Making audio cables/adapters

[DigitalBard]

Went to my local Radio Shack for the first time in a few years and I was highly disappointed. Half the store is cell phone crap and their selection of audio cables and adapters is abysmal.

They used to have parts so that you could make your own cables, but they don't have that stuff any longer.

Does anyone know of an online alternative? I've got 5 levels of cables and adapters between my mics and my recorder because I couldn't get what I wanted, or when I googled the stuff I wanted was like $40 a cable. I'd rather make my own.

Thanks for any suggestions anyone may have.

[drapeama]

You don't have any local electronic store except Radio Shack?
I have 2 in a little store + LaSource (formerly Radio Shack). They offer shipping, don't know about Can/US though: www.acceselectronique.ca
Edit: they don't.
But check for mode electronics for XLR and other parts. The electronic store I used to work for were ordering pieces from there.

[arco1]

I too prefer to be able to see and handle things like connectors before I buy them. I guess the huge variety of components and the relatively low amount of sales has all but eliminated the local parts stores in the US.

There are, of course, all sorts of on-line sources ranging from DigiKey, Jameco, Allied, and Mouser all the way down to dozens of EBay stores. Markertek handles all sorts of 'stuff' for video production and even has proprietary-type connectors to fit things like Sony's charger connection.

[cgbier]

If you want to buy locally, check for music stores. You'll get most plugs and cables there for DYI. There's normally no difference between audio and video connectors... if you don't need the British Navy I mean...

[Janke]

low amount of sales has all but eliminated the local parts stores in the US.

We used to have four different electronics parts store on a single downtown street - you could get connectors, resistors, capacitors, 2N3055s, 4011s, 555s, and a lot more esoteric stuff off-the-shelf.

That changed in the late 1990s - now there is no such store downtown, and I know of only one place in the surrounding industrial area that sells such stuff retail - i.e. to private persons.

Building electronics, something others and I did a lot of, is a now dead hobby!

[cgbier]

Building electronics, something others and I did a lot of, is a now dead hobby!

A lot of hobbies have been dying since our youth....

[DigitalBard]

A friend of mine recommended that I find an audio engineer at a radio station or tech at a TV station and ask them where they buy their supplies.

Arco, thanks for those names. I'll look at their online stores.

[Janke]

A lot of hobbies have been dying since our youth....

Yes - but what are the youths of today doing for a hobby? It seems like they are not "creators" such as hobbyists used to be, instead they are "consumers"...

(Many members of hv20.com excepted, of course... )

[cgbier]

When I look around in my family, the only hobby most kids have nowadays is chilling.
They don't seem to have hobbies that they make a life long profession from. That's how you end up with a world full of MBA's and lawyers.

[Steve_Karl]

If you want to buy locally, check for music stores. You'll get most plugs and cables there for DYI. There's normally no difference between audio and video connectors... if you don't need the British Navy I mean...

Nice idea if you need it quick but most brick 'n' mortar store will over charge you a lot, compared to online.

[cgbier]

Somehow they have to survive. I don't want to miss our local stores, and prefer to pay a bit more. When was the last time you had a nice chat and a cup of coffee with a real person in an online store?

[DigitalBard]

I don't mind paying a few dollars extra on one or two items now and again to support my local brick and mortar stores, but I'm not paying a few extra dollars times several hundred items, or even $50 on one item. I've got bills too.