My First DIY Power Cable

Regardless of brand, Rhodium is a terrible surface plating for electrical conductors. It's just too hard a material for a good grip, and not that good a conductor.  It is however very shiny and pretty to look at. 

And I'm going to gripe about Furutech forever. :)

Rhodium connectors are one of the worst conductors, you might as well uses nickel.

Have you ever tried a rhodium plated connector?!?! (after 300 hour burn in, that is).  I do understand that rhodium is very low down on the list with regards to conductivity, but that is only part of the story.  You really need to listen to how rhodium plated elements sound.  In many many experiments, rhodium plated connectors is the only way to get the highest amount of resolution and transparency.  Gold plated connectors have a warmer sound and you lose high frequencies as well as deep tight bass.  Silver/silver-plated will be bright because they tend to push the upper mids, but they do not have very good ultra-high frequencies and the bass is typically weak.

One approach is to use silver/silver-plated wires with unplated or gold-plated connectors.  However, the best result is using pure copper conductors with rhodium plated connectors.

Have you ever tried a rhodium plated connector?!?! (after 300 hour burn in, that is). I do understand that rhodium is very low down on the list with regards to conductivity, but that is only part of the story. You really need to listen to how rhodium plated elements sound.

Good Lord, it’s break-in NOT burn-in. These are not Valves or Tubes, they BREAK IN. I learned that from one of my Journeyman. What you say shows what you know..

I have tested rhodium and MANY of the cable and cable connectors. That is WHY I recommended copper, red copper, silver or silver clad over copper. Just like what Erik said, and I mentioned. Rhodium is WAY to hard and a poor conductor for audiophile use. It’s a total sham and VERY cheap to cover base materials like brass and iron. I would choose LEAD over rhodium.

It’s also what Erik experienced with Furutech. A cheap clad over a CHEAP base alloy, with a whopping price tag.

As I said rhodium is for very harsh enviro conditions. It was NEVER intended for HiFi use. They use it because it’s shinny. Some people like shinny thing. If they work well, I like shinny thing also. Rhodium isn’t one of them.. LOL

Gold over copper or silver is a much better and easier construct to BREAK-IN, not burn in..

Rhodium over copper NEVER, total junk.. It’s shinny though.. LOL

Next question, "Which end of the RCA do I plug in". 

Enjoy your build. Listen to williewonka, he really does make the absolute best cable out their. Hands down.. UP-OCC is all the rage even in HD applications. That's what I build and do for a LIVING.. Build industrial ENVIRO cables for heavy duty applications and equipment..

Not a fan of rhodium here either.  I am generally ok with gold over copper and also like unplated copper.  Interesting thing with Furutech is that the FI-11M(CU) plugs I recommended were shown to be made from Alpha - pure copper conductor on their website but Alpha phosphor bronze conductor on the cut sheet I downloaded from Partsconnexion.  

I was always of the impression those plugs were constructed from pure copper.  Phosphor bronze basically sucks as a conductive alloy, sort of like brass.  OTOH, Tellurium copper, which is sometimes used where strength/durability is necessary, is generally rated at about 90 percent or higher IACS.  

Pure copper would be my go to, with gold plated pure copper as a second choice, like these spades from Furutech or these from Vampire which, IMO punch way above their weight - here too.

It seems there should be some pure copper ac plugs/IECs that don't break the bank.  Maybe something at Ali Express like these from Viborg (VM501 or VM511)?

You can call it whatever you want "burn-in" / "break-in".  It all means the same thing.  Trying to talk down to someone because of your opinion on the "correct dictionary term" is not someone who I can respect. 

Additionally, rhodium can be the great revealer, in the sense that it is very revealing and will reveal the flaws you have in your electronics and cabling.  These are flaws that gold-plating or un-plated copper will NOT reveal because they are ultimately more forgiving.  If you are not liking the rhodium in your system, it is likely that a particular piece of equipment is causing that sonic signature.

Can a system sound good with gold or unplated copper?  Sure, absolutely.  But you are never going to get 100% full transparency, resolution and realism that you will with rhodium plated connectors.  I have been through all RMAF rooms and different systems from $10,000 on up to $200,000 and even the million dollar room.  Pretty much most of them use gold-plated connectors and silver-plated.  I will say that many (if not most) room did not hit the mark on a good high resolution real sounding system (even systems that were 6 figures). 

Choose whatever you want and whatever feels best to you.