[dhsettim]

Hi all, Allen Wright says in his Preamp Cookbook "(if) I absolutely had to put a connector in the signal path--I'd use one of those really neato subminiature UHF connectors.......such as the SMB series". Does anyone have any experience or advice of good alternatives?
thanks
tim

[ABEX]

One person I know of hard wired his components onstead of using RCA's which depending on the interanl wireing and backplates does not seem to hard to do.

He saud it sounded great.

After doing testing with various RCA's they do add colorations. The worst were the Rhodiums which gave a rather warm presentation that was to much for my taste.

The most neutral sounding were,yes you guessed it, the Eichmanns.Gold Plated RCA's I generally liked also.Daytons gave a bloated Bass presentation.

Good luck

[John Chapman]

Hello!

I used to always hardwire both ends of cables into my gear. Can't beat it sonically and it's cheap! Total pain in the butt to swap stuff though. Since I started doing a lot of equiptment swapping (for testing gear) I have not hardwired anymore.

I have not tried the smb's although I have seen them in catalogs so they can be obtained fairly easily I think. Check out digikey, newark, mouser and places like that.  XLR connctors are pretty decent and better than most any (and maybe all) rca's from a signal connection point of view. They are cheap because they come from the pro audio world - not from the 'hi-end $$ audio world'.  I have had guys use xlr's wired single ended for connectors for this reason - not a bad plan if you diy your own cables and can mod the amp / source ends of your gear.

 Levinson tried to use a Camac (SP?) connector instead of rca's some years back but what happened was everyone was using camac to rca converter's - which is far worse than just an rca so they gave up on that. It was not possible for most folks to get camac ends on cables - unless they used cables made by levinson.....

The best from a connection point of view that allows some flexibility is to hardwire one end of the main cables in and out of the pre-amp. This means you have to comit to a flavor of cable though.... This is basically our hardwired cable option - typically using a favorite cable you send on up but I also can make a cable if you don't have a favorite.

For max flexibity in a multi-input pre-amp hardwiring some cables and having some rca connectors for alternate inputs and outputs is not a bad way to go.


Many Thanks and Happy Hollidays!

John Chapman
www.bentaudio.ccom

[JoshK]

Perfect timing on topic!  I have just been pondering myself about what I plan to do.  I am thinking of hardwiring some of my cables into my gear, but probably only one end so that it isn't horribly difficult to move gear.  I will probably start by hardwiring my phono leads into my phono pre, as they are the most sensitive.  That will make for no connectors between the cart leads and the phono section.  

I think if you are to use RCAs, Eichmanns are the way to go.  I can tell you whether the silvers are worth the money though.

[dhsettim]

Thanks all, as I'm going to do a DIY chassis I think I'll try a variety--hardwire, RCA, XLR and some silver plated UHF SMB. I'll report on my findings when I get that far. Don't hold ya breathes. Merry Christmas.tim