What's that? You wish you had more RCA connection information?

ALL212

Three more +one, short version:

Top row - Furutech FP-126 $60 for four Non-locking
Bottom row - Cardas SRCA $90 for four when on sale Non-locking


Furutech FP-126: Probably the best of the bunch for smaller diameter cables. Soldered connections with set screw strain relief and enough room with Mogami 2534 for one layer of heat shrink that can go inside the connector.


Single layer of heat shrink to cover the shield on the ungrounded end. Note the thinner walls compared to the Cardas. This makes this much easier to solder.



Cardas SRCA: thread looking thing at the top is a spring to keep the connector tight. Almost a 10mm opening and about the only connector I can use with the Groneberg.

Groneberg Quattro Reference cable - that's a bunch of wire!



Furuteech FT-111R $120 for four. Locking
In spite of the 10mm opening this connector is for smaller conductors. However - it's a nice easy build (set screw only).


Left over Cardas GRCM 6 $60ish for four. Non-locking
All soldered but no set screw. There is a slightly larger version, the "6" is the smallest and fits the Mogami 2534 almost perfectly.

pitdogg2

Very nice Aaron

afterburnt

Those are beautiful. I need a 12 step.

mhardy6647

I think I saw something that looked like that menacing scientists at an Antarctic research base during the long, dark winter in a 1950s sci-fi movie... or maybe it was Sigourney Weaver in her underwear. Or someone else's underwear. Or her cat's underwear...

memory is hazy.

VR3

I would be curious to see your thoughts on the dh labs ultimate rca connector, have been very impressed with it. Very easy to use, locking, supposed to be made of high grade copper and its pretty affordable

ALL212

VR3 wrote: »

I would be curious to see your thoughts on the dh labs ultimate rca connector, have been very impressed with it. Very easy to use, locking, supposed to be made of high grade copper and its pretty affordable

I've used the Vampire Wire LRCA8 Male Locking RCA a couple of times and mechanically they look like twinkies. If I remember correctly I found those solder collars are brittle on the Vampire. One of the builds I saw done was to dent very carefully the inside collar and in doing so you can solder to it and not worry about build up (makes getting the outside piece difficult to get on if you have built up too much wire/solder in that area). I used a BFH and my "dent" became a break - it still worked, just wasn't as purdy as I thought it would be.

These should build out very similar to the Furutech FP-126 above minus the locking feature.

I really don't like lockers. On my homebuilt stuff it's sometimes hard to get the chassis RCA's locked into place and lockers (twisted the wrong way - let's face it I can't keeep righty tighty and left loosy correct! ) tend to loosen up my chassis RCA's.

Vampire:


DH Labs:

pitdogg2

I'm not a fan of locking RCA's myself. One bad incident can change your mind. In my case it was a set that was in place a looong time. They seemed to have seized, couldn't turn the barrel either way. On top of that being in very tight confines of an AVR using tools was not ideal. I lost RCA ground shield that day.

Both look the same or very close Aaron. The picture makes one look different in the gold color. I wonder if it is light or the base metal?

msg

This would lead me to think they're brass core and not copper?

ALL212 wrote: »

I've used the Vampire Wire LRCA8 Male Locking RCA a couple of times and mechanically they look like twinkies. If I remember correctly I found those solder collars are brittle on the Vampire. One of the builds I saw done was to dent very carefully the inside collar and in doing so you can solder to it and not worry about build up (makes getting the outside piece difficult to get on if you have built up too much wire/solder in that area). I used a BFH and my "dent" became a break - it still worked, just wasn't as purdy as I thought it would be.

I like locking RCAs best. I don't tighten them too much, just snug. But yeah, I know what you mean about them being too tight and possibly losing a shield. I had a set of silver wires with Cardas ends, I think, and they were way too tight. I stopped using them because I couldn't comfortable get them on or off. Might be a way to stretch them a bit, but it didn't seem obvious.

ALL212

Not sure as I don’t know what I’ve broken in the past!

I would prefer copper but the cost goes up quickly. We’re also talking a transition of less than 2” which can also be influenced by the solder (should you really wanna get fussy).

And then... is solder or set screw better?

pitdogg2

And then... is solder or set screw better?

Well that depends... are you going to spit on it first?

ALL212

pitdogg2 wrote: »

And then... is solder or set screw better?

Well that depends... are you going to spit on it first?

Great ...now I have to take them all apart to "adjust" them with a spit ball.

Dang it!!!

pitdogg2

LOL

Always sumtin