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Dimitrios Tzortzakakis
Guest
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 Posted:
Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:18 pm Post subject:
Re: how to build RCA jacks... |
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You are not dumb at all, how are you supposed to know something when noone
has taught you?My sister and her fiancee tried to reconnect the TV antenna
after a terrible storm that destroyed it, and they didn't know that they had
to connect the braid, so the tv didn't work!T is right, you were brave.
--
Tzortzakakis Dimitrios
major in electrical engineering, freelance electrician
FH von Iraklion-Kreta, freiberuflicher Elektriker
dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr
? "phelper" <phelper@airmail.net> ?????? ??? ??????
news:10i5611k9ssnm5uiid9o22k7ltttof5au6@4ax.com...
| Quote: | Hi Guys... please disregard my posts.
I did learn from y'all the proper way to wire with two conductors per
jack.
But that lesson was no match for my own stupidity. I've rechecked my
work, and found my mistake. Thanks for your time. Boy am I feeling
dumb right now... |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:16 pm Post subject:
Re: Using 'Cable' cable for long runs of speaker wirewas: ho |
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"T" <tberk@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:tgm8e.5807$t85.2627@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
| Quote: |
Newsgroup- I was wondering if the O.P. might want to string coax, the same
stuff folk use for television cable, to do these longish runs for the
remote speakers.
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Coax, yes. Television cable, questionable. If the cable has a stiff, solid
center conductor, it's probably made of copper coated steel and will have a
rather high DC resistance. If you want to use coax, be sure it has an all
copper stranded center conductor and a copper braid. Cable used for video
frequencies is usually suitable; antenna lead in is not.
Norm Strong |
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phelper
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Apr 19, 2005 7:36 am Post subject:
Re: how to build RCA jacks... |
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On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 15:18:33 +0300, "Dimitrios Tzortzakakis"
<use@address.below> wrote:
| Quote: | You are not dumb at all, how are you supposed to know something when noone
has taught you?My sister and her fiancee tried to reconnect the TV antenna
after a terrible storm that destroyed it, and they didn't know that they had
to connect the braid, so the tv didn't work!T is right, you were brave.
|
Thanks for the kind words... but I do feel dumb after running 3 sets
of wire,and only one was fully connected. Basically I ran too many
wires and got them confused. One wire ran from the stereo to the
speakers. Another wire ran from the stereo into the attic with no
connection on the other end. And the other wire ran from the speakers
to the attic with no connection on the other end. Finally married
those two up, and viola, it worked...
The sound is now pretty good, but I'll have to give what Todd says
some thought. If there is a hum (which I haven't noticed yet) I may
have to consider the "balanced wire" or shielded approach. Will
inquire if the time comes.
Thanks everyone. |
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phelper
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Apr 19, 2005 7:36 am Post subject:
Re: how to build RCA jacks... |
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On 17 Apr 2005 23:23:42 -0500, bmiawmb@toddh.net (Todd H.) wrote:
| Quote: | phelper <phelper@airmail.net> writes:
So there are 2 rca jacks I'm using for this application, they are
line level outs, one is red, one is white. The goal is to take the
speaker wire I ran thru the walls into the bedroom, put jacks on
either end, and plug the line level signal into some self-amplified
speakers(just computer speakers) in the other room.
I'm afraid to break the news to ya, but you really don't have a clue
what you're doing.
But that's okay! Folks here are trying to help ya get beyond that and
I'm one of em. As you've learned, each RCA connection is a 2 wire
thingee. So you have to have 2 wires per rca plug. One for "signal"
and one for "ground." Yeah, you might be able to get away with a
common ground arrangement on these two signals and get away with only
using 3 conductors to send this 2-channel signal (that's what the
tip-ring-sleeve connector your headphones have does after all) but
doing that on a stereo line level run with RCA jacks is rather
unnecessary when you have a total of 4 conductors going over there
anyway.
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No, I *like* to think I know what I'm trying to do, I just didn't have
any idea how to wire.
Basically, I have a receiver that has line level outputs. They're RCA
jacks. I have self powered speakers that have RCA inputs. If they
were in the same room, I would just plug the red jack from the
speakers into the red jack on the receiver, and the white jack from
the speakers (or black) into the white jack on the receiver.
Problem is, the speakers and the reciever are in different rooms. I
thought I'd run speaker wire thru the walls and put jacks on either
end and hook it all up that way.
Here in lies my problem, I just have a bad way of wording my thoughts.
I *thought* RCA jacks were like speaker wire... two wires per speaker.
