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RCA IC's - what cable??

post #1 of 11
12/1/09 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 
Just wondering what kind of cable is needed for RCA-RCA interconnects. I have seen lots of people using coax cable and I was wondering if that's absolutely necessary or a big improvement over using plain old starquad. I would be using these interconnects to connect the output from my littledot mkIII as a preamp into a t-amp i'm getting soon for my speaker setup..
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post #2 of 11
12/1/09 at 1:20pm
Coax, Starquad, Cotton Silver, Braided wire all work.

The only way you'll know what is right for you is to build and try.
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post #3 of 11
12/1/09 at 2:07pm
Thread Starter 
yeah that i understand but if there are actual benefits to using coax over the starquad, i'd rather only make the cable once and not have to experiment. i mean, there must be a reason why so many people use the coax cables right? but i just want to know why that is.
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post #4 of 11
12/1/09 at 2:34pm
Each IC only needs two conductors... StarQuad is four. Doing both channels in a single cable invites crosstalk. You could use StarQuad and a) only use two of the conductors, or b) use 2 for + and 2 for -.
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post #5 of 11
12/1/09 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pars View Post
Each IC only needs two conductors... StarQuad is four. Doing both channels in a single cable invites crosstalk. You could use StarQuad and a) only use two of the conductors, or b) use 2 for + and 2 for -.
In fact, b) is how StarQuad was designed and intended to be used. It reduces noise pickup compared to a twisted pair.

se
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post #6 of 11
12/1/09 at 3:24pm
Thread Starter 
ah ok.. thanks. so i think i will just assume there really is no benefit to using coax and just use the starquad as Pars and Koyaan mentioned.
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post #7 of 11
12/1/09 at 9:00pm
Thread Starter 
soo.. now I'm a bit confused. I asked another headfi DIYer about RCA interconnects and he says I need to use coax cable.
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post #8 of 11
12/1/09 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bik2101 View Post
soo.. now I'm a bit confused. I asked another headfi DIYer about RCA interconnects and he says I need to use coax cable.
Bah!

RCA's are a coaxial type connector, but there's no compelling reason why they need to be used with coaxial cable.

se
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post #9 of 11
12/1/09 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
oh ok...so definitely any cable starquad or coax can be used to make the rca-rca interconnects then. thanks for clearing that up.
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post #10 of 11
12/1/09 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bik2101 View Post
oh ok...so definitely any cable starquad or coax can be used to make the rca-rca interconnects then.
Yup!

Though, if you were doing say, an S/PDIF cable, I'd recommend using a 75 ohm coax, but for analogue, you're fine.

Quote:
thanks for clearing that up.
No problem!

se
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post #11 of 11
12/1/09 at 11:59pm
you could use naked wires for an rca and it should sound good. you just won't get any insulation or such to block interference if you have an environment where that is a problem
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