RCA cables noise a pssible issue?

JeffF

New member
Insight on any of the following questions is appreciated.

Situation: Only RCA cables can be sent from source to desktop mixing monitors designed to accept RCA plugs:

1) Are RCA cable more prone to noise? If so, what is the cause and how can I prevent it?

2) Can such noise be merely unwanted but not a major issue or enough to interfere with mixing, possibly varying from time to time?

3) If noise is a possible issue, are there shielded RCA cables available that would help reduce any external noise sources?

ADDITIONAL USAGE INFO:

>Id be routing out from my Tascam DP24SD Stereo jack (RCA) to possibly a subwoofer (KRK Rokit 8s with RCA jacks IN/OUT) then sent to desktop IK monitors that only accepts RCA plugs.

>Line level would be -3dBV from Tascam source to sub then to monitors.

>All jacks are unbalanced IN/OUT.

Thank you for answering any of my questions--JeffF.
 
If they're not too long noise shouldn't be a problem. Yes an xlr is quieter, but what you gonna do. If all you have is rca jacks, so be it.

You asked about shielded rca cords. Well they are. It's just that the shield is the ground. On an xlr you have a hot, a gnd, and a seperate shield. So it's quieter and you can do longer lengths.

Just make sure you use a good quality rca cable, keep the length under 20 feet and you'll be fine.

I'm running an old school console, tape machine and got probably 50 rca cords@ about 15 feet. No noise issues whatsoever.

So as long as you dont buy junk cables, you're golden.
:D
 
Yes, RCA lines will be fine for relatively short runs and if the cables are of decent quality*.

The deciding factor in all this is the output resistance of the Tascam line outs. A low resistance confers two great advantages,
1) Pick of external noise is lessened.
2)The capacitance of the cable has less, probably no effect on the HF system response.

I would expect the Tascam to have low resistance outs, probably around 100 Ohms.

There is another possible problem. The pickup of Radio Frequency Interference, e.g. if you have a MF radio transmitter just a few clicks away. This is almost always fixable but might need work doing INSIDE the monitors.

The other possible issue is a hum/ground/earth loop. You will know if you have one and again there are several fixes.

*I mean quality in terms of the integrity of the shielding. Size matters little here and the best cable for such "fixed site" jobs is one with a foil screen and drain wire. You could also buy some decent, but not silly money mic cable and some nice chunky Neutrik RCA plugs.

Dave.
 
RCA cables don't cause any problem, I have some as long as 6 mtrs with no problem. If you did live next to a radio transmitter then maybe you may pick up some radio but you would have top be close.

Think about how long guitar leads are and how guitars pick up al kinds of stuff and compared to this RCA leads are no problem at all. As said before use good quality leads no some cheap rubbish like the leads that come free with the home stereo LOL.

Alan.
 
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