[pletchm]

Thanks for taking the time to help a noob out.


My home had a pre-existing outdoor speaker install, going from a junction box in the AV area to the front porch, backyard, and garage. This junction box has three rows of two RCA-type inputs each, with the rows being location ("F", "B", "G") and the columns the channels ("L", "R").


When I look at the speaker connections at the various termini (each channel/location combo) they have two wires, as I am used to. Similarly, when I look at the Zone 2 setup on my reciever, each channel has two wire connectors. But the one RCA plug in the middle has me baffled.


Is this common practice? How do you connect the 4 reciever speaker outputs to the 2 RCA outlets for a given location?


Thanks again and if I've missed a similar conversation in my searching please let me know.

 

[DoyleS]

Your post is a little confusing.

1. Using RCA connectors to connect speakers is not typical. Some small all in one units might use RCAs but that is not typical.

2. You asked about connecting the 4 speaker outputs to 2 RCA outlets. This is confusing as you refer to 4 speaker outputs. Where did those come from? Your zone 2 should only have 1 set of left and right connections.

3. The RCA connector in the middle of the Wire connectors is also confusing. Is this a subwoofer output? You might want to take a picture of your receiver panel or at least post the make and model of the receiver so that we can look at the manual on it.

4. If you are trying to connect speaker wire connectors to RCAs, you will likely have to make up your own cables.




..Doyle

 

[trekguy]

Radio Shack has RCA plug and RCA plug/ spade lug terminated speaker wire in various lengths.

 

[whoaru99]

It's always helpful (and usually necessary) to list the brand and model of the equipment in question to receive an informed response.

 

[CharlesJ]



Quote:
Originally Posted by pletchm /forum/post/0


Thanks for taking the time to help a noob out.


My home had a pre-existing outdoor speaker install, going from a junction box in the AV area to the front porch, backyard, and garage. This junction box has three rows of two RCA-type inputs each, with the rows being location ("F", "B", "G") and the columns the channels ("L", "R").


When I look at the speaker connections at the various termini (each channel/location combo) they have two wires, as I am used to. Similarly, when I look at the Zone 2 setup on my reciever, each channel has two wire connectors. But the one RCA plug in the middle has me baffled.


Is this common practice? How do you connect the 4 reciever speaker outputs to the 2 RCA outlets for a given location?


Thanks again and if I've missed a similar conversation in my searching please let me know.

You may want to look behind those wall RCA plates to see what kind of wire is used to go to the various locations. Perhaps they are interconnects to use an amp with the speakers at these locations?

 

[pletchm]

After re-reading I can see how the post is a little confusing. I would snap a photo but am out of town at the moment. Let me try to re-phrase.


I have a pair of speakers in my backyard, small generic-looking RCA (the brand). Each of these speakers has a pair of wiring connectors, which look exactly like other speaker connections I've seen forever. A traditional pair of conductors inside a jacketed wire are connected to each speaker, for a total of FOUR conductors serving the two speakers.


My receiver is a Yamaha RXV659. I plan to wire the Zone 2 speaker outputs to the backyard speakers. Each channel has two conductor connections, for a total of FOUR connectors serving the two channels of output.


In between the receiver and the outdoor speakers is a junction box. This junction box contains only RCA jacks. The backyard speakers are represented by TWO RCA jacks, labeled "L" and "R".


So, Receiver (with two sets of outputs) must connect to speakers (with two sets of inputs) through a junction box with two single RCA jacks. That's the open question.


Having never worked with outdoor wiring for speakers I just wondered if this sort of setup was "typical", and, if so, what type of "two-conductor-speaker-wire-to-single-RCA cabling I would be using to connect the receiver to the RCA junction box. Judging by the responses so far, it looks like this is definitely atypical.

 

[DoyleS]

OK, I think we understand. All you need is a pair of 2 conductor cables with an RCA plug on one end. The other end is just wire or spade lugs that connect to your receiver terminals. You should make sure that you properly phase the connections. The convention would be to have the shield of the RCA go to the black terminal and the Center Pin going to the Red terminal. As mentioned above, you should be able to find these cables at Radio Shack.

The Radio Shack Part number is 42-2449. The wire size is a little small (24 gauge) so if you feel handy, you could solder up a pair of cables yourself using 16 gauge zip cord and a couple RCA connectors.


..Doyle

 

[CharlesJ]



Quote:
Originally Posted by pletchm /forum/post/0


Having never worked with outdoor wiring for speakers I just wondered if this sort of setup was "typical", and, if so, what type of "two-conductor-speaker-wire-to-single-RCA cabling I would be using to connect the receiver to the RCA junction box. Judging by the responses so far, it looks like this is definitely atypical.

I don't think this is a typical junction box as it would be confusing two different types of connections. But as stated, you can overcome this. If wire run from the receiver tot hat junction box is short, a couple of feet, that 24ga setup would work. Otherwise, you should do your own with at least 16ga.