RCA jack and plug too tight!

It’s so difficult pulling off and pushing back on my RCA plug and jacks. It almost feels like I might break the back off the rear amp and CD player housing. Should I lube the surfaces? Silicone spray? DW40? Sand it down with fine grit sandpaper? My plugs are by Monster Cable, btw.

 

Some of the monster cable connectors are notorious for pulling RCA jack out of the chassis of components. Get rid of the cables. Or change the connectors to something with less of a death grip. Unless you are planning on towing a car with it.

 

I might have been doing it wrong but I would just pry the plug apart with a screwdriver.

 

The grip of death.

Get Blue Jeans cables to replace your grip of death Monster Cables. The Blue Jeans cables have a nice RCA plug that has leaf springs to grip the RCA jack with love. Love not death.

 

Yes, I agree with the consensus here. The small investment in a new cable is nothing compared to fixing the unit or abandoning the affected RCA jacks. FWIW, Monoprice used to sell similar death grip connectors. It would be wise to peruse user reviews to avoid other cables similarly constructed.

 

Don't sand the connectors and don't use any industrial solvents. You'll only ruin the conductive coating and I doubt it would help with your situation.

I agree with the others, get a pair of Blue Jeans RCA cables. They provide better quality sound and very good connectors.
Stereo Cables at Blue Jeans Cable

The LC-1 cables.

 

Thanks guys!

 

I do like the RCA plugs on the Blue Jeans cables. The leaf springs grip with love. I'm not going to claim the Blue Jeans cables are the best cable. I do hear a difference with cables. I prefer the Blue Jeans Belden 1505F cable to their LC-1 cable. What I like about Blue Jeans is the RCA plug. So much love with the RCA jack. No hate of death. It is the RCA plug I judge all others against.

I'm a big believer that RCA cables should not grip so hard on the RCA jack that they risk pulling the RCA jack off of the circuit board. A lot of gear has the RCA jack supported only by the solder joints to the circuit board. A cable that grips so tight that it ends up pulling the RCA jack off of the circuit board becomes a very very expensive cable. I don't like to play with very very expensive cables.

 

Do they have screw on plugs? My DH Labs are like that, and have the option of tightening on the sleeve while on the RCA out/in.

 

many do....all my Rega interconnects have a "lock" that can be engaged once the plugs are inserted. Just a simple twist/untwist of the barrel.

 

Those are locking RCA connectors. I have them on a pair of Siltech. I've only seen them on higher-end cables.

Edit... so yeah, DH, Rega, Siltech.

 

Ha!!! Not really, I've got them in some cheap Chinese IC's and some DIY I've made years ago, never again!

In my opinion locking RCA's are best avoided and the perfect recipe to damage audio components.

 

I don't think they're necessary or advantageous. But how can they cause damage?

 

Locking RCA’s? In 50 years, I have never had one come loose. It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

 

There are a few ways,

People sometimes forget they are locking type and use a lot of force to pull them out damaging the board the females are soldered in or even worse cracking the female or the back of the component when made of plastic.
Even when in the unlocked position sometimes they are still really tight forcing you to use extreme force with the same results.

I have seen that kind of damage first hand, sometimes is not visible externally but the circuit board can get cracked or pins get loose causing intermittent loss of signal. It doesn't happen all the time but it happens. I was trying to find you a photo but there aren't many, here is one example of the many things that could happen. In this case it seems the full female was stripped out of the component. It doesn't even need to be locking type just an ordinary but tight RCA can end up badly.

 

I believe it. I approach the back of my rack very carefully. Too many cables and components back there to make a rash decision.

 

If its a normal plug, I usually use a small pair of pliers and bend the outer contacts out enough to ease it.
Too tight will cause all sorts of problems

 

As others have said, if it is so tight that it could potentially damage the device you are connecting it to - get rid of it. But if you are careful, it is possible to bend one of the outer contacts with needle nose pliers to ease the death grip. I have done this succesfully multiple times, but also busted some off as well.

 

I recently encountered some cables with Neutrik Rean connectors, they are lovely. They made me actually want to plug and unplug them. I've thought about using them on some of my existing cables. They cost less than $2 each, I assume they crimp on.
Neutrik NYS373 | B&H Photo Video

 

Hahaha never get tired of youre ‘ grip of death ‘ posts.

yup agreed. Blue jeans.