Do I really need a "Subwoofer" labeled interconnect? Or... (1 Viewer)

[GordonL]

I would steer clear of the audio interconnect

Why is that? One would think that an audio cable would be suitable for any audio use. Using an audio cable for video is a different story altogether as video has much greater bandwidth requirements.

 

[Jeremy Little]

Already been answered in this thread. Quoting from Bill Kane's post above:

But I wouldnt use a regular RCA audio speaker wire (twisted strands) either. For the most, a shielded coax with copper center conductor is used.

 

[GordonL]

Already been answered in this thread...

Bill was referring to audio speaker wire which is a different beast from audio interconnects. There is no reason why any decent audio interconnect cannot be used.

 

[Jeremy Little]

Bill was referring to audio speaker wire which is a different beast from audio interconnects. There is no reason why any decent audio interconnect cannot be used

Do audio interconnects have solid center conductors? Then I guess Bill's post DID answer the question. A good sub cable will have 1. a solid center conductor and 2. tight fitting RCA connectors. This rule has helped me get tighter and more accurate bass reproduction from even the most inexpensive gear. Any cable with RCA ends can be used, it doesn't mean we choose to use them.

 

[GordonL]

Ok, I give up.
If you choose to use coax cable just because Bill says so, that's up to you. Whatever floats your boat.

 

[Mike Boniferro]

Twisted pair audio interconnects are not what you use for a subwoofer. Subwoofer cables need to have a solid centre core conductor. Audio cables (good ones anyways, not talking about the cables that came with your DVD player) use a balanced TWISTED pair design. This does not work well with subwoofers. Will you get sound? yes... will it sound as good? well that's up to you... try some back to back and see what you think.
If you choose to use twisted pair audio cables just because you've already got them laying around, that's up to you. Whatever floats your boat.

 

[GordonL]

Audio cables...use a balanced TWISTED pair design. This does not work well with subwoofers.

And this is because?

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Guys - things are turning a bit contentious. One of our credo's around here is RESPECT.

Instead of challenging someone else to prove their point, open yourself up a bit and post something like:

"To my understanding, XXX is better than YYY because..."

or the more honest:

"I dont understand why XXX is different than YYY. Can someone explain?" (This is hard for men to do - we dont have the "Stop and ask for directions" gene. But you can do it. I have faith in you guys.)

 

[Mike SJ]

...

 

[Chris_Cur]

I've now tried the digital coaxial (Philips) and the audio interconnect (Monster) cables. I've notice no difference with either. I also didn't notice any difference compared to a Acoustic Research subwoofer cable, either.

 

[Chu Gai]

Chris: If you need a short cable, like 3 feet, then there's no reason you couldn't use either your Monster audio interconnect or a spare digital coaxial cable. Assuming there's no defects in either one, you'd be best off using the one that fits the best. If that's a toss up, then use the one you don't forsee needing in the future.

With regards to the signal transmitted by the subwoofer cable, it is but a paltry amount of frequencies. Everything under say 120 Hz. That can be effectively accomplished in any number of ways. It is completely irrelevant whether the wire that carries the signal is one solid piece or stranded. Either way works. You give up a little flexibility when it's solid and for some that may be a concern.

Further, you can run this signal in a through cable that is constructed in number of ways.

1) twisted pair works well because the the closely coupled wires reject hum. of course then you've got to get some RCA's and do some soldering. That takes time and if you're not especially handy with a soldering iron, the results can be visually unappealing. Now you ought not to run regular old speaker wire that is laid out in a parallel configuration as that does not reject hum.

2) coax, as has been mentioned above by others works well too. Here we have the shield that acts as a barrier to EMI/RFI and hum pickup. An expedient and very cost effective solution for those that need long lengths is to do as Wayne suggested. Again, whether the wire is solid or stranded makes no difference. Coax only runs a few cents a foot.

That's a mighty short length though Chris and is certainly going to constrain the placement of your sub. Typically, the best placement for a sub is in one of the corners of your room, a few inches away from the walls. The reason is that this location is one that is capable of exciting all the room modes so you get less suck-outs. If you get the urge and want to play around, then going the "gee, look at that VCR video cable in my supermarket, it's only $4 for 20 feet" plus a couple of F-to-RCA adapters from Radio Shack, will allow you to play around pretty damned inexpensively.

 

[Chris_Cur]

That's a mighty short length though Chris and is certainly going to constrain the placement of your sub. Typically, the best placement for a sub is in one of the corners of your room, a few inches away from the walls. The reason is that this location is one that is capable of exciting all the room modes so you get less suck-outs.

Thanks for the advice, Chu.

I should have made it more clear. I actually already have the sub placed in the corner next to my couch. I had previously been using a 20+ foot AR subwoofer cable for that purpose.

The reason I needed a second cable was because the Monster subwoofer surge protector (the one I started a thread about a few days back) came in yesterday. It has a subwoofer input/output on the bottom; I plugged the AR SW cable into the input, but I needed something to run from the output into my sub.

 

[Chu Gai]

Well, dat makes sense! So which one are you using?

 

[Chris_Cur]

I think I'm just going to stick with the Phillips digital coaxial cable. Like I said, I bought it back when I had a DVD player that could use it. Neither of my XP30's have a digital coax output, and my X-Box doesn't either. I might as well put it to use on my subwoofer.

 

[Scott_Jua]

wow...this post rose from the dead didn't it.
I ended up having Rhinocables send me over a length that I needed. I tested various cabled and found theirs to be the best for the money for my needs.

 

[ScottCHI]

TARGET has some GE pro series digi coax that will work just fine

 

[Paul Letteri]

Regarding subwoofer cables recently a review was done online best cable value and Mediabridge won , a relatively new company out there.for a RCA pair 15 ft
$18 dollars I think that is very fair and my SVS tube powered sub is superb everyone that hears it whether movies or music it was it Rocks !!

 

[Paul Letteri]

Regarding subwoofer cables recently a review was done online best cable value and Mediabridge won , a relatively new company out there.for a RCA pair 15 ft
$18 dollars I think that is very fair and my SVS tube powered sub is superb everyone that hears it whether movies or music it was it Rocks !!