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RCA Cables?
- Thread starter BOUXY
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darkblue94
The Devil made me do it.
My guess is that you can use them as long as you need to, you can stop using them when you no longer need to.
House de Kris
Loud-n-Deep
I'd say very long. I've got some cables in my main system that are almost 40 years old. Yeah, I'd say I've used them for a very long time.
nj pheonix
Lunatic Member
I think OP was looking for a distance suggestion.
As a rule, shorter is better. Generally balanced cables are better for long runs.
TT connections would be more sensitive to cable distance.
Some tube preamps driving some SS amps also can be negatively affected by distance.
There are no hard #s , that is no more than....
I better quality cable might buy you a little more distance (don't read that to be uber expensive. Just low capacitance, with good ends).
I hope that helps.
As a rule, shorter is better. Generally balanced cables are better for long runs.
TT connections would be more sensitive to cable distance.
Some tube preamps driving some SS amps also can be negatively affected by distance.
There are no hard #s , that is no more than....
I better quality cable might buy you a little more distance (don't read that to be uber expensive. Just low capacitance, with good ends).
I hope that helps.
lini
just me...
Bouxy: For typical line-level interconnect use? Well, that foremost depends on the output impedance of the source and the specific cable capacity, as these will practically form a low-pass filter. So if you know both, you can determine the frequency for the -3 dB point with the formula f = 1 / (2 x pi x R x C), with C being the actual capacity (= specific capacity per metre x length in metres). For example, for a source output impedance of 500 Ohm and 50 metres of a cable with a reasonably low capacity of 120 pF/m the frequency for the -3 dB point would be a tad over 53 kHz. Hence, as you can see, from that point of view even pretty long cable runs aren't that much of a problem, if one uses a cable with reasonably low capacity.
Much harder to foresee: How many sources of EMI there might be on the way, and how badly these might radiate - and how effectively the shielding of the cable might cope with these interferences.
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
Much harder to foresee: How many sources of EMI there might be on the way, and how badly these might radiate - and how effectively the shielding of the cable might cope with these interferences.
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
RTally
Speaker addict
RCA terminated cables are used for unbalanced connections. XLR terminated cables are used for balanced connections. A balanced connection has two conductors for the signal and a separate ground/shield, unlike unbalanced connections where one of the signal conductors is also the ground/shield conductor.
10' long RCA terminated cables are fine. 100' long RCA terminated cables would be better replaced with a balanced cable, such as one terminated with XLR connectors. Balanced cables are intended for longer runs, and 100' qualifies as a longer run.
50' long RCA terminated cables are questionable. In a quiet (RFI and EMI quiet) environment, you could probably get away with it. But at that length you are approaching the point where a balanced cable would be better.
