"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"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"?

IMO phono plug cost seems almost immaterial to effectivness, some cheap ones
are good, some expensive poor & vice versa.

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.

Agreed, but I'm sure the ubiquitious RCA will be with us for a while
yet..mores the pity.

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.

Agreed but trying several different makes of new plug into one jack does
show variability - one new plug I tested dropped out with the jack facing
down! (For test purpose only)

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.

But for high end probably not, because of many physically large heavy
cables...but I'm sure you'll have an opinion on that one :-)

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.

Meaning I most likely had experience with more phono plug/jack combinations
than the average consumer. Boring but true.