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Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks

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Posted on September 15, 2014 at 17:53:19
sanman
Audiophile

Posts: 1780
Location: Redwood Coast
Joined: November 13, 2004
I love my little magnavox stereo tube amp, but the input jacks are closely spaced together and many of the fancier IC's wont fit well. Added to that is the fact that I currently need a 12 foot cable to accomodate the placement of the preamp in the living room. Is there a cable out there with a small plugs and good sound at that length. Currently I have two cables joined together to make the run, with the amp end terminating in basic plugs. Seems I could do better...
Thanks
"When the demon is at your door, in the mornin' it won't be there no more"
Steely Dan

 

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RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 15, 2014 at 20:18:49
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
"Once more into the breach."

Neutrik/Rean NYS352G ("silver" barrel) and NYS352BG (black barrel) RCA plugs have gold plated contacts and will fit in the tightest of spaces.

Mogami W2549 shielded twin conductor bulk cable is low capacitance and "reasonably" priced.

If an interconnect cable is used between an older unit and a "modern" unit, use Canare F-10 RCA plugs at the end with room.

All of the above can be sourced from MarkerTek at reasonable prices.


Eli D.

 

Thanks!, posted on September 15, 2014 at 21:20:23
sanman
Audiophile

Posts: 1780
Location: Redwood Coast
Joined: November 13, 2004
X
"When the demon is at your door, in the mornin' it won't be there no more"
Steely Dan

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 16, 2014 at 05:45:14
My system has a 9-meter IC between the preamp and amp (s). I have had very good results with Canare GS 6, although it was so cheap I had to really adjust to liking it. It is not audiophile approved, you know. But it does sound better, for whatever reason than the cable I had been using that cost six times more.

I bought mine from Upscale Music.com. Plugs will work on vintage gear.

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 16, 2014 at 10:41:07
manerac
Audiophile

Posts: 191
Location: Mpls
Joined: June 29, 2007
Why would you use 2-conductor instead of shielded 1-conductor such as Mogami W2333?

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 16, 2014 at 11:49:08
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
A very common way of setting interconnect cables up is to ground the shield at the upstream end only. The 2 wires are used to carry signal. The shield "dumps" noise into the chassis of the upstream component, but does not carry info.


Eli D.

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 16, 2014 at 19:00:30
sleeper
Audiophile

Posts: 1162
Joined: May 21, 2002
So, both the shield and one of the conductors are grounded at the upstream end?

 

On old vintage amps, posted on September 16, 2014 at 19:00:40
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
I replace power cords, input jacks and speaker terminals and it's always worth the time, money and effort.


ET
ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 16, 2014 at 19:25:43
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
"So, both the shield and one of the conductors are grounded at the upstream end?"

Correct. An exception to the "rule" is in wiring a turntable up. Phono carts. are differential and have no ground. That's why you will find isolated I/P jacks, whose signal grounds are tied to chassis ground via 0.01 μF. caps. in phono preamps. The caps. are used to "dump" shield noise into the chassis.



Eli D.

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 17, 2014 at 08:06:22
Crazy Dave
Audiophile

Posts: 14371
Location: East Coast
Joined: October 4, 2001
Hi Eli,

Does that change the way you would wire a shielded twin-ax cable for phono?

Dave

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 17, 2014 at 10:25:40
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
Dave, it sure does. In the case of a turntable, the shield gets grounded at the preamp end. Best is a custom cable, where the shield has its own pigtail that's tied to the preamp's grounding post and is never associated with a signal carrying conductor. However, the caps. in a well constructed phono preamp allow the use of cabling with the shield connected to signal ground at 1 end. FWIW, I use a set of "Straight Wire" cables that way on my backup TT. The setup sounds pretty darned good.


Eli D.

 

And this explains why some ICs come with directional arrows printed on the jacket? NT, posted on September 17, 2014 at 18:51:23
sleeper
Audiophile

Posts: 1162
Joined: May 21, 2002
NT

 

Yes. (nt), posted on September 17, 2014 at 19:30:48
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000



Eli D.

 

RE: Best IC's for vintage RCA jacks, posted on September 19, 2014 at 09:51:25
Crazy Dave
Audiophile

Posts: 14371
Location: East Coast
Joined: October 4, 2001
Thanks Eli! It looks like a custom phono cable is in my future. Although my system sounds great now, I have been considering DIY cables for a while.

Dave

 

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