About Quarter Inch Plugs and Jacks:

Quarter Inch plugs and jacks are used as high quality reliable connections into guitars, speaker cabinets, studio patch bays, microphones, audio mixers and audio signal processing gear.

The most common type of quarter inch plug is the straight quarter inch unbalanced plug commonly referred to as a TS (Tip, Sleeve) quarter inch plug. For musicians the quarter inch plug is used to connect a guitar to an amplifier or also used to jack together guitar foot pedals. Unbalanced quarter inch cables are typically used in runs no longer than 25' because if signal degradation.

Balanced quarter inch plug and jacks are commonly referred to as TRS (Tip, Ring, Sleeve) quarter inch plugs. TRS quarter inch plugs are typically used in professional audio applications in studio batch bays, audio snakes, live audio mixers and outboard gear. High quality balanced quarter inch cable can carry signal up to 300'.

Options for TS quarter inch plugs or TRS quarter inch plugs include right angle plugs, gold plated plugs and jumbo plugs. Right angle quarter plugs are used where space is tight and due to a lower profile have a lesser chance of getting snapped off. Jumbo quarter inch plugs are typically used for speaker cable due to the larger rear opening allowing for larger gauge wire. Gold plating in quater inch plugs is used to reduce "hiss" in a system due to the high conductivity of gold.

About RCA Connectors:

An RCA connectors are plugs and a jacks designed for use with coaxial cable for frequencies ranging from the very lowest up to several megahertz. RCA Connectors / Jacks are most commonly used to deliver high quality analog signal, digital video signal, component video, composite video and in some cases speaker connections.

There are many types of RCA connectors in the market but it is always best to choose a high quality RCA Connector when assembling cables. High quality RCA connectors as usually constructed of a high quality bass material that is 24K gold plated. Gold plated RCA connectors of premium quality will usually feature a split tip and a tightly fitting crown (outer ring) to insure maximum signal transfer. RCA connectors can be purchased with either screw down or solder type connections.

Audiophile grade gold RCA connectors will often feature a locking mechanism. Gold-plating reduces the effect of corrosion and locking RCA connectors solve most of the mechanical problems.

Cables used to connect to Gold RCA connectors include: analog audio cable, 75 Ohm Video or Spdif cable, and RG6 Cable