Advice for belden RCA Cable to use?

[Jeff M.]

Good evening everyone. So am going to build my own RCA cables and I do have the RCA ends already and my Belden speaker wire model 1313A which will be at my house Wednesday November 6th 2024. Am not confused I just need some clarification on what type of cable to use? So Blue Jeans Audio uses the Belden 1505F and is a 59U cable and other cable is a Belden 1694A and is a 6AJ cable at 75 ohms and is double shielded. I was looking at getting the Belden 70051 and is listed as a digital analog cable compared to an Analog cable that blue Jeans cable sells. Am I missing something here? Most RCA cables I had bought or made a few of them the last few years was never a coaxial cable? Again can someone explain why some people use cable coaxial cables and not the regular 2 wire and outer shielding cables I have seen over the years? I hope my questions are making sense? Thanks for everyone’s help. Be safe. Jeff

 

[DVDdoug]

Any shielded, flexible, cable is OK. It should be "100% shielded" which is not unusual. Shielded cable is normally "coaxial".

The impedance (75 Ohms) only has an effect above audio frequencies. At audio frequencies, the cable is lower resistance/impedance and the output/source simply "sees" the input impedance of whatever's plugged into the other end (usually 10K Ohms or more).

For digital connections, 75 Ohms may be more important, especially for longer cable runs.

 

[boxerfan88]

Shoot for RG6 types like 1829.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I for one would like to what RCA connector can be used with 10 ga. speaker cable like the Belden 1313A.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Equipment List | Tech Articles and Reviews

 

[Chrispy]

Why does it need to be Belden, you get it for free or ?

 

[Blumlein 88]

To be honest I'd just buy some RG59 or RG6 pre made cables. They are so cheap it isn't worth time to make them up, and there is no performance difference. Belden makes fine cable, but if you stick with coax even cheap stuff is just as good for digital or analog interconnect.

 

[sam_adams]

Any of the coaxial cables listed here would be more than suitable for RCA unbalanced interconnects. The list contains cables that are both stranded and solid copper center conductors—no copper covered steel. Some are very expensive or hard to source. Choose cables that have stranded center conductors for flexibility. RG-58A/U is more than adequate for audio use and has smaller size than RG-59. The characteristic impedance of the cable only applies at RF frequencies and is irrelevant in the audio spectrum. Shields do not have to be 100% coverage for adequate shielding. 85% is more than enough for home audio use. Some of the cables in that list have shield resistances in the milli-ohm/foot range—with a commensurate price premium. Searching for the spec sheets with the terms Belden and the cable part number will usually provide a link to the spec sheet as the top hit.

Keep in mind what Bill Whitlock said about interconnects:

 

[sam_adams]

I was looking at getting the Belden 70051

That cable has a foil shield and it's not meant to be used as an interconnect that would be connected and disconnected repeatedly. It's meant for premises installation in a tray or conduit. Mogami W3173 would be a better choice for STP cable if you don't wish to use star-quad cabling.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Most RCA cables I had bought or made a few of them the last few years was never a coaxial cable?

I think you may confused. ALL single-ended RCA to RCA analog or S/PDIF cables SHOULD be coaxial. There's simply NO benefit in doing anything different. As many have said, pick a quality RG59 or RG6 premade cable.

I was looking at getting the Belden 70051

This is the WRONG cable. It's non-coaxial and is specifically designed to link balanced AES/EBU digital signals connecting XLR cables in professional digital installations.

 

[Jeff M.]

I think you may confused. ALL single-ended RCA to RCA analog or S/PDIF cables SHOULD be coaxial. There's simply NO benefit in doing anything different. As many have said, pick a quality RG59 or RG6 premade cable.

This is the WRONG cable. It's non-coaxial and is specifically designed to link balanced AES/EBU digital signals connecting XLR cables in professional digital installations.

okay got it. This is why I had to post on the forum. Thank so much.

 

[Jeff M.]

Any of the coaxial cables listed here would be more than suitable for RCA unbalanced interconnects. The list contains cables that are both stranded and solid copper center conductors—no copper covered steel. Some are very expensive or hard to source. Choose cables that have stranded center conductors for flexibility. RG-58A/U is more than adequate for audio use and has smaller size than RG-59. The characteristic impedance of the cable only applies at RF frequencies and is irrelevant in the audio spectrum. Shields do not have to be 100% coverage for adequate shielding. 85% is more than enough for home audio use. Some of the cables in that list have shield resistances in the milli-ohm/foot range—with a commensurate price premium. Searching for the spec sheets with the terms Belden and the cable part number will usually provide a link to the spec sheet as the top hit.

