jwc Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I have 12 gauge speaker wire running through my basemant wall (25-30 ft). Is there a way to convert it to a RCA. Is this a bad idea? It would be nice if I could convert both ends of the speaker wire to RCA and put possible monoblock amps besides my two speakers. Is this a rediculous idea? jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Is this a rediculous idea? jc In a word - YES! Your speaker wire is unshielded, and you don't want to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 bose uses RCA connectors on the bass box side to connect the sat speakers to the bass box. you can get these wires cheap on ebay. the good thing about these is their gauge and their factory solder and plastic encasement process. I would be nervous about making my own cables using heavy gauge. I don't think their is enough clearance inside the RCA jack for my present day soldering skills. When i was a teen, I could desolder and resolder memory chips. Today, I have trouble soldering close 8 guage wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I don't think there is enough clearance inside the RCA jack for my present day soldering skills. When i was a teen, I could desolder and resolder memory chips. Today, I have trouble soldering close 8 guage wire. I had to do some repair work on some surface mount chips at my last employer, and all I had was a small temp controlled iron. I did ok, but wouldn't want to make a habit of it.jc, are you just needing some long interconnects? If so, that wouldn't be too hard to make. You just want to use the in-wall wiring since it is already there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 '''''You just want to use the in-wall wiring since it is already there?'''' Yes...that is the idea. I could install behind the wall interconnects but I was hoping to avoid the hassle. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 If the wires are already in the wall, would you be able to use them to pull new interconnects through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 RCA plugs and jacks were never meant for high-level (amp to speaker) signals. RCAs' break the ground before the hot lead, always a bad idea. Please look at other connectors before going this route. Parts Express has a good selection. In case I missed something, you can't use generic "RCA cable" for speaker leads, the capcitence of the shielded wire is not something amps like on the high side and the wire gage is way too small. I wish we could outlaw RCA connectors and move to something a little more advanced, but there are millions (billions?) of devices out there that still use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 If the wires are already in the wall, would you be able to use them to pull new interconnects through? I am considering that. Thread some balanced cables....maybe. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Hey JC, While it's not "proper", I have done this on many occasions...one run was as long as 100ft without problems. Long runs without shields risk introducing extra noise, but you aren't guaranteed to have extra noise introduced. It all depends on the nature of EMI where the wires are running. It'd take you what, a few minutes to hook up some connectors to find out if it's an issue? If no noise, then you're fine. If you do have noise, then you'll need to pull some new wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 Mike. You have any connectors to suggest? jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted March 19, 2008 Klipsch Employees Share Posted March 19, 2008 use that wire to pull an RG-6 cable in its place. then use that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Any standard RCA connector would be fine. To make your life easier, only use a few strands for the actual connection. Peel the rest back and trim them off. If the insulation on your cables are too big to fit into the connector, then strip away a long section, trim down the conductors and then put heatshrink around each leg. 2-3" should be more then enough to make it easy. If you do end up pulling wire, I would pull some 2 conductor with a shield. This way you can use it for both balanced and unbalanced connections. If you use it for unbalanced, then you could use the second conductor for the ground return and then only connect the shield to the upstream component. This shunts the noise currents away from the downstream components. For a balanced connection, you just use the shield for the ground and the two conductors carry the two legs of your balanced line. I've seen some people use 3 conductors and a shield for balanced lines (shield only connected upstream), but I'm not sure if there's any real benefit to it. If you're certain you'll only ever use unbalanced, then I would probably pull some RG-6. They've got these cool little connectors that convert from your standard coax jack to RCA too, which means you could use the very easy to install crimp on connectors. Though if you don't have the crimp tool, then just separate the shield and conductor and solder it to a normal RCA jack (the crimp tool is way too expensive for a one off job). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 Thanks for the info. If I keep the speaker wire in wall and try to convert to RCA, What do you think about this option? http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?Partnumber=090-278&FTR=090-278&CFID=13108538&CFTOKEN=50746725 Could I just solder the negative to the "tab" sticking out to the side and the positive to the "Backside tab" jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 RCA is just a type of termination. What really is important is what kind of signal you're passing through it. If this will be a low-level line signal (in this instance running from pre amps to your monoblocks) , you'll definitely want to use shielded wire (pull RG6 per Trey and Doc). If you're using the wire for passive speakers and just need RCA type ends (for whatever reason), you'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Absolutely, jc. Not a problem with that at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 Wow, we have some early risers. Yes the idea was from preamp...through the walls....to monoblocks. It won't be shielded unless I rerun cable. So if I use the little adapters as shown, and don't pick up noise......then I guess there is no compromise? mc.....I will try again to catch you on the phone today. I apologize.....I'm hard to catch on the fly....cell phone not on me most of the time. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 I think Trey nailed this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Wow, we have some early risers. Yes the idea was from preamp...through the walls....to monoblocks. It won't be shielded unless I rerun cable. So if I use the little adapters as shown, and don't pick up noise......then I guess there is no compromise? mc.....I will try again to catch you on the phone today. I apologize.....I'm hard to catch on the fly....cell phone not on me most of the time. jc Oh, now I understand what you were asking...[:^)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 Sounds like everyone is in agreement on what kind of cable I should use if I rerun cable. So I can use different connectors depending on application....speaker or RCA. I will give this some thought. Thanks. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Sounds like everyone is in agreement on what kind of cable I should use if I rerun cable. So I can use different connectors depending on application....speaker or RCA. I will give this some thought. Thanks. jc JC If your going the fancy route don't buy any cable...I have 225 feet of Z1 monster cable that I can work something out with you on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.