RCA wire question (non-car related) *Bob???*

[87AccordsterLx]

OK this is non-car related but I was hoping someone would know more about this then I do... Its a long story but I'll try to make it as short as I can... We just had a house built and we asked the guy that was running the wires to run us a set of wires to power our 10in sub off of.... So we come to find out that the guy ran a set of four speaker wires... and one coaxial cable wire..!?!? So it would be a left and right for 2 speakers... hence 4 wires... + the cable wire which I have no clue why he ran that.... So what I tried to do was I took 2 of the 4 wires and spliced them into a RCA cable for left and right only (no yellow video cable) well I did this on both sides so it would just be an extention of the RCA wire... (so we could use the L/R RCA tips) well it doesnt work... no sound no nothing... has anyone tried to do this.. is it possible?? Are RCA wires the same wires as are used for speakers??? I really hope someone can help me out here.... We have a 65in wide screen HD tv and without the subs it mine as well be 19inchs... lol... thanks guys....

[socal3rdgen]

cant really help you on that, sounds like he didnt complete what you asked him to do. well since your talking about a hdtv $$$$$ and it sounds like you want a nice system all around i wouldnt splice anything. you can however run wires your self thru the wall . the best way to do this is to get in the attic and see if you can see slightly between your walls. if you can then you can run rca's. just buy a coupl face plates w/openings. you will have to do some drilling. then string the wire from wall to wall inside the attic. tehn drop the wire about the same place that you drilled the face mounts for thru the wall. its a game of fishing trying to fish the cords out of the wall. thats not fully complete but any common sense will overcome that.

[socal3rdgen]

when i install networks this is how i install them. it should work for rca cable.or you could use the under the carpet trick but its not a classy.

[shepherd79]

make sure you have + and - correct.
the center on RCA cable is +. and the round is -.

[87AccordsterLx]

well we have a two story house + basement... so theres no way to get access to the lower floor... The entertainment center is on the center floor... so I cant go through the walls... all of the wires were pre-run while in the 2x4 stage... his work is garenteed so Im just going to call his ass back over here to figure out he's going to get my wires where I want them... Shep. I switched the wires twice just to make sure and still nothing... the wires are color coded as well.... does anyone know if RCA cables even use the same wire as speaker wire??? Damn this is B.S. I practically had to run all of the damn wires for our ethernet (Cat5e) my self because the guy didnt know what he was doing (socal, I use to do networking as well) and the one day I want there to watch the speaker wires go in he just runs every damn wire made except the correct ones for subs... I wish he would have just ran a 25 foot RCA wire... oh well .. I have the whole house rigged for high speed DSL... every room has a jack... :D

[socal3rdgen]

already rigged for dsl?.....sweet. sometimes you just have to do shit yourself , you know what i mean obviously. Hmmm... im not sure about the rcas. but i would think they are slightly different cuz ive tried to do the same thing and they dont react like speaker wire when you splice it. i would definetly get him back there to A. give him a peice of your mind then, B. make him fix the shit. you paid someone to do it right. why should you have to do the work. how all goes well.

[merlindavis]

okay, wait, the guy ran speaker wire for 2 speakers and a coaxial cable for your home theater sub? don't you only need a mono rca cable for that? sub has its own power, i assume...

what you may be able to do is use one of those little wiring basket thingies, they're hard to describe. but anyways... tie a wire to one of the cables already ran and see if you can pull the cable through to get something to transport the wires in the walls so you can run your rca... read something on it some time ago, think it was called a fish wire or something, dunno... but then, you can pull your rca through yourself, withough having to rip off sheetrock...

[87AccordsterLx]

ya the guy just ran some random wires that I didnt even need... Im sure he didnt know what he was doing... I was thinking about doing something like that but Im not sure if it will work becasue the connections are not on the same wall... Im sure there will be a noticeable amount of friction from the wires running inbetween the 2x4's... I'll look into it though... I think im just going to have this guy come back and figure it out himself... who knows what he's going to say....

[shepherd79]

that is why you should have done wires for the stereo and network yourself.

[socal3rdgen]

Originally posted by shepherd79
that is why you should have done wires for the stereo and network yourself.

"you live,you learn"

thats my quote of the day.:D

[87AccordsterLx]

haha... I well i did end up doing the most of the networking in the end... but suposedly a new crew was to come back and do the sterio stuff... ahhh its getting to be more hassle then its worth... Im just going to have him come back...

