Special female RCA jacks

Ketch, you might be able to find such an animal, but most likely it won't be of "audiophile" quality.

The way I've most often seen this problem solved in components with thick faceplates or rear panel plates, is that the manufacturer counterbores a larger hole (around 5/8' dia. +/_) into the plate to reduce the effective thickness to something around 1/8". And then drill the hole for actually mounting the jack.

Bryston (used to anyway) drill a large hole in the plate and mount the jacks on another (thinner) plate inside. I never liked that solution because a lot of connector barrels wouldn't fit through the big hole!

Cardas makes a long reach female RCA that's excellent quality. I cannot tell from the image on their web page exactly how long it is.

Take a look and maybe email them for specs.

My backup plan, if I can't find a long RCA jack, is to mount them to an aluminum panel under the thick plate as you said and bore a large hole in the thick plate. I wish I could do it the other way because it would look sooo much cleaner but you can't have cake and eat it, too.

Your comment about not drilling large enough holes (like on the Bryston) was actually a concern of mine. While my ICs now have RCA ends that are slightly less than 1/2", I don't know what my future ICs might have. What ICs did you find too big for the Bryston? I was thinking of boring a 9/16 hole but I'll step it up if there are a lot of ICs out there that have ends over 1/2".

Albert, I nixed the Cardas because it can only work in material up to material .4" thick :(. I'm getting desperate. Is there anyone that can machine a set for me? It's a relatively simple part. I think the hardest part to get right would be the part that clamps the pin.

Ketchup, I was using Magnan ICs w/ my Bryston, and their barrels were just toooo big. I solved the problem with Monster right angle adaptors, but it was a less than desireable situation. If Albert suggests Cardas, I'd definitely check it out. They'd be good quality. Maybe they'd even make you some custom for not too much. Also, check w/ Jim Aud at Purist, he does a lot of custom stuff.

If such an animal exists, Stuart at Vampire wire would know. Call Sound Connections and ask him.

Ketchup,

Check out the new Furutech FP-901G at VH Audio. Although no specific measurement is given (literature says "Mounting Insulation accommodates chassis panels of any thickness") it looks as if there is at least 13mm (1/2") for the panel. If you countersink a larger hole (say about 21mm (> 3/4")) in diameter (for clearance) on the interior of your panel about 7mm (> 1/4") deep, it should give you enough room to "flush mount" the Furutech. Look at the spec sheet and talk to Chris at VH Audio to see if this is feasible.

Hope this will will at least inspire even more thoughts if not provide you with a solution.

contact Stu Wein at www.audiopartsinc.com He makes neat things for people.