Can any good RCA cable be used for coaxial digital connection ?? (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Dufresne]

I would like to know if I can use a good RCA cable
to connect my DVD's coaxial digital output to my
receiver .
Thanks
Robert

 

[Kevin T]

i've temporarily used a single acoustic research pro-series rca cable for a digital coax before and did not notice any ill effects. however, this was for less than a day so ymmv.

kevin t

 

[Camp]

Yes.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Supposed to be 75 ohm. Normal RCA audio cable isn't. But any video cable is.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

The specification for the coaxial-digital connection is called the "SPDIF" (Sony Phillips Digital Interface). It calls for a cable made with 75 ohm coax.

All video cables are made with 75 ohm coax and this is what they had in mind. (They were trying to let you buy a common-as-dirt cable).

Audio cables can be made with 50/75/110 and even 300 ohm coax. So just using an audio cable is a bit of a gamble.

Some people have mistakenly used an audio cable and the system appeared to work. But then they noticed some audio drop-outs. On one system this happened about every 15 minutes, on someone else's, nearly every minute. We finally helped them trace it to the cable.

An inexpensive Video cable from Best Buy or Radio Shack (~$15) is all you need.

Good Luck.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I've had drop-outs from using a cheap audio cable. I've also had perfect performance with no drop-outs on another system. So there you go. I say give it a try.

 

[JonBouche]

I had basically the same experience as Philip. On my old system, as used a very basic audio patchcord for the coax audio connection to my receiver. When I tried another receiver using the same cable, I had audio drops about every 5 seconds. As soon as I switched cables to a higher grade video cable, it completely went away.

Use decent cables if you can do it. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

It's not worth trying to save a few bucks.

Well....
Since there are so many prices on the same cable, you often need to make a judgement call somewhere.
My advice is that you spend more money on the video cables, and save money on the less-cable-sensitve signals.
So go inexpensive (not cheap quality) for the long subwoofer cable & coaxial-digital cable.
The AR brand from Best Buy & Home Depot, or the MegaCable stuff from Radio Shack are good bang-for-the-buck cables.
If you really want high-quality and are willing to wait a few days for shipping, hit some of the web sites and have someone build you a custom cable with Canare RCA plugs and Canare or Belden HD-capable coax. It will cost a bit more than the low-end Monster stuff, but it can out-perform the high-end.
And for video cables: dont even bother going to the store. Hit the web sites and get the professional stuff.
(We have whole threads dedicated to this type of discussion over in the "Tweeks/Connections" fourm. Stop on by if you have questions).

 

[Mike Keith]

Yes you can, don't worry about the 75 Ohm thing, all RCA connections are 50 ohm, no such thing as a 75 ohm RCA connector, it has nothing to do with the cable it has to do with the distance between the center conductor to the outer shield. Thats why Pro video uses BNC or TNC connections for proper Video impeadance. Anyway it's a moot point since your talking about a Digital coax connection from a DVD player which is for Audio only.

 

[Pete Jennings]

Mike, you stated

all RCA connections are 50 ohm, no such thing as a 75 ohm RCA connector

That is not entirely accurate, Canare RCA connectors are 75 ohm. I just received a well built (and well priced) component video and digital coax cable order from RhinoCables that uses them.
Pete