Shielded cable grounding, best practice

[Jack B]

I am going to be running four-conductor shielded cable for a friend, the distance is about 35 feet, from his living room receiver to a powered-speaker out on his smoking porch. Should I ground the shield at one end only (probably at the receiver)? Thanks for educated opinions.

 

[DVDdoug]

One end is OK assuming two of the other wires are ground. With a regular unbalanced connection you only need left, right, and ground so you've actually got two extra conductors.

 

[Speedskater]

For long RCA interconnects, a better practice is to attach the shield at both ends. It will reduce Common Impedance Coupling Noise currents (power line related noise).

For any interconnect, attaching the shield at both ends will reduce very high frequency interference Or for balanced interconnects use a hybrid connector at the receive end (that's a small RF capacitor between the cable shield and XLR pin 1)

 

[Jack B]

Thanks guys, for your replies!