Question Running 50' of RCA cable in walls vs cat6 using baluns

[Captain Tex]

Hi -- I need to run about 50 feet of wiring in the walls of my home to connect a source (RCA) to the auxiliary input (1/8" (3.5mm)) on a speaker system. What’s the simplest way of doing this?

My sense is that I cannot simply run a 50' RCA audio cable (rated for use in walls) because of quality loss.

Instead, I thought it would make sense to run Cat6 and use a balun on each end:

• Stereo Hi-Fi Balun - Muxlab
• Stereo PC / Audio Balun - Muxlab

Would this work reasonably well?

Thanks!

 

[RBZ5416]

If the source is line level & you use a decent quality cable then RCA will be fine. But I wouldn't do it with a low signal like a turntable.

See the first & last posts of this thread (there's a lot of rambling in between).

 

[noiseboy72]

Hmmm...
Anything over 10M and even line level sources tend to suffer from interference from external sources. The issue being the high impedance of the input and the unbalanced nature of the input.

The balun route would be better in my opinion, as it turns the signal into a balanced low impedance signal that reduces induced noise due to common mode rejection. It will also remove the possibility of an earth loop, which is well known for causing hum on unbalanced sources.

If you go for the unbalanced cable routes, look at the Van Damme range. Their cables have good mechanical properties and usually better than 100% screening.

 

[dannnielll]

We had a very similar question to this only two weeks ago. I would suggest a length of satellite coax. . If you are coming from the lineout rca sockets into line in sockets, you are dealing with voltage of 200mV peak through a resistance of probably 10 ohms in the cable and into a load of 47K. .. so no attenuation. Interference will not get through the aluminum shield and copper braiding. The only potential problem is a huge earth loop ,if there is a signal earth at either end in addition to the earth of the braid.