[radmanhs]

ok, 1 more post.  I made a small adjustment in the floating end of the cable.  I isolated the shield strands that were sticking out using heatshrink.  the noise was drastically reduced, to the point where you could only really hear it if you turn up the volume higher than what you would have it on for everyday use.  but that isn't good enough, how can I get rid of that last tiny bit of noise?  Is the only real choice new wire, like the stuff I ordered from btg, or can I salvage this rca cable, and not add it to my shelf of failed projects? lol

 

[Allanmarcus]

  ok, 1 more post.  I made a small adjustment in the floating end of the cable.  I isolated the shield strands that were sticking out using heatshrink.  the noise was drastically reduced, to the point where you could only really hear it if you turn up the volume higher than what you would have it on for everyday use.  but that isn't good enough, how can I get rid of that last tiny bit of noise?  Is the only real choice new wire, like the stuff I ordered from btg, or can I salvage this rca cable, and not add it to my shelf of failed projects? lol

Very hard to tell without pictures. Hard to know what you think is "janky". 
 
If you have a drain side, you connect it to the input side. If you are using mogami 2524, I don't think you can have a drain. The center wire is the positive and the shield is the common. You need to have the common connected on both sides.
 
If you have a multimeter, see if there any impedance between the the connections on the jack. If there is, you have a short of a poor connection. 

 

[radmanhs]

how is the common wire different than a drain wire? I have read many times is the shield of an instrument cable is the drain wire, which you ground on 1 end, of course on the input side

 

[Allanmarcus]

Every RCA interconnect needs two wires connected at each end. The positive wire gets connected to the center pin of the RCA jack. The common gets connected to the outer connector of the RCA jack. If you have a cable with two inner wires AND a shield, you still connect the positive and the common as described, but then you can connect the shield to one side of the cable, soldered to the same part the common is soldered too.
 
If your cable only has an inner wire and a shield, you use the inner wire as the positive and the shield as the common. You cannot have a drain in this case. 

 

[radmanhs]

I just tested it, there is an impedance of .4 ohms... Well' guess I'll try to fix the connections tomorrow.  I'm brand new to soldering and have taught myself how to solder from 0 within the past week.  What are some tips to make a better connection

 

[radmanhs]

  Every RCA interconnect needs two wires connected at each end. The positive wire gets connected to the center pin of the RCA jack. The common gets connected to the outer connector of the RCA jack. If you have a cable with two inner wires AND a shield, you still connect the positive and the comment as described, but then you can connect the shield to one side of the cable, solders to the same part the common is soldered too.
 
If your cable only has an inner wire and a shield, you use ut thinner wire as the common and the shield as the common. You cannot have a drain in this case. 

Well, I learned something today, time to rebuild my rca cables from scratch again XD  

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

 

Well, I learned something today, time to rebuild my rca cables from scratch again XD  

Yikes! I flubbed up some words on my original post #5344
 
Please see the post as I fixed it.

 

[Allanmarcus]

  I just tested it, there is an impedance of .4 ohms... Well' guess I'll try to fix the connections tomorrow.  I'm brand new to soldering and have taught myself how to solder from 0 within the past week.  What are some tips to make a better connection

Clean the tip, then tin it. Tin the wires. Good ventilation. Helping hands or adjustable vise like the PanaVise. Go slow, be exact. Watch a number of youtube videos. 

 

[radmanhs]

would not having the common grounded on 1 end cause a problem with the impedance?

 

[Allanmarcus]

  would not having the common grounded on 1 end cause a problem with the impedance?

You need to have the common grounded on both ends. That's why it's called common; it's a common wire across your entire system. 

 

[radmanhs]

 
You need to have the common grounded on both ends. That's why it's called common; it's a common wire across your entire system. 

right, but since on my current cable I have only one end of the common wired on the outer connector and I have .4 ohm impedance, with pretty good solder connections throughout, would that be a possible reason why there is resistance to begin with?  Or would it only because of "poor" solder connections

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

 
You need to have the common grounded on both ends. That's why it's called common; it's a common wire across your entire system. 

right, but since on my current cable I have only one end of the common wired on the outer connector and I have .4 ohm impedance, with pretty good solder connections throughout, would that be a possible reason why there is resistance to begin with?  Or would it only because of "poor" solder connections

Sorry, I don't know. 

 

[radmanhs]

What would you say is the threshold of impedance until you still have problems?  All I know is that I finally finished my first successful set of cables XD only took ~20 hours, but it feels totally worth it

 

[Paladin79]

  What would you say is the threshold of impedance until you still have problems?  All I know is that I finally finished my first successful set of cables XD only took ~20 hours, but it feels totally worth it

I am having a little trouble understanding the question but I might be able to help. Be careful not to confuse impedance with resistance, both use the ohm symbol. A lot of coaxial cable is 75 ohm impedance. In RF, 50 ohm is common in digital cable it can be 110 ohm but that is impedance. Look up impedance and you will find that resistance is a factor but so are inductive reactance and capacitive reactance and the relationship to current and voltage. If a coaxial cable is wired properly tip to tip or ground to ground, you should measure zero resistance, a dead short. .o4 ohms I would have to know what meter you are using and how accurate it is normally.I was explaining in another post that it is possible to have a high resistance short in coaxial cable if you get the dielectric too hot. We sold a couple guitar cables built at the same length and one was louder than the other. Between the tip and ring of a quarter inch connector we were getting 30k resistance, it should measure infinite or a very high resistance. Under two meters impedance is not much of a factor and should not be much of an issue at audio frequencies from what I recall.

 

[radmanhs]

  I am having a little trouble understanding the question but I might be able to help. Be careful not to confuse impedance with resistance, both use the ohm symbol. A lot of coaxial cable is 75 ohm impedance. In RF, 50 ohm is common in digital cable it can be 110 ohm but that is impedance. Look up impedance and you will find that resistance is a factor but so are inductive reactance and capacitive reactance and the relationship to current and voltage. If a coaxial cable is wired properly tip to tip or ground to ground, you should measure zero resistance, a dead short. .o4 ohms I would have to know what meter you are using and how accurate it is normally.I was explaining in another post that it is possible to have a high resistance short in coaxial cable if you get the dielectric too hot. We sold a couple guitar cables built at the same length and one was louder than the other. Between the tip and ring of a quarter inch connector we were getting 30k resistance, it should measure infinite or a very high resistance. Under two meters impedance is not much of a factor and should not be much of an issue at audio frequencies from what I recall.

well I'm dumb.  It is .3 ohms resistance, not impedance.  Hmmm, I feel that it should have pretty solid connections, but there is no noise and they sound great, so that's whats important to me