Featured Rca jack issue

[Jay's ranger]

Well my new set up with a skar svr 12 and skar rp1200.1 worked well for about a week. The silver case in the rca jacks both came loose today causing a horrible vibration/ noise from the sub. I attempted to bend the little teeth slightly to get them to bite into the mounts better but no dice. Does this mean I will have to replace the rca jacks?? Any advice on how to fix this issue would be greatly appreciated

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[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

What jacks are you having problems with - the ones on the amp or the jacks on the cables?

 

[Jay's ranger]

The circled ones in the photo on the amp

 

[some dude]

Can you not deal with Skar directly?

 

[Deiimos]

If the amp is new / has a warranty, I would send it back for a replacement. Finding suitable RCA connectors that fit perfectly and can be soldered to the board properly can be difficult; opening the amp to solder in a new connector can also be very difficult and all this will void the warranty.

If it is not under warranty, you will have to open it up and see why those shield rings are coming out and either attempt to fix it internally (modify them a bit to work again if possible, solder them from coming loose, or other methods), or see what sort of replacement you can cobble in there. You can technically even solder RCA cables directly to the board in place of the broken connector, I’ve seen this done to amps with broken RCA connectors (small female pigtail RCA cables soldered in), but kind of a last resort to get it working again.

I've replaced / repaired a few RCA connectors in amps over the years, but it can be a pain sometimes.

 

[Jay's ranger]

I can't get amazon to replace it under warranty, they flat out refuse. So it's either fix it myself or remove the sub and amp and sell it off needing repair.

 

[Jay's ranger]

Can you not deal with Skar directly?

Bought it from amazon and they refuse to do anything

 

[Deiimos]

If Amazon is not authorized to sell Skar, then Skar better get control over who is selling their product. If it is new it should be warrantied, RCA shields sliding off the connector is not very common.

I would contact Skar about it directly. Tell them you bought it new and the RCA shields fell off in short time. Assuming the rest of the connector is not broken or damaged and just the metal rings slid off, this should be a warranty replacement.

Other than that you would have to open the amp and inspect the connector, measure it, see if you can source a replacement, see why the metal rings won’t stay seated, etc.

Some amps I repaired I could never find the proper RCA connector and had to shoehorn a similar one in, and wire it up with jumper wires, or use individual panel-mount RCA connectors with short jumper wires. As I said it may or may not be an easy task unfortunately and may require full amp disassembly. Start with opening it up, take the end plate of the amp off and inspect things, maybe post photos of the back of the connectors and what exactly you are working with. Its hard to explain how to do this wort of thing.

 

[Deiimos]

So I had a free minute to look up a gut shot of that amp.

Something like this looks similar, but you would have to take any measurements to see if the pin spacing, screw holes, etc, match up (although the ebay listing is crap and doesn't have any dimensions, lol). You can ignore the red / white colors as they won’t effect it and it will be much harder to find one with the black color. It’s the same basic connector, but that doesn’t mean it will fit.

You also need to take the amp board entire out of the heatsink to solder it in / replace it properly, which is a can of worms in its self if you aren’t careful. Those transistor clips are not always easy to remove and reinstall, and must make sure not to damage anything including PCB pads / traces, transistor insulators, might need new heatsink compound, not easy without experience.

This is free help on a forum, so if this isn't the right connector don't blame me!!!
But yeah, you're basically trying to source something like this that will fit.

1Pcs PCB Mount 2 RCA Female Stereo Aux Audio Video Jack AV Socket Connector | eBay

Audio Video AV coaxial outlet socket connector. - 2 RCA Jack. - Type: Female. We will leave it for everyone that leaves it for us.

www.ebay.com

Pic from listing:

Gutshot found at Skars website of an rp1200.1 which may or may not have revisions from yours and might even be a generic stock photo, so its important to open your amp and match it up before buying any connectors:

 

[Jay's ranger]

Oh, this just keeps getting better. I contacted Skar directly due to the Amazon seller ignoring my messages and amazon saying I had to deal with the seller. Found out that GTA electronics is not even an authorized skar audio dealer. So now the 2 year warranty is void. I am seriously regretting attempting to add an amp and sub at this point.

 

[Deiimos]

I thought Amazon was supposed to be easy to deal with returns or such? IDK I've never personally ordered anything from there.

Maybe try superglue to hold the old metal shield rings on as a "quick fix", a drop inside / back edge and force them in place, let it dry and hope for the best. As long as the ground pins make contact, that's all that matters.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Oh, this just keeps getting better. I contacted Skar directly due to the Amazon seller ignoring my messages and amazon saying I had to deal with the seller. Found out that GTA electronics is not even an authorized skar audio dealer. So now the 2 year warranty is void. I am seriously regretting attempting to add an amp and sub at this point.

Don't let it get you down. Remove the Skar amp, set it aside. Follow this link and buy this amp. You can fix the Skar or toss it. This other amp won't leave you stranded. Best of all, Tiffany style RCA's.

D4S JP13
She is no joke.

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

Usually that's just bad solder connections and can be fixed pretty easily.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Does this mean I will have to replace the rca jacks?? Any advice on how to fix this issue would be greatly appreciated

I have used these to repair the exact issue you are having.

Hardest part is widening the RCA holes to accomodate the grommet.

 

[Jay's ranger]

Don't let it get you down. Remove the Skar amp, set it aside. Follow this link and buy this amp. You can fix the Skar or toss it. This other amp won't leave you stranded. Best of all, Tiffany style RCA's.

D4S JP13
She is no joke.

I really wish it was that simple. I had just enough in the budget for one upgrade this year.