RCA Differences

[ds0110 10+ year member]

Currently, im using memphis rca cable on my front stage. Im adding sub/amp and therefore am shopping for rca cables. The two best breands seem to be audio technix and vampire wire.

Vampire Wire: Braided OFC copper. Gold plated ends.

Audio Technix: Aluminum foil Braided OFC. Nickel plated ends.

Memphis: Unshielded twisted pair. not sure if ofc and not sure if thats nickel on the ends

So im considering upgrading the memphis rca while im already rca shopping. Is this worthwhile? I believe the twisted rcas are to be used with balanced outputs, which I dont have. Im sure either will work, but this is a sq install, so I want the absolute best.

Will there be any noticable difference going from the memphis rca to either of the other two?

Is there any loss going from pure ofc/gold plated ends to aluminum plated ofc/nickel plated ends? Each vampire wire rca is a little less than $10 more than the AT, and it is a mild hassle ordering from vampire. (paypal doesnt like my credit card so i have to get a friend to order)

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[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

If you don't have any noise with the Memphis RCAs there's no need to upgrade. Twisted pair doesn't do anything without a balanced input on the amp and balanced output on the source end. Shielding can be a good thing if it's 100% shielded and it's grounded only at the source end. I'm using RCAs by Tsunami with a double twisted pair design and a braided shield. The twisted pair thing is far less valuable than the braided shield. I would not have these RCAs if I paid retail.

 

[ds0110 10+ year member]

I dont mean to ressurrect a thread, but there was a difference in upgrading the rcas. Before, the memphis rcas would clip at 27 out of 33 on the clarion dxz775usb mid channel, now with the vampire rcas, it doesnt clip until 32 of 33. So the upgrade was worth it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

that makes 0 sense. But if you feel better for spending your money then so be it.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

^^ yeah rca's don't clip they send signal

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

RCAs really don't need to be a mystery, but there's a lot of profit to make off them, hence there is profit in hyping up the differences. I've used the most basic RCAs in my vehicle that weren't even new when I installed them and I had no issues. Sometimes there is a real case for opting for fully shielded, properly terminated RCAs, but not every installation needs that. I'm not convinced twisted pair does anything for the classic RCA audio signal. We're seeing more amplifiers come out with balanced differential inputs that work with standard RCAs, so it just needs to get into head units to be a fully realized concept. Some DSPs do balanced outputs over RCA.

 

[bbeljefe]

I dont mean to ressurrect a thread, but there was a difference in upgrading the rcas. Before, the memphis rcas would clip at 27 out of 33 on the clarion dxz775usb mid channel, now with the vampire rcas, it doesnt clip until 32 of 33. So the upgrade was worth it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

It's likely another change you made that caused the improvement, unless there was some damage to your old cables.

I'm running sets of $2.00 RCA cables in my truck that I installed 14 years ago. My head unit never clips and it's not because of the wire, it's because of the processor in front of the wire.

That's not to say you shouldn't use good RCA cables. Mine would retail for about $10.00 a set today but I got them wholesale when I was in the home theater business, so they're not el cheapos. However, I also used to sell $50.00 a 3' pair XLO Electric RCA cables and unless your ears can hear the tiniest details an o scope can see, you can't tell the difference between the two.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Yeah for twisted pairs to do anything you need both ends of the RCA to accept a balanced signal.