# Make your own RCA cable or buy it ?



## Miguelhry (Feb 4, 2017)

Hi, maybe this topic was discussed before but I can't find any thread.

So I'm thinking on making my own RCA cables for my next build, that is cheaper, more funny and you can make them as long as you want to. But my question is, what about sound quality? It is noticable difference on terms of quality between self made RCA and bought one ? Of course it depends of components quality chosen but I'm talking about regular installation, not very pro.

Thanks.


----------



## Justin Zazzi (May 28, 2012)

Be prepared to hear every answer between "no difference whatsoever" and "even my grandma could hear the difference, and she's already dead!".

I lean towards not much difference, but it is can be more fun, it can be cheaper, and it can be nice to have custom cable lengths. It can also be a pain, crazy expensive, and a waste of time. It all depends on your goals.


----------



## MikeS (May 23, 2015)

As much cross sectional area for cable you can for easy installation especially with long runs and you will be fine..
I could hear a difference with cheap 5 meter rca and thicker reasonably priced rca with just bookshelf speakers and home receiver.


----------



## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Not a lot cheaper, 10x more time involved, pain in the a##. Quality is what you make it. Unless you are making a totally custom install I would not do it. If your all about diy then it's not difficult but return is not worth the effort to me.


----------



## knever3 (Mar 9, 2009)

Too bad a nice brand like Stinger could be ordered to a certain length, you could have your cake and eat it too. In my opinion I like very short barrels on my RCA's and from what I've seen with the commonly used Neutrik Rean barrels... terribly long so this complicates installs and puts extra stress on the non-tiffany type of rca connectors on the amps.










Compared to my favorite type, Stinger HPM


----------



## Miguelhry (Feb 4, 2017)

Can't see the picture you uploaded


----------



## #1BigMike (Aug 17, 2014)

Jazzi said:


> Be prepared to hear every answer between "no difference whatsoever" and "even my grandma could hear the difference, and she's already dead!".



:laugh:


----------



## Miguelhry (Feb 4, 2017)

You all made me more confused that in the beginning hahaha


----------



## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

I'd rather just buy. Decent cables aren't expensive by any means and I've gotten away with some rather very inexpensive ones. Making them leans towards custom for whatever reason, but I'm not too fond of the bulky ends that most seem to have. Makes it harder when dealing with tight spaces.


----------



## MacLeod (Aug 16, 2009)

I've used a bunch of different cables over the years and never found a difference between any of them. I just use KnuKonceptz stuff for all my wires and cables nowadays.


----------



## Aslmx (Jan 10, 2017)

You can get the sosche twisted at wal mart for 10 bucks. I don't think it's worth the time. But this is a " DIY" site so some people might feel different


----------



## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

It's not that much more expensive to buy them new, except when you want to get fancy sometimes or it just happens to be almost perfect, to my needs and demands like these audioquest. I've used stingers, and loved them, the only complaint was stiffness ( could not make small circles or loops, no big deal) and the connectors needed to be adjusted, if not, you risk pulling the ground plate surrounding the female connector, and many if not most expensive tend to be like that, very tight. 

The audioquest evergreens are almost perfect, small super smooth gold plated connectors covering entirely the contact ground area, thick plastic or thick clear coated barrels very thin single cable, made it easy to fit in tight spaces and look great. The only complaint, too short from the split joint, making it hard connect 2 sub amplifiers, other than that no complaints, even being for home audio they meet and exceed the car demands and needs. 

I've said this before, a 2 ch car RCA, has to be a single cable with 2 connectors per side, if not then I hope there is room to bundle 6 or 2 instead of 1 if ran to DSP, but when you have speaker wires running along with them things can get tight, complex and very time consuming with those signal wires.


----------



## avhound (Sep 15, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> I've used a bunch of different cables over the years and never found a difference between any of them. I just use KnuKonceptz stuff for all my wires and cables nowadays.


didn't want to start a new thread(just love Cable Wars).
any way i have been using Knu's since early 2000 home and auto. long time ago i picked up some really nice Phillips, never seen them for sell any where again that was at Sam's Club. I just purchased the Sundown cables, these are very nicely made and not too dang expensive.


----------



## bnae38 (Oct 3, 2015)

I made my own, twisted pair, shielded with shield only connected at source. Does it make a difference, probably not .


Markertek is a sweet site to get the stuffs.


----------



## High Resolution Audio (Sep 12, 2014)

For sound quality I would recommend Audioquest Cables. The Evergreens are very budget friendly ( not cheap and not expensive. )

Years ago, I've made my own cables in the past with 12 gauge speaker wire and got rid of alternator whine noise induced from cheap ( radio shack ) cables. 

I'm running all Audioquest ( Higher end ) Cables in my system and on my system, I noticed an immediate improvement. It was an experiment as I was very skeptical and it was one of the last things I did. I tried with one set first, and gradually replaced the rest.


----------



## DC/Hertz (Nov 27, 2011)

High Resolution Audio said:


> For sound quality I would recommend Audioquest Cables. The Evergreens are very budget friendly ( not cheap and not expensive. )
> 
> Years ago, I've made my own cables in the past with 12 gauge speaker wire and got rid of alternator whine noise induced from cheap ( radio shack ) cables.
> 
> I'm running all Audioquest ( Higher end ) Cables in my system and on my system, I noticed an immediate improvement. It was an experiment as I was very skeptical and it was one of the last things I did. I tried with one set first, and gradually replaced the rest.


What was the improvement?


----------



## DC/Hertz (Nov 27, 2011)

I prefer to use whatever cable fits and has a good enough end. 
Radio shack to kimber. Don’t matter


----------



## norurb (Jun 28, 2013)

I made my own with Switchcraft nickel plugs and Canare Starquad cable. Mainly did it for the challenge otherwise I'd be buying Sundown cables.


