i want to cut and replace the rca leads in back of my technics sl3300..about 6 inches back, what happened is a puppy chewed a bit on the wire and one of the plugs..doesn't affect sound,i just don't like the electrical tape look..covering the small cut..i don't have that much experience soldering,but want to learn,figure this is fairly simple..any pix or detailed advice would be greatly appreciated:yes:

This may sound harsh, so please don't impute any malice, but I don't believe that soldering an RCA plug on a cable is something that can be taught via a picture or a paragraph of explanation.

I suggest you find a technician or highly skilled hobbiest in your community, and ask them to solder ONE plug on while you watch, explaining as they go how they prep the wire and what tools they are using. Then stash this knowledge in memory.

Next, go down to Radio Shack or similar and buy the necessary items, and -- using the knowledge gained from WATCHING someone solder the first plug on the right way -- simply duplicate what they did.

Fred

Go here (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=118660)

You have to register to see the photos

good luck

the worst thing that can happen...

...you mess-up a plug or two as you learn (so buy extra)

...you burn your testicles because you are soldering without wearing pants :D

... and perhaps a solution to your concern.

WARNING: This pedestrian adventure into soldering a male RCA plug could lead onto a consumately compulsive obsession leading to disruptions in your work/career, sleep patterns and family relations. As soon as you are seen carrying schematics on the way to the toilet, you are doomed. You have been warned!

Seriously, Fred is right. The best way would be to get some instruction from a pro or experienced hobbyist. But, if you want to get into DIY, cable-making is a good way to start. Leave your taped-up doggied cable in use for now, and make an effective, yet very simple cable.

If this is your choice, I would suggest that you embark on a trial and error experience. There are some very good on-line soldering tutorials as well as archives advising on tools and so on to help you start.

A simple cable can be made from cheap RCA plugs from Radio Shack, some new or surplus CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable, and some boot laces. Articles will blah blah about Teflon insulated Plenum varieties and solid wire over stranded and so on. Don't worry over this. Grab what you can. All LAN cable is a bunch of twisted pairs that contain excellent copper conduit. All the insuation is marked with distinguishing colors that are either solid or stripped. You can choose whatever colors you want to match up + and minus (ground). You will need two pairs for each run.

You can get a tutorial for building a cable and a lot of pointers for beginner builders here:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/shoestrings_e.html

BUT: you can simplify this recipe and it works very well as long as your system is not afflicted by too much Radio Frequency Interference. This is a simple, unshielded design. And if you can solder, cook breakfast and find your way to the county fair, you can make it.

Simply take two pairs from inside the CAT cable after cutting away the sheath. Do all the stripping and prep like you see on the TNT tutorial as it applies to your simplified design. You need some good round boot laces — the type mountaineers and hikers use. Cut the lengths and pull out the core material. Feed a twisted pair into the bootlace. You have to leave margins on the lace and the wire for assembly with the plugs, and this is all part of the trial and error process. The tutorial will help.

The result can be neat and handsome, and it is good in the hand. It is simpler than the version in the tutorial. The lace is virtually non-inductive and the twist in the LAN pairs substitutes for some of the benefits of shielding. Another advantage is that you can customize the length to exactly what you require. Cheap plugs can work fine in this design. Hint, when you solder, plug a female RCA plug into the male you are working on to keep the center pin from warping in the plug. Cheap plugs use less effective insulation when it comes to heat.

TOOLS — the TNT tutorial will help but ....
* a soldering pencil. Get on line and/or go through the archs and read all about stuff that will teach you how to choose one.

* Wire cutters. A light pair — not the kind linesmen use. Best that they be the electronics type in case you go on to bigger things later. The glands will be bevelled on one side, and flat on the other.

* A wire stripper for the size wire you will be using.

* A third hand — a very inexpensive device for holding parts that you are soldering.

* An inexpensive multimeter for determining continuity and measuring resistance in your finished cable runs

MATERIALS
* 60/40 electronics solder — one of the finer gauges.

* Some Cat 5 or 6 A LAN wire (used in computer LAN networks) It's all over the place and inexpensive. 24 gauge. Comes as 4 twisted pairs of wires. Surplus, recycled wire is fine.

* RCA plugs. Cheap ones are fine to start, and they may be easier to work with in the beginning. Get one female type as suggested above.

* Some woven round boot or sports shoe lace — ones from which you can remove the core material.

Just the LAN pairs themselves without the lace sheathing will get the job done. But the bare wire tends to kink and tangle and is not very pretty. The red pair right in front of me looks as handsome as any factory IC I can easily remember.

Best of luck ... and if you need some help, you can send a PM.

thanks for all the excellent advice..

If you buy relatively inexpensive RCA plugs, plan on sanding off the shiny plating on the wire contacts before soldering....

Caveat being I've not seen the inside of that TT so no idea how difficult or easy it is to get at the internal cable connection --- but if it were me I would look first at just replacing the whole cable. I can pick up good audio cables second hand for about what I would pay Rat Shack for a pair of their cheap (in the case of my local store, crappy) jacks. Putting new jacks on is fairly simple once you see how but I've just found that if I'm going to solder one end or the other I'd rather work the side that's going to be clamped down with some strain relief -- and the ends will look better.

YMMV

This is an excellent primer on DIY cables, a well made video:

http://revision3.com/systm/avcabling/

dew.

Hi,

I replaced the cables on a Technics SL-1500 I had.

Posts: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=145496&highlight=technics+1500

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=143414&highlight=technics+1500

Maybe it will help.

John.:music:

Sorry everybody. I was way off the mark thinking that billr814 was into the usual IC's