Unused DIN and RCA Caps

Hi-Fi Corner
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Hi All,

I live in a windy area of NZ, so dust is an issue.

On my gear 90% of my DIN and RCA connections will be not be used. So I am wondering if I should consider protective caps to prevent dust, bugs etc. from entering over time.

I assume if this was a major concern for Naim they would have supplied caps or at least had them as accessories. However, in past number of spare connections was lower as we used more sources.

Has anybody done this using the available caps (e.g. Cardas) on the market? If yes are you applying caps to amps and sources? Have you got other suggestions on how to protect them that does not include voodoo magic like amethyst crystals and diamonds?

I have searched this forum and could not find any specific topics on caps, but if I have missed something please point me in right direction. Searching other forums I found lots of discussions and there appears to be no negative impact on sound for example.

Interested to hear your opinions and findings.

Thanks
Sven

1 Like
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Don’t bother. Dust can be removed before you ever use them with an air duster.

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Yep - and if bugs are a problem, calling pest control may be a better idea.

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Best solution for dust I ever saw was a customer who put a row of racks at the back of the room and, for the purpose of hiding it for his partner, attached a wall to wall curtain rail on the ceiling about 30cm forward of the racks and hung floor to ceiling curtains.

His partner was happy (she chose the curtains), and he later mentioned the system only got 10% of the dust it used to because of the barrier.

6

Elaborate, but that will never happen in my house. I like the pretty lights to much.

There are also some comments on forums around RF and EMI interference with open connections, so I was expecting few members here to have strong opinions regarding this subject.

7

If there was that much dust around that you had to protect the stereo’s sockets, surely you’d need a face mask every time you ventured into the garden.

1 Like
8

Don’t waste your money, Naim IC inputs are relay operated so are isolated when not selected.

9

@dunc recently posted in his ‘552 a bit underwhelming?’ thread saying “Just spotted some fluff in 2 off the connections, not sure which ones they are or what they supply but I have just spent the last 10 minutes checking them all and can 100% say they are all clean now.”.

This started me thinking about the Cardas caps, all but one of my inputs will not be used. I think my question was appropriate considering dunc’s post and fact that these are available commercially. Perhaps they just make them to sell us more unnecessary stuff, or maybe other brands have more issues with input interference.

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Thanks for your advice @Mike-B, that makes sense. I don’t think I will bother with them. I am sure I can always clean and check the connections periodically.

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