RCA wire question ?

[00_Z 10+ year member]

in my rca wires there is a very small clear wire running through the center but seperate. what is that ?

also is there anything to extend rcas like an extention ? or will i need to buy a longer one ?

Click to read more...

 

[Denial]

turn on lead probably

 

[skadude016 5,000+ posts]

that little wire is your REM. I'm sure you can get some rca connectors at radio shack

 

[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

It's actually a ground drain wire. On some amps there's a small ground terminal (separate from the power ground terminal) and you're supposed to connect one end of the small wire to the amp, and the other to the chassis of the head unit to help avoid ground loops. However, most new amps don't have the terminal, and I've never had any problems from not using the wire. It's also commonly used as a remote turn-on wire, and it will work fine for that too.

You can buy female-female RCA couplers just about anywhere, but you're probably better off just getting a longer RCA cable.

 

[Alpineinstaller 10+ year member]

It's actually a ground drain wire. On some amps there's a small ground terminal (separate from the power ground terminal) and you're supposed to connect one end of the small wire to the amp, and the other to the chassis of the head unit to help avoid ground loops. However, most new amps don't have the terminal, and I've never had any problems from not using the wire. It's also commonly used as a remote turn-on wire, and it will work fine for that too.
You can buy female-female RCA couplers just about anywhere, but you're probably better off just getting a longer RCA cable.

I was waiting in some one to say that.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

being that the wire is in the center - seperate from the rca cables themselves I'm going with remote turn on. In my (I'll admit it - limited) experience with different rca's it seems the type that use drain wires are much less common than the ones that include a remote wire. If the wire's exposed at both ends it's a remote wire. Drain wire is only exposed at one end and is actually part of the signal wire (oh - and it's useless).