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Need RCA connection over existing speaker wire

post #1 of 4
6/13/12 at 9:33pm
Thread Starter 
I just bought a new house that has a room prewired. For the sub, the cables that are run in the wall are a pair (4 conductors) of speaker wire with binding posts in a plate in the wall. Essentially the same thing over at the receiver location - 4 cables with banana plugs. My receiver / sub requires an RCA connection only.

My question is - can I take a RCA cable, cut it in half and splice the cable or just strip it and terminate it on the binding posts at the sub location? Is this a terrible idea? I know just barely enough about speaker cabling to be dangerous, but this is out of my league to know. Will I get a bad distorted signal at the sub doing this? It's probably a 40' run of 12 gauge cable that I would look to use as the homerun for the RCA cable that I essentially would piece together.

I originally was thinking about trying to solder on an RCA jack or even straight connector, but I didn't want to do that ultimately. I found a solderless RCA connector, but it shipped from Taiwan and was weeks out. I did't want to wait that long.

Thanks for your input!
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post #2 of 4
6/14/12 at 9:35am
While it is POSSIBLE to solder RCA connectors onto your existing SPEAKER LEVEL wiring, it is definitely NOT advisable. Non-shielded speaker wire will pick up interference from ANY nearby power wiring. The proper wiring is RG6 COAXIAL Digital Audio/Subwoofer cable such as:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2684&seq=1&format=2

Your current wiring setup is for an UN powered subwoofer with a remote amplifier sending the amplified signal through the wires.

Good Luck,

Bill C
Edited by BillCinLR - 6/14/12 at 9:43am
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post #3 of 4
6/14/12 at 6:13pm
You could consider a speaker-to-line-level adapter, such as those sold for car audio use. It'll at least get you running, and will probably yield better results than attempting to run a line-level signal over your installed speaker wiring.

Here's an example of what I'm referring to:
http://www.amazon.com/XANTECH-SLLC1-Speaker-Level-Converter/dp/B000P0UE38/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339722703&sr=8-1&keywords=speaker+line+level+converter

That's a cheap one. But there are better units available. Check Amazon, eBay, or even your local car audio store.
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post #4 of 4
6/14/12 at 9:31pm
if its a 2 channel system, hopefully your subwoofer has speaker level inputs.

if not try connecting RCA connectors on the speaker wire...depending on where you are and how far the nearest stations is .. you might get lucky
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