OK I know this is likely to raise a lot of flack from some people, but I am looking for serious replies please.
The RCA sockets (Neutrik's IIRC) on my PC3 are becoming a bit flaky in their connection with the plugs. (the usual loud BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ as the hot lifts before the cold)
Any suggestions for replacements will be most welcome.
The RCA sockets (Neutrik's IIRC) on my PC3 are becoming a bit flaky in their connection with the plugs. (the usual loud BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ as the hot lifts before the cold)
Any suggestions for replacements will be most welcome.
These are pretty good from Maplin.
Maplin Gold Teflon Insulated Chassis Phono Socket Red | Maplin
Hifi Collective stock a good range from standard to high end stuff if you want to spend big money.
Why unplug stuff whilst it's turned on?
Maplin Gold Teflon Insulated Chassis Phono Socket Red | Maplin
Hifi Collective stock a good range from standard to high end stuff if you want to spend big money.
Why unplug stuff whilst it's turned on?
Maybe he means the ground connection is loose while plugged in, not while removing the plug. The cure for that is to squeeze the plug's ground contacts closer to eliminate the gap and add more spring tension to the plug's ground contacts. The contact patches are probably corroded if they have been loose for a long time.
The Maplin type connectors are not a great design. Some jacks of that design are made in China, distributed in 100 different brands. Those are made of white metal, not brass, so they sound awful. The super glossy gold finish makes me suspect they are zinc casting, not brass. The threads will strip or the threads will break off if you tighten too much, which is just less than how tight you think they should be. The other problem with this design is that the ground tab is held against the jack or chassis by the nut, or by the lock spring washer, so it is not a very solid or soldered connection so ground impedance is not as low as it could be with a one piece brass or copper ground contact.
Switchcraft makes a good quality, low price brass jack with integrated ground lug, but their ground barrels are slightly undersize (-0.0005") so some plugs are loose unless tightened as above.
Vampire makes a good quality all brass RCA jack for reasonable price. They have higher price models, but the lowest price model is good quality. These are used in some famous high quality equipment brands.
The best RCA jack, imo, is WBT Nextgen. It has pure copper, single piece, minimal mass contacts, and no threads. Threads in the signal path are somehow bad, don't ask me why but several connector makers eschew threads in signal path.
The Maplin type connectors are not a great design. Some jacks of that design are made in China, distributed in 100 different brands. Those are made of white metal, not brass, so they sound awful. The super glossy gold finish makes me suspect they are zinc casting, not brass. The threads will strip or the threads will break off if you tighten too much, which is just less than how tight you think they should be. The other problem with this design is that the ground tab is held against the jack or chassis by the nut, or by the lock spring washer, so it is not a very solid or soldered connection so ground impedance is not as low as it could be with a one piece brass or copper ground contact.
Switchcraft makes a good quality, low price brass jack with integrated ground lug, but their ground barrels are slightly undersize (-0.0005") so some plugs are loose unless tightened as above.
Vampire makes a good quality all brass RCA jack for reasonable price. They have higher price models, but the lowest price model is good quality. These are used in some famous high quality equipment brands.
The best RCA jack, imo, is WBT Nextgen. It has pure copper, single piece, minimal mass contacts, and no threads. Threads in the signal path are somehow bad, don't ask me why but several connector makers eschew threads in signal path.
Instead of replacing the jacks/sockets, I suggest you try this plug:
NF2C-B/2 - Neutrik
It has a spring-loaded, retractable ground sleeve. When connecting, it makes ground before signal contact. When disconnecting, it breaks signal before ground.
I have been using these for over 10 years and highly recommend them.
NF2C-B/2 - Neutrik
It has a spring-loaded, retractable ground sleeve. When connecting, it makes ground before signal contact. When disconnecting, it breaks signal before ground.
I have been using these for over 10 years and highly recommend them.
These are quite nice and can be soldered before fitting to the chassis or removed from the chassis without desoldering.
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Thats exactly what I meant to say. Serves me right for posting when I am too tired to think.
Its certainly the sockets that are the problem. The plugs are already of good quality (Neutriks and Russ Andrews)
The Maplin's look very similar to those I have already. The Alluvial look good, and being able to put them through the case after soldering is great.
Wbt is looking at the price, a good choice, though the chinese eight in a box seems nice als, but you don't have a lot of choice , i can't find in electronicstores only finf the cheap 2,5dollar once or wbt for a decent price or i have to watch in England or Germany. One problem with the wtb connection is that my screw on rcacable is very tight.
greets richard
greets richard
DH-Labs CM-R1 RCA are really good - machined from solid copper and gold-plated with thick layer of gold
I got these in the end
image post
image post
RCA, phono socket homepage
Result? The plug/socket fit is far better and the sound is another step up from where it was before. Using my current test record (Suzanne Vega "Solitude Standing") everything is a wee bit clearer, especially all the 'off stage' sounds on "Toms Diner"
@£40 its a fair upgrade for the money.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
image post
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
image post
RCA, phono socket homepage
Result? The plug/socket fit is far better and the sound is another step up from where it was before. Using my current test record (Suzanne Vega "Solitude Standing") everything is a wee bit clearer, especially all the 'off stage' sounds on "Toms Diner"
@£40 its a fair upgrade for the money.
With all of these RCAs using a solder tab, throw the solder tab in the spares bin.
Presolder the shoulder of the barrel right next to where the pole comes through.
The end of this face is +0.8mm wide and needs a lot of heat to get a good fixing.
When you bring the two core twisted lead to the end of the socket you solder one lead inside the pole receptacle.
Bend 1mm of the return wire and solder this 1mm to the pre-tinned spot on the end of the barrel.
The insulation of the return is formed to rest against the side of the pole piece.
The Loop Area between Flow and Return cannot be made any smaller.
A connector designed to use the shield to completely enclose the pole will do better, but very few of these exist and those that do often cost much more, or require a very expensive crimper to make the joint.
Presolder the shoulder of the barrel right next to where the pole comes through.
The end of this face is +0.8mm wide and needs a lot of heat to get a good fixing.
When you bring the two core twisted lead to the end of the socket you solder one lead inside the pole receptacle.
Bend 1mm of the return wire and solder this 1mm to the pre-tinned spot on the end of the barrel.
The insulation of the return is formed to rest against the side of the pole piece.
The Loop Area between Flow and Return cannot be made any smaller.
A connector designed to use the shield to completely enclose the pole will do better, but very few of these exist and those that do often cost much more, or require a very expensive crimper to make the joint.
The type shown in post6 with the two Return legs can be used in a manner to reduce interference by using "canceling" of fields.
A tinned copper wire/loop is soldered to the two legs. The middle of the loop just misses/passes by the centre pole.
The twisted pair get attached to the pole and to the middle of the loop.
The interference field impinging on LOOP on the left side cancels with the filed impinging on the LOOP on the right side. Equals virtually zero interference due to the two small loops.
A tinned copper wire/loop is soldered to the two legs. The middle of the loop just misses/passes by the centre pole.
The twisted pair get attached to the pole and to the middle of the loop.
The interference field impinging on LOOP on the left side cancels with the filed impinging on the LOOP on the right side. Equals virtually zero interference due to the two small loops.
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