Can speaker cable replace RCA cable?

[kl122002]

Here is my question when I bought a RCA cable yesterday. As cables are mainly used for sending signals between devices, RCA and speaker cables are made by the similar materials. Whay can't we use speaker cable to make a RCA cable?

Did anyone tried using speaker cable to make RCA cables? How is the quality?aker cable replace RCA cable?

 

[markw]

First off, it's "coaxial" cable, not "RCA" cable.

What I think you're referring to is coaxial cable with RCA plugs on the ends. Coaxial cable comes with otgher types of jacks on the ends besides that.

Second, and more important, coaxial cable is shielded, which means it rejects external interference from external sources of electrical noise.

If your application isn't prone to electrical noise, then I suppose parallel, unshielded speaker cable would work but, the lower the signal level, the longer the run, and the more gain applied upstream, the more susceptible to noise it becomes.

Speaker cable is passing a high level signal that require additional amplification so shielding is not really needed.

 

[j_garcia]

If you wanted to build your own cables it would probably be even less expensive to buy raw coaxial cable. The truth is, if it is cost you are concerned with, there are cables out there that should be about the same price that you could realistically make them for yourself at a decent quality.

 

[kl122002]

I just want to know how 'what if' happens.

Although I am not used to make my own cables, but when I check from the price, a loud speaker's cable with a same content of copper that RCA has, is sometimes cheaper that a RCA one. (i.e. speaker's cable copper content = RCA ,but price of speaker cable < RCA)

Therefore I wondered if I can replace RCA cable by a speaker one.

 

[TLS Guy]

I just want to know how 'what if' happens.

Although I am not used to make my own cables, but when I check from the price, a loud speaker's cable with a same content of copper that RCA has, is sometimes cheaper that a RCA one. (i.e. speaker's cable copper content = RCA ,but price of speaker cable < RCA)

Therefore I wondered if I can replace RCA cable by a speaker one.

What do you mean by an RCA cable? I think you mean cables with RCA phono plugs at each end. They are all shielded cables. The shield is grounded, and is often called a screen, because it screens out noise, so it does not induce currents in the conducting core. The bulk of the interference it screens out is AC hum, of which there is a lot around AC powered equipment, and lines.

The cables also have different bandwidths. Some are for analog audio, others will pass analog TV signals, the highest bandwidth is the Coaxial digital SDIF cable.

Bottom line; you have to use the right cable for the right application. We are long passed the era of if the plug fits the whole it will work.

 

[markw]

Correcting a typo

Speaker cable is passing a high level signal that does not require additional amplification so shielding is not really needed.

And, there's a lot more to interconnect/cable design than copper content. You can buy a big, heavy Mercury Grand Marquis for a lot less than you would pay for a tiny. light Mercedes E class cruiser.

 

[TLS Guy]

Speaker cables have access to high gain circuits via negative feedback circuits.

What I think you're referring to is coaxial cable with RCA plugs on the ends. Coaxial cable comes with otgher types of jacks on the ends besides that.

Second, and more important, coaxial cable is shielded, which means it rejects external interference from external sources of electrical noise.

If your application isn't prone to electrical noise, then I suppose parallel, unshielded speaker cable would work but, the lower the signal level, the longer the run, and the more gain applied upstream, the more susceptible to noise it becomes.

Speaker cable is passing a high level signal that require additional amplification so shielding is not really needed.

.

Do not use shielded cable for loudspeaker connects. It has too high a capacitance.
However in a home theater there is advantage to running speaker wire in steel conduit. This is why. Home theaters have a lot of light dimmers. The SCRs in these dimmers create a lot of RF noise. The speaker cables are long antennae. They pick up the RF noise and feed it back to the high gain circuits of the amplifiers, through the negative feedback circuits. This is then rectified by the first high gain emitter/base junction of the first high gain transistor in the amp. This is amplified by the rest of the amp circuits, and lo and behold you can her the amplified SCR buzz from your speakers.

This is one of the commonest ways RF noise gets into audio systems and becomes amplified. It is one of the most neglected areas to come under suspicion, in cases of RF interference from SCR dimmers causing buzz. The problem can be attacked by putting a radio frequency choke in the speaker circuit. It must have a low resistance and be made from heavy gauge copper. This solution is second best from keeping the RF out of the cables in the first place.

 

[annunaki]

And, there's a lot more to interconnect/cable design than copper content. You can buy a big, heavy Mercury Grand Marquis for a lot less than you would pay for a tiny. light Mercedes E class cruiser.

Light and Mercedes do not go together unless you are talking about their joint venture with McLaren or their F1 car.

 

[jinjuku]

You could always try painting the cable runs in the wall with EM paint instead of the hassle of steel conduit.

Linky

 

[markw]

Do not use shielded cable for loudspeaker connects. It has too high a capacitance.

I don't see where I ever suggested this.

As for running speaker cable in a conduit, this is an installation issue, not a wire issue which was the gist of the discussion.

 

[kl122002]

Sorry for my late my spouse.

The 'RCA cable' that I used in this post adding RCA phono Plugs at the end of each sides of a speark's cable, so as to use it to connect my players and amplifier.

On the other hand, I have tried using coaxial cable (/similar) to do speaker's job. The result, in my opinion, is pitch goes up, with slow response. And after this 'experiment', I am thinking of what will happens if I do this again in an opposite way.

Because I think both of them are used to send signals and currents, why can't I use them in a reverse way? I have read quite a number of audiophile magazines, nearly none of them have this topic before.

 

[TLS Guy]

Sorry for my late my spouse.

The 'RCA cable' that I used in this post adding RCA phono Plugs at the end of each sides of a speark's cable, so as to use it to connect my players and amplifier.

On the other hand, I have tried using coaxial cable (/similar) to do speaker's job. The result, in my opinion, is pitch goes up, with slow response. And after this 'experiment', I am thinking of what will happens if I do this again in an opposite way.

Because I think both of them are used to send signals and currents, why can't I use them in a reverse way? I have read quite a number of audiophile magazines, nearly none of them have this topic before.

For the reasons , I explained before you can not use speaker wire to connect components to your receiver. It is not screened, and you will pick up noise, mainly hum. If it is a digital coax connection you are making, then you need a wide bandwidth SPDIF cable, or it just plain won't work!