[Bobs89LXi]

The only reason I can think of why he ran the wiring that way was the reason that merlindavis stated. The set of four wires were for one side (left or right), front and rear (assuming it is a surround system), and the coaxial was installed so that you can send the sub pre-out from your TV to the input of a self-contained sub with an amp. If you are attempting to connect the speaker outputs from your TV into the sub amp RCA input jack, it will not work. The impedence must be matched. You are sending a signal that was meant for low impedence (1 to 8 ohms) into a high impedence input (1000 ohms or more). The most you will get out of that setup is a 60 Hz hum. There is a reason why amp inputs are high impedence. It is to attenuate any ambient noise, ie: 60 Hz from your standard houshold wiring, that can be amplified along with the sound siganl. That is also why most RCA cables are coaxial and not twin lead, like speaker wire. The outer conductor acts as a shield to block out ambient noise. So, if your subwoofer has an amp, install an RCA male connector on each end of the coaxial, plug one end into the SUB pre-out of your TV and the other end to the RCA input jack of your subwoofer amp.

[POS carb]

Most home theater subs are amplified so that's why he ran RCA's, if there's no signal going through try this, touch a 9v battery to one end of the wire (+ on the tip, - on the outer part or the other way around, it doesn't really matter as long as each one gets a signal) and put the other end on your tounge, if you don't feel the tingles the wire he put is fucked up. I wouldn't put Speaker wires as your subs low-level signal b/c it could pick up a lot of noise.

[87AccordsterLx]

wow thanks that really helped a lot... one question though... On the recever it has rca outputs for many pre-amp settings: center, rear, front, and mono, we usually have it pluged into front... the question is ... on each of the 4 settings there are plugs for 2 rca wires... left and right... Bob you were saying to plug one end of the coaxial into the sub(which does have a 600w amp) and the other into the reciever... does that mean it wont have a L/R ?

[Bobs89LXi]

The MONO outputs are usually for subs. You are doing the same thing when you bridge. You are taking two stereo channels and combining them into one (mono). With subs in a surround system, you are looking more at sound volume than separation, which are needed for the high and mid frequencies, to give you the surround effect.

[merlindavis]

as bob stated above, subs can be on a mono channel becuase lower freqeuncies aren't nearly as directional as mids and highs... that's why sub placement in home theater can be almost anywhere, while your high end must be in a certain spot to get the correct imaging and staging...

if you have 2 rca outputs for your MONO channel, you have an odd reciever... actually, what reciever is it? we can look up and tell ya exactly where to plug it in...

[87AccordsterLx]

thanks Bob... just one more thing that Im not clear on... on the sub and on the reciever... both connections require 2 rca plugs... on the sub it only has one option for recieving a siginal and thats a left and right RCA plug... the same with on the reciever.. even in the mono setting it has 2 rca plugs just like the car sterio amps... so which plug on the sub and on the reciever would I run the coaxial to....?? Thanks Bob....!!!

[Bobs89LXi]

Only one channel is required for monaural. The receiver no doubt was designed to run two sets of subwoofers. If this is the case, each output would be monaural. With this setup, you can place a subwoofer box on each side of the room. As for the two inputs on the subwoofer amp, it makes perfect sense. It takes the two stereo channels and combines them inside the amp, in much the same way as bridging a car amp. It could also have an amp for each channel and the outputs of both are bridged at the subwoofer(s). If this is the case, you can do the same thing that I suggested before, with the following modifications:

- On the receiver end, connect the RCA to either left or right. If both outputs are monaural, it won't make a difference.
- On the subwoofer end, connect an RCA "Y" connector to the end of the cable and then connect the two connectors on the opposite end of the "Y" to the left and right inputs.

Try that out and let me know how it goes.

[87AccordsterLx]

merlin... sorry i didnt see your post untill just now... I had posted after bobs post and I guess you beat my to it... the reciever is a Denon AVR-810 ... maybe Im just crazy but Im pretty sure it has 2 as well.... thanks....

[merlindavis]

no worries about it... i couldn't find anything on the internet about it in the 5 min i took to look... i only have one sub output on my computer's ht system, JVC RX-5020V for now... it just seemed odd to have more than 1 output, but then again, i only paid $300 for my reciever and speakers...