----------



## rob feature (Nov 15, 2015)

I get all the stuff to make them for free at work and it's a part of what I do and still I buy some Knu cables. The short terminals and super-bendy cable and pants I can't do for free though; and since the price is right and the value is high the Karmas have become my go-to cables if I can use a standard run.


----------



## bnae38 (Oct 3, 2015)

rob feature said:


> I get all the stuff to make them for free at work and it's a part of what I do and still I buy some Knu cables. The short terminals and super-bendy cable and pants I can't do for free though; and since the price is right and the value is high the Karmas have become my go-to cables if I can use a standard run.


Love my knu power cable and speaker wire. Read there were tons of issues with their rcas at one point? Probably resolved now I take it.


----------



## avhound (Sep 15, 2017)

bnae38 said:


> I made my own, twisted pair, shielded with shield only connected at source. Does it make a difference, probably not .
> 
> 
> Markertek is a sweet site to get the stuffs.


just came off that site they have tons of stuff, makes radio shack well like radio shack. 
i will make a set someday. with every thing i solder and connect with all my different hobbies and my trade, i just like different companies products,
grant that i would not spend any more on RCA's or any other wire than necessary.


----------



## rob feature (Nov 15, 2015)

bnae38 said:


> Love my knu power cable and speaker wire. Read there were tons of issues with their rcas at one point? Probably resolved now I take it.


Never had any issues personally. 

Yeah, the Kolussus Fleks is good stuff too - again the go-to.


----------



## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

Depending to what you want at the end of day. Out of all the cables I used before(From Knu's Krystal, Monster Cables, DIY silver plated cables), my favorite still the CAT6 network cable.


----------



## DC/Hertz (Nov 27, 2011)

I’ve always used Knu Krystal’s before I needed 3-6in cables. That’s the only reason I had to move to Soundrive. They are nice cables btw


----------



## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm using AQ evergreens, only an AB test could determine a sound difference between those and the Stingers HPM 3's, I do trust my ears and respect them.

I'd say the AQ had less harshness, sure that harshness could be tuned. 
It may prove what they say, that stranded conductors produce harshness.


Both cables are great, and worked well, it just may boil down to a preference in construction, cosmetics and flexibility.


----------



## rob feature (Nov 15, 2015)

kyheng said:


> my favorite still the CAT6 network cable.


I've been threatening to try this. It would be especially helpful in situations where you have a lot of channels but your cable diameter is limited. All the stuff we use (Covid and Crestron) is both twisted and wrapped in foil. The smaller gage wire is easier to work with too. We typically use shielded 22/2 to make them at work and that's on the heavy side for soldering RCA terminals. I'd imagine CAT5 would work the same.


----------



## avhound (Sep 15, 2017)

kyheng said:


> Depending to what you want at the end of day. Out of all the cables I used before(From Knu's Krystal, Monster Cables, DIY silver plated cables), my favorite still the CAT6 network cable.


learn something new every day. acquired a roll of cat6 from a friend who retired from AT&T,
used very little to wire my rooms in my house. i think, maybe trying to fab some sooner than i thought, i mean i always knew there wasn't too much to these things just so much quicker to purchase. i have some PET, just need the plug ends.
Hey! Thanx.


----------



## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

rob feature said:


> I've been threatening to try this. It would be especially helpful in situations where you have a lot of channels but your cable diameter is limited. All the stuff we use (Covid and Crestron) is both twisted and wrapped in foil. The smaller gage wire is easier to work with too. We typically use shielded 22/2 to make them at work and that's on the heavy side for soldering RCA terminals. I'd imagine CAT5 would work the same.


You need twisted pair network cable to begin with, so CAT5E or above is the starting point. 


avhound said:


> learn something new every day. acquired a roll of cat6 from a friend who retired from AT&T,
> used very little to wire my rooms in my house. i think, maybe trying to fab some sooner than i thought, i mean i always knew there wasn't too much to these things just so much quicker to purchase. i have some PET, just need the plug ends.
> Hey! Thanx.


Good luck, just make sure you get real OFC cores, I'm using AMP brand since it is free from my company's loose ends.


----------



## Holmz (Jul 12, 2017)

Alrojoca said:


> I'm using AQ evergreens, only an AB test could determine a sound difference between those and the Stingers HPM 3's, I do trust my ears and respect them.
> 
> I'd say the AQ had less harshness, sure that harshness could be tuned.
> It may prove what they say, that stranded conductors produce harshness.
> ...


Good for you.

Most people have said it is a waste of time... And I agree.

I also have 100' of RCA wire, and 16 sets of Nuetrik RCAs. Sometimes you need or want odd lengths.
Saving money and time is probably not a valid reason to consider doing it yourself.


----------



## toneloc2 (Nov 29, 2015)

well i'm going to give it a shot,,, i have 4 sets of focal er1 elite and seeing how i'm redoing my amp rack and only need 6 inches from amps to dsp,,,, i'm going to shorten them....... is there a proper way to make them into y adapters?


----------



## avhound (Sep 15, 2017)

toneloc2 said:


> well i'm going to give it a shot,,, i have 4 sets of focal er1 elite and seeing how i'm redoing my amp rack and only need 6 inches from amps to dsp,,,, i'm going to shorten them....... is there a proper way to make them into y adapters?


iam not sure on the splice never tore one open to see myself, but you'll need a "Y" Block and or Speaker Pants. 
Search Results
not necessary but i use 3% or 4% silver solder, just makes me feel better, especially you will never be taking them apart again.


----------

