Mini -> RCA error

[Little J040]

So I made another mini rca and The sound was all scratchy and hissy. I had to move the mini jack all around and hold it to make it sound good. If I didnt hold it it sounded like S***. Anyways I held it there and there was distinct attentuation to the sound. So i plugged in my cable to the jack to see if the jack was ****ed up and the right speaker no longer worked. What gives??

Was it a grounding issue that ****ed up my right jack? God this stuff sucks, But the cable did sound good when I held it

 

[Megaptera]

I would open the cable up and closely examine the connections. You've definitely got something marginal somewhere, since you say that the cable's position affects the quality, and I'd bet you've got a short between ground and, maybe, the right channel. If you're using a cable with either a stranded core or a shield, double check and make sure there's no stray bits of wire brushing against something else.

 

[Little J040]

Yeah It's got a metal shield of some sort, So if that were touching Right or left signal on the mini that would probably be the cause. Any ideas on what happened to my amp's out put?

 

[Megaptera]

There's a couple possible things with the amp's output: Plugging the cable in could short the right channel to ground, there could be a marginal connection in the cable or the jack that gets knocked out when you plug it in, or the jack could be miswired.

First step is fix the cable's connection, since you know that's a problem. It may or may not be both problems, but either way you need to fix it. To know exactly what problems to look for visually, use your meter to check resistance along the cable. Basically you'll want to check that each channel has near-zero ohm resistance along each conductor from one end of the cable to the other (if not, you have a marginal connection), and infinitely high resistance from one conductor to the others (if not, you have a short).

With any luck that will sort out the amp problem. If not, troubleshoot it by opening the case and visually inspecting the jack for any loose connections, and make sure it's wired correctly. Also inspect it with the cable plugged to make sure it sits neatly and doesn't rest with the right channel shorted to ground or anything else. Use your meter to check resistance if the problem's not obvious.

 

[Little J040]

Sweet took it apart today, and found that when sliding the Mini barrel onto the connecter connected ground to the right channel. All it took was a quick check with the meter, one with the barrel on, one with the barrel off and found that I just needed to bend the right prong in a little more. SWEET!!! My first working, sweet sounding DIY cable, I'm so happy I was doing a victory dance for a good half hour!

 

[Megaptera]

Excellent! I'm glad you got it working

 

[Little J040]

Hehe! Im so stoked. Thanks for your input!

 

[arspy87]

Pics!

 

[Little J040]

Lol It's definately no looker with out any heat shrink, but I plan to fix that soon. I'll hopefully have some pics up tommorrow. It looks like ASS!