I made some custom RCA interconnects for my system as I could not find ideal cables for less than $1000. I really like how they came out. Check out the gallery for full step by step instructions and many pictures... I had a fun time making them!

Comments and suggestions always welcome!

http://www.blu-ray.com/community/gallery.php?member=invenio&folderid=6628

Great job! I was not aware of the locking style of connector until I read your instructions. I wish cables with the locking connector were more readily available. I may have to break down and build some as well.

It was the general lack of locking plugs that made me decide to build my own cables. I found the belden LC-1 cable that got really good reviews but I didn't like the plugs. Overall it wasn't that difficult to make and I basically made the 2nd set in half the time it took the first. I really like the sound they bring to my system and it's also "cool" to have unique cables (IMHO). Here is a picture of the 2nd shorter stretch I made this past weekend.

The now discontinued Acoustic Research Master Series interconnects use those same connectors which are very nice but can also be a pita to get off

I just bought a phono preamp so it looks like I'm going to have to make another set in the upcoming few weeks. I went online and bought some more locking RCA plugs as I really like their design. I have to now go and check to make suer I have sufficient cable length left to make a short 2 foot pair.

Which is my experience with standard RCA connectors. Some of them are too tight by far. I much prefer connectors with an actual locking feature, such as BNC or the Japanese D-Terminal. Don't always get what I want, though.

I agree. I was using some cheap RCA before and they were super tight. If I put them on some cheapo equipment I wouldn't really care but yanking it off and on from Conrad Johnson equipment is a different thing all together. I was worried that I would ruin the connectors on the equipment. Now it's a simple few turns and it's completely loose, and then few more turns and super tight without any friction on the connectors.

I had a monster thx ultra 1000 digital coaxial cable rip off the outer part of the jack on my pioneer elite dv-58av

Ouch!!! That is one of the reason why I decided to go with the locking plugs as you can make a connection that is much tighter than any push-on plug, yet there is no wear on the connector as you only tighten it when it's in place. When you have expensive equipment you definitely don't want to do any damage as repairs can be expensive and parts are often very hard to find (especially for vintage equipment that they don't make anymore).

Had the same problem on a VCR. Was using some gold tipped cables that fit REALLY DAMN TIGHT on the jacks. They totally pulled the jacks clean off when I tried to remove them.

I now put a little bit of vasoline on the outer edges of the jacks when I use plugs that feel tight when I attach them to avoid that.

Vaseline? Wow, doesn't that ruin the entire conduction thing? I think i'll stick with locking plugs! I have to admit that your creative, as I've never heard the Vaseline method!

Where did you get the locking rca plugs from? Doing a quick google search yielded $30 per pair connectors!

You can find them in many places, WBT makes a very nice set but they're really expensive. If you go on ebay and do a search for "locking RCA" you will get a bunch of results with prices under $5 a piece. I find that almost all of the locking plugs are the same exact design so choosing the manufacturer is not that critical. I recently bought a Nakamichi set to try it out compared to the GLS Audio ones I tried using before.

Thats interesting. Why did you choice the LC-1 cable over some of the Belden cable. Seems like some of it is cheaper, balanced, and suitable for other applications.

When I was doing research for the cable I was looking for consistent opinions. I found tons of individual case reports of "this or that" cable being good. However, what constantly kept coming up is how much people seemed to like Blue Jeans Cable. It was literally review after review and they were all positive. Blue Jeans cable uses LC-1 cable from belden in the interconnect cables. I wanted locking plugs and a more attractive design so that is why I made my own (plus I wanted a fun project) vs just buying from them. I'm sure there are many great cable choices out there but the reviews for the LC-1 just really stood out there as all positive with numerous reports. I think they were right as I also really enjoy there sound and was very surprised by the significant change in sound after the upgrade. In truth I was a little bit of a "cable skeptic" prior to this, but no longer.

I was wondering because it doesn't seem like BJC will sell the LC-1 cable for applications other than analog audio. I was thinking if would be cheaper to buy a larger amount of something like the Belden 1694A so you could use it for all RCA style cables in your setup.

No, your right. BJC seems to really like the LC-1 specifically for interconnects only. As for price, there is not much difference between LC-1 and Belden 1694A so it didn't even enter into the equation. If interested, you can buy raw cable from BJC's sister site www.rawcable.com.

I definitely might do that. I like the idea of making my own cable lengths. Your connectors were not compression right? I've always had a hard time getting those to work right.

No they were not. The connections were soldered on. I question whether you can get really good electrical connections with simple compression. Also, I think with time and "wear and tear" they could get loose while with a direct solder you would literally have to break it apart.

I definitely agree that soldering is the way to go, but with some cables like BNC and Coax you have no other choice but compression. Same with Ethernet.