Grover's cables

[shep]

Anyone else beside me have trouble with the Switchcraft rca plugs he uses? Besides being a pain in the ass to put on or get off, the latest set of SX's he sent me just barely make contact on the CDP end. If I move them at all they break contact and hum. I've asked him if he we replace them with another plug. I have no problem on the amp end, which has those lovely Vampire inputs. The Maranz uses those crap generic type that you can't get rid of without a butcher job that I'm not up to (they are wired directly to the board, using some horrible plastic casing to hold them). I suppose where the center pin is supposed to make contact, just barely touches. Other cables, using other plugs, don't seem to have this problem. Maybe the Switchcraft have a non-standard size?

[mdconnelly]

They are extremely tight.  I quit using them on my Squeezebox because when trying to remove them once I actually ended up twisting the RCA jack on the squeezebox loose and had to resolder it.

While a tight connection is good for most components, I'm extra cautious now whenever I remove them.

[richidoo]

The connectors are an important part of Grover's recipe, he has tinkered with the plating process to arrive at the current plug. Switchcraft parts are extremely high quality. It uses a high copper content alloy.  I think the CDP jacks would be the best thing to change since they could use the upgrade anyway, instead of downgrading the grovers. WBT NextGen RCA jacks are very nice.  I use the WBTs or Switchcraft RCAs (BPJF02X) on my diy projects. They are cheap, gold plated and work well, small enough to fit anywhere. Should mate well with the Grover plugs, but they will always be tight because of his added silver plating.

http://www.mouser.com/search/Refine.aspx?Ntt=Switchcraft%20RCA%20Phono%20Connectors

Are the jacks soldered to the PCB?

[shep]

They are. It's a no-go. I appreciate that he uses good connectors but...there are others just as good and I'm not ripping up the board to try and solve this one.

[richidoo]

Awww C'mon shep! You can do it. Get the plasma cutter out.

[mdconnelly]

A bit of Caig Labs DeOxit makes it much easier to connect and disconnect the Gover ICs not to mention improve the sound!

[shep]

That's a better suggestion! The thing is I can't get at that dratted receptical 'pin' slot thingy because it's of course surrounded by plastic, otherwise as Grover suggests, I would simply move it inwards to where the pin from the RCA made a better contact. Oh hell, send me the plasma cutter!

[richidoo]

Can't you put the lube on the RCA center pin of the cable?  Or am I misunderstanding you?

[shep]

yes of course (if I had any!) The point is the pin is making obviously a very so-so contact and I'm not sure lube will make much dif. Anyway this is really boring. Either I go the whole way and take the whole machine apart so I can see where the rotten rca sockets are located, desolder and then get some decent ones to replace them or Grover makes me a new set with, say WBA instead of his beloved switchcraft. I draw the line at religiously using one kind of RCA plug, no matter how good.   

[shep]

In fact this problem just pisses me off and I'm sending them back. They were on loan anyway so nothing lost except my temper. I do not want to see another switchcraft plug again! Having said that, the other pair I have of SX's don't have this contact problem, so go figure (although they are damn tight as well). What's wrong with good WBT or Eichmann? Nothing. In fact they are a joy to use and I simply don't believe they are that much inferior.  Life is too short and this hobby tricky enough without wrestling with bloody cables and every time I want to swap them being afraid to rip apart the back of the cdp!  Besides, having found the CORRECT direction of John's (Koolcable) "pseudo-silkworms" (sorry John!), I am really enjoying hearing them open up and begin to sing. In case you don't believe cables have a preferred direction...well try for yourself. In this case, John thinks he may have mislabled them, coming from the cooker.
  end of rant.

[rollo]

Shep calm down .Good move to send them back. now that wire being directional is not so. Wait a minute let me esplain. if a wire is used in a IC there are only two ways it can be directional. One being the grounding scheme and the other is if no shield or grounding scheme is used then it is the DIRECTION it was broken in at. 
   BTW not my words Ray Kimbers.
 


charles

[shep]

Whatever...they're gone. I understand what you're saying. Fact is one way will always sound better but it's rarely this obvious. Maybe electrons have a preferred direction, the path of least resistance. As long as they are doing their best, what do I know? and Pseudosilkworms are fine and dandy. HAppy New Year all and sundry.

[shep]

Any one other than myself have tried Grover's second of SX's? Oppinions? I find them stunning but maybe just a touch relentless. Welcome any thoughts.

[evan1]

What do you mean 2nd. Another version ? I got a pair of SX about 6 weeks ago.

[mdconnelly]

Shep, if it's true that misery loves company, then let me share a simple story of my dislike of the Grover Switchcraft RCA terminations as well.   When I tried removing them from my SB3 awhile back, they just wouldn't budge.  Unfortunately, when I applied a bit too much force to do so, it managed to completely twist the RCA in the SB3 breaking the internal contact.  I was able to fix it reasonably easily but that was extremely annoying.

I am still using the first gen Sx on my vinyl rig and it works reasonably well there although I've applied a liberal amount of Caig to the terminations first.   Everywhere else, however, I have moved to JPS and very happy to have done so.