DIY RCA's: What did you use?

I buy all-metal ends that look good to me. I then use 18 or 20 ga. alarm wire in colors that complement my system, twist them up with a drill (other end in a vice) until a fairy tight twist is achieved (I like a 90 degree angle between the wires once twisted) and then solder them onto the ends. I have had 0 noise doing it this way. For a finishing touch, I've slid clear tubing over them too. Soldering 20 ga wire has been a little easier than 18 ga.

A not-so-great pic of a system I did a few years ago. I used Soundquest metal ends. This was actually the 2nd system for those ends. I unsoldered them from black and yellow wire in an install that used that color scheme.


I wouldn't recommend using too-hot of a soldering gun or iron. If you hold the heat too long on the center pin of the RCA end, it can melt the plastic insulator, deforming it. I wrecked a couple that way.

I just ordered some Canare LV-77S cable (inexpensive, got great reviews here, and comes in multiple colors)



I'll be using the cable with these and these RCA connectors (they have several color options)





I haven't installed them yet so I cannot comment on performance. After much reading, I'm thinking this will be a good combination.

my first time I used Belden 1505f and some cheap neutrik connectors that weren't good because they didn't lock well on the pre-outs. If I re-do them, I'll use the connectors Autofile mentioned.



Edit:
This is the kind I used last time:
http://www.audiogear.com/Resources/NYS352AU.jpg
http://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=NYS352AU&preadd=action

They worked very well with the coaxial rg59 cable I bought. You only had to solder the center pin, because the inner housing would actually clamp down the shield, and it worked VERY well. You could give that sucker some tugs and nothing would happen.
The problem was the clamping of the shield of the RCA itself to the preouts of the amp/processor/headunit/etc. The OD was simply too large and the rca wouldn’t make a tight grip on the preouts. It didn’t fall off per se, but it sure didn’t grab hold like most other RCA ends. Of course, I paid about $0.60/each for those, so I got what I paid for. In a home environment it would’ve been fine but I’m not sure I’d use them again for car audio unless I was certain they wouldn’t take a couple swipes of the hand, where they would then fall off undoubtedly.

If I make my own again, I’ll just use these:
http://www.audiogear.com/Resources/NYS373-R.jpg

Which a lot of folks here already use. Autiofile actually made me a set a few months back with these and they grab hold of preouts VERY well. I’d be worried about the solder connection breaking before you were able to get the RCA’s off, lol.

FWIW, the Belden 1505f cable I used was selected from about a day’s worth of research. I read up on blue jeans cable site about their head to head testing with various cables and this particular one came in 2nd place behind (iirc) canare cable that was about 3x the cost (again, iirc). The study is here:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/humrejection.htm

Tech data (hard to find anywhere else) is here:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/pages/technicaldocs/1505Ftech.htm


I bought the cable from here:
http://www.rawcable.com/cable/1505F.htm


Cable is very flexible and comes in many colors. I believe the total cost shipped came to be around $0.33/ft. That’s not as cheap as some of the gepco cable, but it’s not too terribly bad. I felt a little more at ease with the features the belden possessed… I could’ve been a victim of marketing. Unfortunately, I never really got the chance to test head to head the differences in the gepco and the belden. So, take the above as my $.02.

quick question. On the neutrik's, is the end of the connector piece (where the cable sits) able to clamp?
I ask because on the other neutriks I used, I just clamped the piece to the shield of the cable and soldered the center pin and that was it.