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3.5mm vs rca cables at 35ft

post #1 of 5
9/26/12 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Im hooking my computers sound card to my receiver. 3.5mm jack on the soundcard, rca on the receiver. After it goes up the wall, into the ceiling and down the other side its about 30-35ft.

Im buying cables from monoprice. Would it be better to use a 35ft 3.5mm cable with a Y rca adapter, or a 35ft rca cable with a Y 3.5mm adapter? Does one type of cable have better sheilding than the other and would be less apt to produce noise/interfereance?

If it was 5ft I wouldnt bother asking, but 35ft seems long, especially in a dropped ceiling with power cable and flourescent lights.
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post #2 of 5
9/26/12 at 2:13pm
Depends on the cable. For audio purposes, the type of connector on the end doesn't make much difference. Cables vary in whether they are shielded or not, coaxial or not, the amount of shielding, capacitance, etc. 35' is a long way for a line level audio signal. You will want to use a cable with good hum rejection and low capacitance. You might want to check out Blue Jeans Cable's products.
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post #3 of 5
9/26/12 at 2:26pm
Hi Mutex77,

Welcome to the forum.

As Colm said, look closely at the cable. I can offer one generalization from my experience: Cables with a 3.5mm plug typically have two wires wrapped in a single shield. Cables with two RCA plugs typically have two separate cables, each with a single wire wrapped in a shield. So select a cable that looks like it is two separate cables, and you will be a little safer.
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post #4 of 5
9/26/12 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
I see where your going, 2 wire cable (like an rca) has seperate sheilding for each wire so would have an advantage.

I have alot of other projects going on at home (DIY speaker project about to get kicked off) so I dont have alot of spare cash right now. I was going to go with monoprice cables:

monoprice 3.5mm cable 35ft 22awg
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021813&p_id=5592&seq=1&format=2

monoprice rca cable 35ft 22awg
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021814&p_id=2867&seq=1&format=2

They're both 22gauge, but I have a 5ft monoprice rca cable and its pretty thick, alot more than what the 3.5mm looks like in the pic. But I guess it could all be plastic insulation too and not really matter...

Thanks for the help!
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post #5 of 5
9/26/12 at 5:03pm
Hi Mutex,

Note this part of the description for the 3.5mm cable:
Quote:
Heavy duty 22AWG wires for lower signal resistance and stronger signal integrity. 12mm x 6mm thick cable bodies!

The fact that the cable is twice as thick in one direction indicates to me that it is indeed two separate cables. I would go with it over the RCA cable for two reasons: It is cheaper, and a single connector will make it easier to string through your ceiling.
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