tripod Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Hi all, I just helped a friend add a cheap sub to his HT system this weekend. Don't worry, he's all about upgrades, just wanted any sub for now. The problem was that he wanted it located in the back corner of the room, with the cable running up the wall 8', through the ceiling 12', and back down the wall 8'. Best Buy's longest subwoofer cable was 15' long. $15 from Acoustic Research and $59 from Monster, guess which we picked? He resigned himself to the fact that he would have a cable along the baseboard and would get as close to his preferred spot as possible. On our way back to his place, we stopped at Radio Shack for a video cable and I thought to ask the guy there if he had any longer cables for the sub. He showed us a basic 24' cable with RCA connectors on each end for $7 and assured us it would do the job. We also bought an adaptor to hook the 6' stock cable that came with the sub to the 24' section. We were skeptical, but hooked it all up and it worked fine! Now I'm not looking for an argument about the value of high cost cables, wires, etc. We both understand the value of quality. But can anyone tell me why longer cables aren't packaged and marketed for subs? Also, why does a 6 foot "Sub" interconnect cost twice as much as a 6 foot video cable from the same company and in the same product line? Is it simply because most people don't know better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juba310 Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Yeah pretty much. RCA cable is RCA cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygmn Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Why put the sub there? I mean does it sound the best there....or looks the best there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 ---------------- On 3/8/2004 6:08:22 AM tripod wrote: Now I'm not looking for an argument about the value of high cost cables, wires, etc. We both understand the value of quality. But can anyone tell me why longer cables aren't packaged and marketed for subs? Also, why does a 6 foot "Sub" interconnect cost twice as much as a 6 foot video cable from the same company and in the same product line? Is it simply because most people don't know better? ---------------- This has been discussed many times... but yes, a good quality coax will function well as an interconnect. You can take a look at the Speaker cabling - where is the point of dimisinhing returns? current thread, where I posted some recent experience: "While recently setting up my computer for software RTA, I was forced to use a 30ft interconnect as my computer in an adjacent room. Dipping into a box of odd and end wires I tried 3 of them before I found one without any serious hum. The wires were tried by simply plugging in one end into my preamp and the other end was free (to avoid a ground loop hum). Ironically it was the least expensive of the three which had no hum, but unfortunately for me, it was only 25ft long. A well-shielded wire should not suffer from this... but price doesnt dictate it. I may retest it when I receive the bulk Belden wire I ordered." 1) "Depending on the run length and RFI-EMI present, interconnects are more susceptible to audible interference given the fact that the signal/noise carried by them gets highly amplified." 2) Many industrial video/computer coax are of good quality and can easily be used as interconnects, depending on their RFI-EMI rejection. "Id also like to mention companies like BlueJean Cable do use industrial off-the-shelf coax (mostly belden wire which have good quality control)" Other brands will do it, but will not tell their customers which they are using. 3) "The connectors have to simply make good contact and be durable." But that is my 2cents... FWIW... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 If it was a stereo interconnect or was otherwise intended for critical listening, I would say ABORT: do not exceed 1 meter in length and get something good! However, it is only a subwoofer, is it not? The real bottom line is threefold: 1) The subwoofer is powered 2) subwoofers ain't about fidelity, they're about raw low freq SPL 3) decor and/or placement issues overules other concerns So relax... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluless Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I had the same situation, my subwoofer is on the opposite end of the room from the rest of my stuff. For subwoofer cables up to 25 feet www.accessories4less.com www.partsexpress.com www.ramelectronics.net/html/sub_cables.html Even longer up to 50 - 60 feet www.bluejeanscable.com www.bettercables.com I'm using a 12m ~ 40 ft cable from better cables and I couldn't be happier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 COAX cable baby!! i have used 80ft. lengths of rg-6 to run audio and video(90%copper braid rg-59 may be better for video)with great success. my RSW-15 is hooked up w/a 35ft. length of rg-6 and it works great! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
space_cowboy Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I also have used the rg-6 coax for long sub runs. Just get a finished cable (ie. with connectors) most anywhere and some screw on male RCA plugs and your good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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