not the worst idea to put some heatshrink before soldering, both at line and ground wires and pre-tin them.
That will not let stray strands around and (depending the cable) will not stick wires together down the cable (Mogami star-quad can suffer from this for example) .

And again, no un-shielded/un-twisted wires out of the plug, so keep the ones to be soldered short.
Click to expand...
Easy to avoid all these problems just with good practice, and of course a spacious plug helps.

18199.jpg


Nice little clamp for ground there too. You could even fit one or two resistors in there for inline attenuators and stuff. In any case it works fine without any additional precautions.

20260510_122308.jpg

(There may be an amount of OCD involved lol)
 
Ropeburn said:
Easy to avoid all these problems just with good practice, and of course a spacious plug helps.

View attachment 531316

Nice little clamp for ground there too. You could even fit one or two resistors in there for inline attenuators and stuff. In any case it works fine without any additional precautions.

View attachment 531315
(There may be an amount of OCD involved lol)
Click to expand...
What's not to love about Amphenols? ;)
 
Ropeburn said:
Easy to avoid all these problems just with good practice, and of course a spacious plug helps.

View attachment 531316

Nice little clamp for ground there too. You could even fit one or two resistors in there for inline attenuators and stuff. In any case it works fine without any additional precautions.

View attachment 531315
(There may be an amount of OCD involved lol)
Click to expand...
Nice solder Job. . What RCA wire do you use? I see the brand amphenol. Nice choice.
 
Ropeburn said:
If you can make a professional level pair for 10 moneys, with known (!) construction quality and parts, infinitely durable and repairable, I see no reason not to do it unless you just don't want to bother with doing it yourself.

Cheap cables are made by overworked, underpaid factory salary slaves with a tight quota and the supervisor breathing down their neck. Impossible to do good work under these circumstances.
Click to expand...
In the theatre I volunteer at we build all our own cable because when the skilled labour is free it’s cheaper than buying pre-made cable for the same Neutrik plugs and Van Damme cable. If you are paying for the labour and especially if you are buying in sufficient quantity to get a decent discount then buying pre-made assemblies from VDC trading becomes cheaper.
 
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