The positive and the negative, hey, simple enough. What I didn't
realize is that each RCA plug had it's own + and -, the + being the
"pole" and the - being the part on the outside.
Heck, I figured regular speaker wire was all i needed, one conductor
to each pole. Boom. I just didn't realize I'd need two sets of
speaker wire to do the trick(the 4 conductors).
Like I mentioned in my other post, once I pulled my head out of my
rear and realized I'd mixed up several wires I'd put thru the walls,
it all worked beautifully. I do need to keep in mind what you told me
about hum and shielding, that might be an issue. Right now it seems
to work pretty good.
What brought this on was the the electrical company that wired my home
wanted $500 to come string wires thru the walls. There is a reason
businesses offer "in home" installations... it's for people like me
that just don't have what it takes to be a handyman... but for the
difference in price, I had to to it myself. Let's just hope I don't
fall thru the attic on the next wire I run :)
Thanks Todd for your help, I may write back to learn about the
balanced and shielded lines. :) |
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Todd H.
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:20 am Post subject:
Re: how to build RCA jacks... |
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phelper <phelper@airmail.net> writes:
| Quote: | Basically, I have a receiver that has line level outputs. They're RCA
jacks. I have self powered speakers that have RCA inputs. If they
were in the same room, I would just plug the red jack from the
speakers into the red jack on the receiver, and the white jack from
the speakers (or black) into the white jack on the receiver.
Problem is, the speakers and the reciever are in different rooms. I
thought I'd run speaker wire thru the walls and put jacks on either
end and hook it all up that way.
|
Ah... I see! You're hooking up speakers, so it's natural to think
speaker wire would be the thing to use. Unfortunately powered
speakers throw a wrench in there. 8-)
Line level signals are on the order of 500mV to 1V. Over a long run
the ambient 60Hz and 120Hz noise coming off adjacent power lines,
outlets, power cords, radiating from fluorescent lights, off CRT
monitors, CRT TV's, microwaves, you name it can all fall upon the
wire, and without any shielding, that stuff can add up to enough
voltage to be audible as hum or RFI noise and the like.
Shielded wire is 2-conductor (+ and -) wire like speaker wire but
internall it's configured differently. The - is formed into a shield
that wraps around the + conductor. - being ground, noise that's
incident on the wire by being near, say, a power cord, gets shielded
off to ground to some degree. The noise is attenuated, if you will.
Speaker wire, though, having no such shielding, just picks it up like
a big ole antenna.
| Quote: | I *thought* RCA jacks were like speaker wire... two wires per speaker.
The positive and the negative, hey, simple enough. What I didn't
realize is that each RCA plug had it's own + and -, the + being the
"pole" and the - being the part on the outside.
|
Right, the RCA plugs are actually 2 separate signals one for left,
one for right, and each has a + and - inside.
| Quote: | Like I mentioned in my other post, once I pulled my head out of my
rear and realized I'd mixed up several wires I'd put thru the walls,
it all worked beautifully. I do need to keep in mind what you told me
about hum and shielding, that might be an issue. Right now it seems
to work pretty good.
|
Cool. You must have a pretty clean, short run then.
| Quote: | What brought this on was the the electrical company that wired my
home wanted $500 to come string wires thru the walls. There is a
reason businesses offer "in home" installations... it's for people
like me that just don't have what it takes to be a handyman... but
for the difference in price, I had to to it myself. Let's just hope
I don't fall thru the attic on the next wire I run :)
Thanks Todd for your help, I may write back to learn about the
balanced and shielded lines. :)
|
LOL. It's all good. I can teach you difference between shielded and
speaker cable in 2 URL's:
Instrument cable/line level cable/shielded cable, light gauge stuff
for line (1V) and instrument level (100mV or so) signals:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=3&filter=instrument+cable&sm=1&so=1
Speaker cable, lamp cord, unshielded heavy gauge 2-conductor stuff for
speaker level signals on the order of volts:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=40
Microphone wire/3-conductor shielded instrument cable/ balanced line
runs, small gauge conductors for instrument and line level balanced signals:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=56&ObjectGroup_ID=477
Using a balanced run requires different circuitry though, and would be
overkill for your use. Your powered speakers use an unbalanced
connection, and if you're only going a room away, a shielded
unbalanced line would be fine. Heck, even your unshielded line seems
to be working for ya.
Count yerself lucky, and enjoy the $500 you saved.
Best Regards,
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
/ \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice." |
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phelper
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:52 am Post subject:
Re: how to build RCA jacks... |
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| Thanks Todd, I appreciate all your help. It's been great. |
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