I have been reading a few threads on here regarding running long lengths of Line Level Audio Cables through out a home. Most of which seem to be don't use RG-6, or to use Cat-5 with Balauns.

Let's say my customer has an office in the home where he's listening to stereo speakers and wants to locate the DVD player in the room for easy access. The equipment is located in the basement though, let's say 150 feet away. We have always used Quad Sheilded RG-6 - solid center (keeps inventory simple). We use conical compression F fittings to terminate to a wall plate then run the interconnects from there to the source unit. Haven't had any issues that I'm aware of, but maybe I wasn't listening close enough?

So, regardless of the length, what is the best bet for Line Level Audio?

50 ohm serial digital rg59

Sorry, but just for the record, that doesn't exist. RG-59 is 75 ohm cable, but impedances don't matter at analog audio frequencies and 75 ohms is perfect for coax digital. And, unlike the RG-6, most RG-59 has copper braid, so you can solder it to RCA connectors if you want to. If you get compression connectors, so much the better.

The RG-6 has three drawbacks, all minor, but doing things professionally usually involves paying attention to doing minor things correctly as well as major things.

The steel core is theoretically not good, although I don't know that anyone would notice with audio.

Most RG-6 has aluminum foil and braid, so you can't solder it; this leaves you to put on compression connectors. Most everybody has F connectors, which are fine for RF, but not so good for low frequencies. The first time it ever occurred to me that anyone would use RG-6 for frequencies below RF, it was with a projector that had lost one color. Turned out they used your exact choice of wire for RGBHV, and one of the F to RCA adaptors was making a poor connection. If you're going to use RG-6, get compression RCAs or BNCs...and that blows apart your idea of having only one item for inventory.

And a fourth thing, too -- RG-6 is stiff and harder to work with than RG-59, especially in cramped cabinet spaces.

So, get RG-59 and matching crimp connectors. That's your best bet. By the way, all RG-59 is "digital." We used to use RG-59 for antennas up to channel 13, a couple hundred megaHertz, and it will perform well at all lower frequencies, too. And you don't have to worry about the impedance with analog audio. The frequencies are too low for impedance to matter even one bit.

Big Ern said,

Sorry, but just for the record, that doesn't exist. RG-59 is 75 ohm cable, but impedances don't matter at analog audio frequencies and 75 ohms is perfect for coax digital.......



My bad.... 1/2 right. Thanks for pointing that out Ernie.

Mike

So really, if I intend to continue with compression or crimp fittings, it comes down to the connectivity of the center conductor?

What's the best solution for terminating behind a wall plate if I go with your plan? The F-Conn Keystone?

What "low" frequencies are we working with here?

Thanks for the info!!

He did state that he was working with solid copper RG-6.

Baseband, ie. low level audio and composite/component video.

The shield AND the center conducter are important!



You could use PlateMate (Russound).

They offer F to RCA, RCA to RCA, as well as wall plates ranging from 1 to 8 'holes' for a single gang.

ICM Corp makes a pretty good range of compression connectors and wall plates similar to what pilgram describes from Russound. They also have speaker cable compression terminations, and their Cable Pro subsidiary has a nice set of cable stripping, flaring, and compression tool options that work with their connectors. Their wall plates will plug into Leviton and Home Integration Products modular wall plates. The tools can handle RG59 and RG6 and the connectors are available for RG59 or RG6.
[Link: icmcorp.net]

Wait a sec - ICMCorp/CablePro "keystone" jacks are Leviton "quickport" compatible?!?

ZRS - Wow - those speaker fittings are really nice! Had to watch the video to understand how they work.

AHEM - do you have numbers?

Pilgram - What I think I'm undertanding is that the center conductor may not make perfect contact within the F terminal. I have used King Crimps in the past which allow you to actually crimp the center of the RCA terminal on the core of the RG-59. I don't think there's ever an issue with the shield making connetion, unless it's touching the center of course.

Yes, the f conn products are leviton compatible. A sizable savings over quick port products....

I find it really odd that F-Conn makes the F-connector terminators in both gold & Al-plated versions, but they *don't* offer the RCA terminators in gold-plated...

[Link: icmcorp.net]

netarc: yeah, I find that a little funny too. All of their cable terminations are available in gold, but for some reason their wall plates are not. Regarding their RCA-jack wall plates, those are the most troublesome to terminate because you're kind of blind when doing it -- I make a mark on the cable to mark the correct insertion depth before I crimp, but if your dielectric isn't quite round it can be hard to press it in and then in the back of your head you're wondering if you've somehow bent the center conductor. But with that said, I haven't had a bad termination yet. Fingers crossed. FConn are making some changes to their wall plate design -- keep a look out for them. One of their tech support folks told me about it the other day.

On the compatibility with quick port, yes it works -- I've done it several times. Now one of them will probably change their design to prevent that now that we're onto them ...

oxjox: The only problem with the speaker cable terminations that I've found so far is that there's no strain relief on them. Compressiing the connector does not grab hold of the speaker wire insulation like it does when you're putting on a RG59/6 connector. It's also hard to find shrink tubing that will go from the connector down to the wire, plus who wants to add that time to the cable build. FConn is aware of the issue so I hope they'll come up with something in their next revision. I think if you're terminating 12 AWG wire it's probably not a big deal, but if you're terminating 16 AWG wire and it might get moved around a bit, a strain-relief mechanism would be nice. But other than that, they rock and customers seem to like the look too.

I don't use coaxial cable for line-level, at least not for long runs. I use cable that is designed for line-level audio, not video. It features two twisted pairs, each individually sheilded. A drain wire is also included in the cable.

You can use it as balanced or unbalanced. For longer runs, particularly runs prone to interference, you can use an unballanced to ballanced converter on one end and the opposite converter on the other end.

I typically run unbalanced runs over 100ft. without any discernable hum.

Unfortunately, if you want to use this kind of cable, you will have to solder the connectors on. I buy gold RCA solder-on connectors for about 50 cents each (in large quantities). In smaller quantities, you can still get them for under 75 cents.

One benefit to the line-level cable, is it's small size. It is about the size of Category 3, 4-pair cable. It's also inexpensive-- about 10 cents a foot, in 1000ft. rolls.