"Dave Plowman" wrote in message

In article ,
Mike Gilmour wrote:

Everything helps.

A claim that has been used to justify considerable gross excess. There is a
law of diminishing returns.

Why spoil your audio system by using iffy phono
plugs.

Is a low-cost plug necessarily "iffy"?

Phono connection can be pretty variable at the best of times
dependent on the make, manufacturing tolerances etc.

AFAIK the RCA plug/jack was originally used to internally connect a 45 rpm
record player mechanism with a crystal cartridge to a two-tube power
transformerless mono amplifier and 4 inch speaker of such low grade
construction that it is virtually impossible to duplicate today.

That it became the predominate connector for consumer audio is IMO a
miscarriage of justice and technology. The good news is that a proper audio
system can be constructed today with audio signals passing through exactly
zero of these techno-abortions.

But hey we're
stuck with the phono connection so we'd better make the best of a
'bad' job.

Fact of the matter is that the worst part of the RCA plug/jack design is the
jack, not the plug. Obsessing over plugs therefore doesn't make a lot of
sense unless it can be shown that a reasonable inexpensive design fails to
pass audio transparently as typically used.

The good thing about RCA plugs is that consumer audio is for most consumers,
a set and forget thing. As a plug/jack that is mated and unmated a minimal
number of times, as bad as it is, The RCA plug/jack is adequate if
reasonably well-implemented. Since warranty claims are of paramount
importance to reputable manufacturers, the plugs and jacks on most audio
gear in the category we call "mid fi" or better is usually up to the job.

In my time I've manufactured many thousands of phono
cables as a business, in the course of things I've used most of the
more popular makes

Hmmmm.

snip

In my experience, when a phono gives connection problems, it's
invariably the 'spring' of the *socket* centre which is at fault.

Agreed.

If you regularly plug and unplug home made leads then a large plug
with a good cord grip makes sense.

Agreed.