I'm setting up an audio system in my pickup and one of the RCA cables got damaged. Can I splice the cables with electrical tape or do I need to solder them? I've never done this before and I don't want it to sound bad or damage the amplifier.
With just electrical tape you're gonna have contact problems and audio noise, so soldering is the right option if you want it to work properly! If you've never soldered before, look up a quick tutorial on YouTube or take the cable to someone who knows how to do it, because a bad solder job can actually ruin the connector and damage the amplifier.
Soldering is the ideal option, but if you don't have a soldering iron on hand, the bare minimum is to strip the wires really well, twist them tightly together, and use quality electrical tape (the cheap stuff won't cut it). Just keep in mind that RCAs are sensitive to noise if you don't make a solid connection, so it's better to grab a cheap soldering iron or get help from someone who knows what they're doing - in a car, audio is the last thing you want failing on you. A tip you don't see much: if the wires are broken far from the connector, just cut off that damaged section and strip everything clean before joining, a lot of times the problem is you're trying to salvage old cable that's already degraded.
RCA cables transmit low-power audio signals, so any bad contact is gonna introduce noise or nasty distortion. If you don't have a soldering iron, the quickest option is to grab replacement RCA connectors (they're cheap at any electronics store) and just swap out the damaged connector instead of messing with splicing - way cleaner and way less of a headache.
if you don't have a soldering iron or experience, the most practical thing is just to buy new RCA connectors! they're super cheap (like 2-3 euros a pair) and you swap them directly on your pickup without any hassle. that way you avoid it sounding all noisy or something blowing out in the amplifier, which would be way worse than spending a couple bucks on connectors!
Just buy new RCA connectors, they're cheap and you'll avoid the mess of splicing that never works out right on audio systems. If you're set on fixing the cable you've got, soldering is the only way that actually works decently - electrical tape alone is gonna give you constant noise in your speakers. But honestly, for what replacement connectors cost, it's not worth the effort of learning to solder if you've never done it before.
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