What’s the problem with this....

Barrivee

This jack appeared to be faulty - when touched or moved it made a lot of noise. 

As a very unenthusiastic amateur solderer I was hoping to see something very obvious to bodge up but I have no idea with this. Any advice gratefully received. 

Ta!

SteveRobinson

Your soldering looks fine. There may be a break in the cable. Cut two or three inches off and resolder it.

Sassafras

I always solder wires to the outside of the tags. Stops them shorting.

Barrivee

To be clear, I haven’t soldered this. I’ve just pulled it apart hoping to see something hanging loose. If I solder anything, trust me, it will be blatantly obvious. 

ICBM

The plug looks like it has a loose centre rivet so the conductors aren't held tightly together - there's a gap between the ground strip and the threaded barrel part. That will definitely cause crackling and intermittent hum when you move the plug.

If you can be bothered, try using a punch to flatten the copper rivet down and pull everything tightly together. If you can't, bin it and use a decent quality plug...

Funkfingers

Beaten to it AGAIN! 

Did anything fall out when you unscrewed the outer shell of the plug?

That copper coloured bit between the two soldering terminals is all that is holding the tip contact into the barrel. It does not look very robust. 

I agree with the suggestion to lop the end off, strip the insulation and resolder the conductor and screen wires to the plug.

To be frank, the plug in your photograph is nothing special. It might be worth buying something better.

Barrivee

@ICBM @Funkfingers ;Thanks I will see if I can punch the copper rivet down first, if not I will have a go at soldering a new plug - anything in particular ?

Interesting the plug is not up to much as the lead is a Vovox Sonorus so I expected it to be top notch considering the price. 

Funkfingers

The high purity copper wire is where most of the money goes. IMO, it deserves a more robust jack plug. My preference would be a Neutrik NP2X.

maltingsaudio

Have to say the standard of the wire stripping is very amateur , I’m assuming @Barrivee stripped some of the outer covering off but the strip on the hot isn’t what I would expect on a pro cable. As to why they’ve used inferior jack plugs is beyond me, especially on a £70 cable. replace with neutrik immediately 

ICBM

I assumed that was some piece of junk £5 cable... because it certainly looks like one.

Any ‘top notch’ cable that doesn’t use Neutrik plugs, or at the very minimum Switchcrafts, is not worth the money.

Barrivee

maltingsaudio said:

Have to say the standard of the wire stripping is very amateur , I’m assuming @Barrivee stripped some of the outer covering off but the strip on the hot isn’t what I would expect on a pro cable. 

 I pulled off the Orange heat shrink which looks a mess but the rest is as it was. 

ICBM said:

I assumed that was some piece of junk £5 cable... because it certainly looks like one.

TBH I can’t hear any difference between the Vovox and my Whirlwind Leaders. 

I’ll try a Neutrik on it - watch this space for a “show us your comedy soldering” thread.