Low Cost DIY Interconnects

[trevordj]

To each their own, I have tried it and didn't like it. For me, the Rean NYS352BG (or NYS352B if you don't want gold) is a better value (about 30% less expensive or 50% less expensive for the nickel plated version) and has a better strain relief (see below). Further, for car audio use, it is much more compact than the NYS373.




Again, maybe I wasn't using the plastic strain relief properly, I refer to it as being shitty because I couldn't get the damn thing to work properly so I gave up trying to dick with it and went to something else. I have used an XLR and TRS version by Neutrik that has the same chuck style plastic strain relief and it worked great.

In other DIY RCA cable news, these showed up at my house today:



Last time I was shopping for RCA raw materials markertek only had Gepco 61801EZ mic cable in black. Now they sell it by the foot in every color under the sun. I've got some soldering to do.

[Chad]

That's not a strain relief at all, it's a failboat, you need to crimp it down then use adhesive lined glue to get something that will still fail before the chuck.

But like I say I have to put a layer of shrink around the gepco to get the bastard to bite down.

And yes multiple colors FTMFW, what does markertek charge by the foot now?

[trevordj]

That's good to know, thanks Chad. I have never even heard of the term failboat. When you say adhesive lined glue, do you mean adhesive lined heatshrink? I'm not sure if that was a typo or I just don't understand. What would be the harm in using that pronged extension (the failboat) as a strain relief? I'm strill trying to visualize exactly how the failboat is intended to be used.

A google search turned up this, which doesn't seem particularly helpful:



I see what you are saying though, it is certainly distinct from the RCA ends that I will be using for this project. These appear to have a strain relief I am more familiar with.



I haven't received these from monoprice yet, but they look promising.

[trevordj]

Oh, and Markertek is charging $0.22/foot for gepco 61801EZ, although in usual markertek fashion they like to rape a bit on the shipping charges. It isn't too big of a deal if one plans ahead and orders a bunch of shit at once but my compulsive online shopping tends to get in the way of that.

[Chad]

LOL yeah, lined heatshrink, brain fart

22 cents a foot is about the going rate...

I know you have AV install houses (like churches, sports venues, studios, etc) they usually stock it by the EZ pull box.

I pick mine up locally.

After you crimp that RCA down onto the insulator, sleeve it with shrink.... that will save headaches later. And don't crimp it down till after you solder it.

[trevordj]

Got ya, thanks. I'm still trying to visualize how the failboat is different than a strain relief other than not having teeth that bite into the insulator. Luckily I have some adhesive lined shrink hanging around that I can use for these.

[orfeous]

How do i know if i have balanced or unbalanced RCA in-/outputs on my highlevel converter and car audio amplifier?
What are the benefits of making your own RCA-cable rather than buying one?
Are there any method to measure/check the RCA cables quality? I have two different brands. One with dual twisted shields and one with no shields.

How do i know if i should connect the grounds from highlever converter to chassi ground?
I have read that you should not do that if the amplifier's ground and RCA-negative are connected together. Mine wasnt.