Keep in mind what Bill Whitlock said about interconnects:
View attachment 403610

Lots of in of in answering my questions. Thanks so much. Jeff

 

[Jeff M.]

Why does it need to be Belden, you get it for free or ?

No it’s not for free unfortunately. I was just trying to match the cable brand I was using that was it.

 

[Jeff M.]

I for one would like to what RCA connector can be used with 10 ga. speaker cable like the Belden 1313A.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Equipment List | Tech Articles and Reviews

Well I have a few RCA connectors and will see the cable and its size when it Gets here. I have Banana plugs and spades. I hope one of my sets fit the cable? I have used Canare ends in the past and have never had an issue with them. I know an engineer who only will use switch craft on everything. He also uses 12 gauge underground power cable as his speaker wire. It only has 2 wires. I heard it and it sounds very good.

I for one would like to what RCA connector can be used with 10 ga. speaker cable like the Belden 1313A.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Equipment List | Tech Articles and Reviews

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Well I have a few RCA connectors and will see the cable and its size when it Gets here. I have Banana plugs and spades. I hope one of my sets fit the cable

I'm confused. You have RCA connectors. You have banana plugs. You can't use banana plugs with line-level signals, they are for speakers.

Just to be clear:
Single-ended line-level = RCA + coaxial cable
Balanced line-level = XLR or TRS + Screened microphone cable
Loudspeaker = banana plugs, spades, bare wire + loudspeaker cable.

You need different cables and connectors for each type.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well I have a few RCA connectors and will see the cable and its size when it Gets here. I have Banana plugs and spades. I hope one of my sets fit the cable? I have used Canare ends in the past and have never had an issue with them. I know an engineer who only will use switch craft on everything. He also uses 12 gauge underground power cable as his speaker wire. It only has 2 wires. I heard it and it sounds very good.

10 ga. speaker cable is huge. There isn’t an RCA connector in existence that will accept a pair of 10 ga. speaker wires. And there’s no reason for it. Virtually no audio equipment available in the past 40 years has used RCA connectors. Banana plugs are the de facto standard for residential equipment.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Equipment List | Tech Articles and Reviews

 

[Jeff M.]

I'm confused. You have RCA connectors. You have banana plugs. You can't use banana plugs with line-level signals, they are for speakers.

Just to be clear:
Single-ended line-level = RCA + coaxial cable
Balanced line-level = XLR or TRS + Screened microphone cable
Loudspeaker = banana plugs, spades, bare wire + loudspeaker cable.

You need different cables and connectors for each type.

Sorry I Miss understood the question about the belden speaker cable coming to my house. Yes I understand what was wrote above about speaker cable ends and coaxial cables.

 

[Jeff M.]

10 ga. speaker cable is huge. There isn’t an RCA connector in existence that will accept a pair of 10 ga. speaker wires. And there’s no reason for it. Virtually no audio equipment available in the past 40 years has used RCA connectors. Banana plugs are the de facto standard for residential equipment.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Equipment List | Tech Articles and Reviews

Again am sorry I miss read or miss understood your question about the Belden wire wrote here?

(I for one would like to what RCA connector can be used with 10 ga. speaker cable like the Belden 1313A). This statement confused me.

So Am using them as Normal speaker wire with a spade or banana plug on the ends. I haven’t decided which one am going to use yet?

 

[Jeff M.]

So to clarify I bought belden wire 1313A to use as only speaker wire. The questions were for asking about the differences between the coaxial wires that Blue Jeans cables uses. They are belden and I wanted to buy a Belden wire as well. I I wanted to buy the right wire to use with the RCA ends not spades or Banana plugs which are for speaker wire. Sorry again for the miss information.

 

[quattro98]

My recommendation would be to buy assembled cables. I like Canare LV-61S because it is flexible. The Canare crimped connectors are nice. If you want to stick with Belden, the 1505F also uses a stranded center conductor.

Canare LV-61S

 

[Chrispy]

No it’s not for free unfortunately. I was just trying to match the cable brand I was using that was it.

Why would you want to match brands of cable? No need....