DIY 3.5mm to RCA stereo cable

[admin]

I have my 2nd mini-system running off of a wiim mini. This only has a 3.5mm stereo output jack so I wanted to upgrade the cable. As you may have read in my other posts that this system is capped with a budget of $2,000 so after all the other hardware (including a MV-55 and PV-14L and Martin Logan 35XTi speakers) there really was very little left in the budget for cables.

I went with some bluejeanscable unterminated MSA-1 cable (which I had to directly request from them) with a generic 3.5mm connector and some locking RCA plugs. I really like locking RCA plugs and have used them on other RCA cables I have made in the past.

I also got some black/blue techflex braiding to "pretty it up." It actually looks much nicer in person than the picture below.

It was a bit of a challenge to get the ground sleeve separated from the main signal wire. As it is very tiny. But after figuring out how to do the first one it became not much of a problem. I unfortunately made the heat shrink a little too short near the 3.5mm jack so it ends slightly prematurely but otherwise it came out as I intended.

Overall it was a fun project and I can definitely appreciate a bit of extra clarity compared to the previous generic cable I had on hand.

[RJKflyer]

It looks like the screen is only connected at the 3.5mm end?

I ask as although I understand the primacy of having screens connected at only one end as a rule, is your source end actually the cleanest 'earth'?

(Or does it even have one?)

[admin]

Both ends are grounded if that is what you are referring to. The single wires going into the RCA plugs actually have two internal wires inside.