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Death Grip Cables: Name the worst Offenders

Also, one thing to take into account are the RCA jacks on the back of your gear.

I know in my case, with my modern stuff like Musical Fidelity, where they use higher quality RCA jacks, my cables slide on and off with less friction than say for example some of my vintage tuners that use standard RCA's. Maybe it's time to bring out the DeOxit and give them a good cleaning.
 
Well, I kind of find the opposite. They seem to come off of the vintage gear (Kenwood, Onkyo, Akai, TEAC, Pioneer) easier than the newer gear (Cambridge Audio, SUMO, B&K, Yamaha).

Presently hooked up between the Onkyo A-5 and a Yamaha DVD-S2300.

I quit using them between the Cambridge A300 and NAD 4130 tuner because I literally had to get a small pair of pliers to twist them off. It's almost as bad with the Yamaha.
 

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ovaeasy said:
Well, I kind of find the opposite. They seem to come off of the vintage gear (Kenwood, Onkyo, Akai, TEAC, Pioneer) easier than the newer gear (Cambridge Audio, SUMO, B&K, Yamaha).

Presently hooked up between the Onkyo A-5 and a Yamaha DVD-S2300.

I quit using them between the Cambridge A300 and NAD 4130 tuner because I literally had to get a small pair of pliers to twist them off. It's almost as bad with the Yamaha.
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It must just be the RCA sockets on your equipment. Size varies, it doesn't mean they're necessarily good or bad, but it can be a pain to deal with tight connectors and large sockets.

I've used a couple different cables with the standard Kimber RCA connectors seen in your picture. I even removed a pair to use for some DIY interconnects I made a couple years ago. My experience with these has been that they get an acceptable grip on the socket, but I've never found them to be tight.
 
Mr. Lin said:
It must just be the RCA sockets on your equipment. Size varies, it doesn't mean they're necessarily good or bad, but it can be a pain to deal with tight connectors and large sockets.
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You are correct, sir.

They are good, and the multi-colored braid is oh-so sexy.:D
 
ovaeasy said:
They are good, and the multi-colored braid is oh-so sexy.:D
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Tell me about it - ever seen the Silver Streak? I used to have a pair, and I wasn't happy when the time came that I had to sell them. Pertinent to the thread topic, my Silver Streaks had the older black-barrel WBT locking RCA connectors. On the one hand I liked the idea that, once locked, they were on there just about as tight as possible, but on the other hand, they were kind of bulky, and it can be a major hassle to install and uninstall them with cables plugged into inputs on either side of the sockets you're attempting to use.
 
I bought some monster cables a few months ago. I went to go and move some of my equipment around and had one hell of time trying to loosen them from the receiver. I almost pulled out the rca plug. I was pissed!!
 
....Probly should'a started a new thread but this has been pretty well beat to death.

Anyway, couldn't comment before but since have picked up a set of DH Labs RCA 2 connectors that have basically a 6mm cable capacity and are of a simple design. Great for older vintage stuff with tight spacing of the female rca's. VERY nice fit is all. not too death grip and not too sloppy at all. Brass, solid, not a lot of room to solder however. FWIW. BTW, a bit pricey compared to Reans or some Daytons
 
Yeah I tried the Monster's and was very disappointed. Went to remove because I couldn't get it to seat in all the way. Pulled the RCA jacket off my Carver pre which are junk anyway. At least that got me to open it up and the jackets are pressed in but there was enough tab inside that I bent them all over so they don't just pull off anymore. Then did the same to the other Carver pre - both are the CT-24 tuner/preamp. They been out of rotation for some time, with my Yamaha's C-60 & C-85 currently in.
 
EchoWars said:
Monster cables used to be terrible about this. Since I have not fooled with their crap for years, I have no idea if they've gotten their **** together or not.
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A quick tip for Monster cable, if you twist clockwise (if you're looking from the plug towards the unit) and pull, they come off easy. Monster designed a bunch of their interconnects this way so they would lock on but would allow removal when needed. A lot of people don't know about this. Monster doesn't even mention it on the packaging. You can tell which ones have this feature. They have angled cuts on the part that goes around the female RCA. I can't tell you when they started or stopped making them like this. I just know when I worked at Circuit City in the late 90s, a large amount of Monster cables were made like this.
 
t40killa said:
A quick tip for Monster cable, if you twist clockwise (if you're looking from the plug towards the unit) and pull, they come off easy. Monster designed a bunch of their interconnects this way so they would lock on but would allow removal when needed. A lot of people don't know about this. Monster doesn't even mention it on the packaging. You can tell which ones have this feature. They have angled cuts on the part that goes around the female RCA. I can't tell you when they started or stopped making them like this. I just know when I worked at Circuit City in the late 90s, a large amount of Monster cables were made like this.
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You are referring to their Turbine connectors. I have more than a dozen pairs of these crappy cables that I've used with a variety of components from several manufacturers. Twisting is of little to no help when trying to remove them, and in fact can exacerbate damage to the female RCA's on the components (ask me how I know :mad:).

Monster Cables suck :bash:.
 
t40killa said:
A quick tip for Monster cable, if you twist clockwise (if you're looking from the plug towards the unit) and pull, they come off easy. Monster designed a bunch of their interconnects this way so they would lock on but would allow removal when needed. A lot of people don't know about this. Monster doesn't even mention it on the packaging. You can tell which ones have this feature. They have angled cuts on the part that goes around the female RCA. I can't tell you when they started or stopped making them like this. I just know when I worked at Circuit City in the late 90s, a large amount of Monster cables were made like this.
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I worked at Circuit City for a while and had the same experiences. I still have a lot of monster cable and am very careful when removing/installing them. I toasted a lot of gear with these things. Best to avoid...trying some XLR cables soon...I have some gear that can use it...won't be buying monster cable though :D
 
Ultralink Discovery RCA interconnects make me afraid of my gear every time I use them, which isn't that often any more. Talk about death grip!
 
I find the monster cables really tight and too fat too (at least the THX ones). It's too bad because the Monster THX cables I use otherwise are fine. Well designed (balanced + and ground, with good single ended shielding...Directional) and constructed. I would recommend them if it wasn't for that small detail about how they can ruin your amp or receiver trying to get them off, and that they won't fit the spacing of some of my RCA jacks.
 
Yep, I've got a Monoprice rca cable for my sub, and it's the tighest thing I've ever had the misfortune to use. I have to be super careful and it's a real pain.
 
My old Sansui gear seems to want to stretch out any current production rca cable. I can only conclude that Sansui used larger O.D. chassis connections than the norm. Or I am I wrong?
 
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