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.