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Sick and tired of buying RCA cables for vintage gear

poortom

poortom

Active Member
I bought some FosPower RCA cables recently use with my Dual and Garrard tables and other inputs to my Scott 299C. They are very slim but the outside common was too large and made poor contact with my devices. I bought some Crutchfield labeled cables and they were a bit too big and picked up all sorts of noise on my phono inputs. With both of these cables, the shield covers would come unscrewed easily.

Are older vintage RCA cable connections smaller than newer? What have you guys had success with? I don't want to drop 100's of dollars on designer stuff. Everything has these days has huge connectors on it it seems.

I'm tempted to find old period RCA cables on Ebay. I see some nice-looking custom-made ones on Etsy but they are a bit out of budget.

Tom
 
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JoeESP9 said:
I have found that using one's fingers to squeeze the ground
Click to expand...
This is the way. Assuming the plug covers aren't too large (which has happened to me on more than one piece of vintage equipment), and they're not made of pot metal, you can adjust the size of the ground to suit.
 
I have some old Switchcraft interconnects that are over 60 years old.
The center hot pin is a bit larger than more modern versions.
So, if you try to use them with modern amps/receivers or whatever, you have to force them into the female jacks.

They work fine with vintage gear from the era, but not with modern audio stuff...
 
If the center (hot) pin is too loose, you can squeeze the contact by using needle nose pliers to squeeze it. This can only be done with the cover off and the device unplugged.
 
Audioquest from back in the 90s or earlier were always a very tight fit. Don't know about their current plugs.
 
The choices are daunting but I've actually had a lot of success with cables from Amazon. Interconnects and speaker cables. I'm particularly fond of the plethora of adapters to turn old speaker terminals into banana plugs without changing the actual terminals. :dunno:
 
The best semi-budget cables for me are BetterCables Silver Serpent.

Connectors fits tight but easy to connect/disconnect at the same time due to their construction, sound is awesome also for most demanding listeners like me.

And there is only Shrink sleeve around the connector, maybe not too large for your needs.

I first bought a 3' one , and recently a 6' one, prices raised (moderately) between the two purchases but is still acceptable considering quality of the cables.

I would not throw more money in that anytime soon, I have my cables I need.
 
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I'm verry happy with these Belkin cables (haven't tried them on phones however). They are cheap, double insulated pure copper etc. and the plugs are inconspicuously small. No fancy, just doing the job. They seem to fit anything not to wildly off standard. I should mention I'm a bit of a sceptic on "magic cables" for crazy money.
 
We have a seller on BT that makes cables from Canare & Mogami wires.
I've had good luck w them. No issues with plugs on my pre 1990 equipment.
 
Thanks everyone. I've got some good leads. I've tried pinching/squeezing the outside conductor with some success. Some cables (like FosPower) have such narrow slits on the outside, it's hard to do.
 
Quoting Bob in WI, We have a seller on BT that makes cables from Canare & Mogami wires.
I've had good luck w them. No issues with plugs on my pre 1990 equipment.

OK, dumb question. What's BT?
 
poortom said:
Quoting Bob in WI, We have a seller on BT that makes cables from Canare & Mogami wires.
I've had good luck w them. No issues with plugs on my pre 1990 equipment.

OK, dumb question. What's BT?
Click to expand...
BT is Bartertown, available to subscribers here where you can buy and sell.
 
Try making your own.
Rean NYS373 plugs are skinny and fit vintage gear perfectly. They are also dirt cheap, readily available, and extremely well made.
Canare GS4 or GS6 is a good cable for line-level, but a bit too high-capacitance for phono applications.

www.rean-connectors.com

NYS373

Phono plug, black housing, gold plated contacts, rubber anti-kink boot, chuck type strain relief, cable O.D. 3.5 - 6.1 mm
www.rean-connectors.com www.rean-connectors.com
 
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