What's the difference in a coax audio cable and the coax cable that are used to hook up video?

Question

Have a ton of coax cable and was wondering if there are any DIY to make an coax audio cable? Just attach an RCA plug? Any info will help.

Answer 1

All "RCA Cables" are made with coax. If you cut it in half, it will look like your CATV coax.

However: while the wire may LOOK the same, but different models of coax are built with different "Impedances".

Video cables must be made with something called "75 ohm impdedance" coax. This is because the input jacks for video signals are designed to have 75 ohms. This way the cable and the RCA jack look seamless to video signals.

But audio signals are low frequency and the input jacks on most receivers are not standardized so any impedance will work for audio.

When I needed a 20+ ft subwoofer cable, I bought a hunk of CATV coax with "F" connectors already attached and 2 "F-to-RCA-Male" adaptors and made a long subwoofer cable for about $15. I suggest you do the same if you want to do your own cables.

Or follow instructions like this:

http://www.jakeludington.com/project_studio/20051008_make_your_own_av_cables.html

Answer 2

The construction is similar but these cables couldn't be more different.

RG-6 is a wide bandwidth broadband cable specifically designed for digital applications. This would be the most common coax. A cables impedance (usually 75 Ώ) is a function of its bandwidth and designed for the bandwidth that labeled for and not for another.

Video cable is still coaxial and 75 Ώ impedance (sometimes 110 Ώ) but it is the shielding that makes it different. It is video bandwidth shielded vs. RF shielded. This would be the closest substitute for a coaxial audio cable. That impedance rating is for the video bandwidth only, so who knows when you put a different signal type into it.

Audio cable coax is still 75 Ώ but again this is for the PCM digital signal it is designed for.


As far as adapting the cable you physically could with various adapters and connectors, but your results could be disastrous for image and sound quality.

There is a guy on this forum who touts his budget cables using rg-6 coax and adapters, it works but not well image scatter artifacts,etc... are the result. ( As well as his own commercial site but still he is not blocked).

With any cables you should audition them first, use the correct design of cable, and use my 10% rule for a general guide.