RCA Caps

Is anyone using RCA caps (plugs) on their unused audio connectors?

I'm considering going with either Telos or Cardas.

I like the idea of keeping dust out of these while benefitting from EFI/RFI rejection.

agiaccio08-26-2011 12:57pm

Showing 6 responses by bdp24

bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-09-2017 at 12:04am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete whart, it's always a cause for concern when the original owner of a company sells it. Even more so when the owner was deeply involved in the design of his company's products, as was Bill Johnson in ARC's. I know some hardcore tube guys who feel ARC lost their way when they went hybrid (the SP-10 to the SP-11, in particular), and their products were more Rich Larsen's designs than Bill Johnson's. That an amp as old as the D75a, originally introduced in 1973 iirc, is still worth keeping running is a testament to the amp's design, that of Bill Johnson alone.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-08-2017 at 10:36pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete James, there is a real good chance that true shorting plugs will provide an improvement over the non-shorting Cardas caps. Do a search for them on ebay, where I found mine. I then sold my Cardas, as they were inferior to the far cheaper plugs. As a bonus, I got more for the Cardas caps than I paid for the plugs!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-08-2017 at 01:59am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete What ever works. But I'll wager than if non-shorting caps are beneficial, shorting caps will be even more so. In this case, the "why" is no mystery. Speaking of shorting caps and understanding them, here's a story Bill Johnson told at an instore appearance I attended in the 80's: ARC sent Harry Pearson their new SP-10 pre-amp for review, and shortly thereafter received a call from Pearson, who told Johnson there was something wrong with the pre. Bill, in an attempt to diagnose the problem over the phone, asked Harry some questions, and soon had his answer; Pearson had installed shorting plugs in the pre-amp's unused output RCA's. Well duh! J. Gordon Holt evaluated the sound of components, be he also understood how they worked, having a technical electronic education. Pearson may have had a good ear, but was completely ignorant, technically. Having both is not a bad idea; it's a great bllsht filter.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-08-2017 at 12:09am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete As long as you're going to put caps of some sort on your unused RCA inputs, might as well make them shorting caps. Why spend more for non-shorting Cardas' than for cheaper true-shorting caps? Seems obvious to me, a no-brainer if there ever was one!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-07-2017 at 08:46am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I found the Aurora Tronics plugs in a 2015 ebay ad. It doesn't matter who makes them, as long as the hot center pin and outer ground are soldered together, to create the short. Anything less is merely cosmetic.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,097 posts 11-05-2017 at 10:30am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete There is a small operation making and selling true RCA shorting plugs: Aurora Tronics in Sandy Hook, CT (phone number 203/426-9599). I bought some a couple of years ago, and they were cheap: $19.95 for 20 plugs. They also offer RCA phono cap covers (non-shorting, for outputs), at $7.95 for 20. They sent them to me with free shipping! Cardas' protective caps look nice, but do nothing, claims for providing shielding against RF and EMI notwithstanding.

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