How To Make Braided RCA Cables For Superior Noise Rejection!

RCA cables transfer the audio signals from the head unit to the amps, but that long wire often acts as an antenna to pick up RF and EMI interference in your vehicle. Big money is spent of RCAs, but you don't have to spend a ton of money on cables, instead, you can make them yourself and get even better performance.
There are three main types of RCA interconnect wiring- coaxial, twisted pair, and braided. Coaxial wire uses a typical stranded center wire with a weaved outer wire inside a larger jacket. This is typically the best in terms on EMI rejection, but cheap coax RCAs are made with low quaility wire and terminals, so they fail often. You can buy high-end coax RCA cables, which can get really pricey.
The second type, and most commonly used for car audio, is twisted pair. This style uses two wires twisted together, usually sleeved in an outer jacket, to reject noise. There are expensive and cheap versions available. The twist on the wire needs to be a minimum of 18 twists per foot to get the maximum rejection.
The third style is braided weave, which is what we are doing here. This was pioneered by Ray Kimber of Kimber Kable, and have used this style for over 20 years in all of my high-end builds. Instead of a simple twist, you braid the two signal wires together with a center shield wire. The center wire can be grounded to the source unit chassis to provided a "Dead Drop" ground, which eliminates any chance of noise interference getting in to the signal because the dead drop wire is only connected at one end, nothing can flow through it. The addition of the 3rd wire helps position the signal wires so they cross each other at 90-degrees, which maxmimizes the cancellation effect, which is the main purpose of twisting or braiding. This essentially makes the signal very difficult for noise penetrate and get into your system.
You can also make a 5-wire braid to create 2-channel RCA braid, which works as well but is a little more complicated to braid.
These braided RCAs work very well in every car and home audio system. I have yet to have a noise problem when I use these cables. You don't need any special wire, just OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) wire, I like to use 18-ga, and some good brass RCA terminals. Silver solder is best, but any lead-free solder with rosin flux is suitable. If you use a soldering iron, be careful not to overheat the tip on the RCA, which will melt the plastic insulator.

[@mikeeygauthier2959]

The alligator clip is scratching that centre pin terribly. Braiding before soldering would be best. The drain blue wire is excellent idea almost like an XLR connection!

[@narcolepticlex]

Great video bruh! Bad ass time to make me some cables 😊

[@Reddirtrodz]

Glad you liked it! Let us know how it goes!

[@Rheasound]

thanks for sharing. BTW that bench vise worth more than everything on that bench.

[@Reddirtrodz]

Yes, it is. I got it for like $20 at an industrial auction. Opened it up, cleaned it, lubricated it, and tightened up the jackscrew, works perfectly! Gotta love a Wilton, and it's older than me!

[@qtipsters]

I like it

[@danbuffington75]

12:28 Do you mean to secure the ground to the vehicle chassis and the radio chassis on each end?

[@Reddirtrodz]

No. The ground wire is a shield. By grounding it at one end only, any EMI noise will be directed to the ground, eliminating the interference. If you ground both sides, you end up with a ground loop which creates an imbalance in the signal. Think of the shielding ground as a lightning rod,

[@NickP333]

Good job with that cable. Cool idea using the extra wire as a ground wire. I bet they’d be good on turntables. Did you measure the capacitance and/or resistance of the cable of the length you built? Thanks very much! 🔊😊🎶

[@Reddirtrodz]

I have measured it, i didn't include that in the video. Maybe I will do a cable test video, i usually test them with my Audio Toolbox, which has a built-in cable test.

[@Iron505Horse]

Would this work if you looped some of the braided wire in the door by the speaker, or would the loop cancel what the braid is doing? So, not necessarily running a new wire, just creating a "noise sink" at the door.

[@Reddirtrodz]

Running it around the speaker wouldn't do anything positive. The braid is the noise sink for the low voltage signal, it won't help with any other noise, and looping any signal wire creates an antenna for noise, which should be megsted by the braid, but I wouldn't do it.

[@Iron505Horse]

​@Reddirtrodz we are on the same page. "-) I also get that you need at least 18 braids. I was thinking if you then used that 18 braid section at the speaker as a service loop we'll say, then i dont have to rerun the whole connection. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, the old wire could be my pull string. Ha ha

[@dannyprice5219]

Would the braided cable work as an a/v composite cable?

[@Reddirtrodz]

Absolutely! EMF and EMI gets into everything, and video signals are weak to begin with, I use these for my in-car video as well.

[@dannyprice5219]

Good to know, thanks!@@Reddirtrodz

[@chk5306]

It is great video to know braided cable. Thanks !

[@ubacow7109]

What about just using a ferrite choke~

[@Reddirtrodz]

You can use a choke, but that is like putting on a band-aid when you need stitches. Braided pair with a ground isolator doesn't need a choke and is far better at rejecting noise.

[@wombatau]

Use some flux man

[@Reddirtrodz]

Rosin core solder doesn't need flux.

[@wombatau]

@@Reddirtrodz It’s an old saying but rosin is not really a miracle ingredient. Try a thin application of flux paste, it will blow your mind. It’s about $2 for a tube of something like RMA-223. Flux removes oxides, prevents them reforming during soldering, and helps with heat transfer. It makes good joints easier and better. There isn’t enough fluxing action in the solder itself for surface preparation.

[@wombatau]

@@Reddirtrodz It was balling up, try some paste flux, you’ll never look back.

[@julesjulian75]

If your poor excuse for a soldering iron WAS"NICE & HOT" like u said, the solder would melt within 2 seconds. Tinning the iron would help too as would using flux. This is NOT what I'd call a tutorial on soldering anything. This is how no idea experts do it. Nice work, except it's terrible. Sorry to break it to you.

[@Reddirtrodz]

Sure, the solder melts instantly on the tip, but you have to heat up the base metal, which takes longer than a couple of seconds. If you just let the solder melt on the tip to the wire, you get a cold solder joint. Take your no clue having ass out of the comments, bud. Flux is not needed with rosin core solder for electronics. Hate to break it to you...