Speaker Wire to RCA scenario

[lildanbassman]

OK here's the scenario. I've got a 5.1 subwoofer/receiver with speaker outs. This is ok for the front & center speakers, but our house has two RCA wall plates installed to connect the rear surround speakers to. So I need some way to convert the speaker wire going out from the sub to RCA so I can plug into the wall plate. Luckily, the surround speakers accept both RCA & speaker connections so I wouldn't have to re-convert the wire back to speaker.

I came across a Hi/Low Impedance adaptor on Ebay, which seems to fit the bill. While it's normally used for car stereos...I don't see why this wouldn't work. Mainly this system will just be used for background music, and not house-thumping home theater. The system is a Theater Research TR-502. What do you all think?

[Dusty Chalk]

I don't think you need to go that far (impedance adapter). If the RCA's in the wall plate go directly to the speaker, then all you need to do is connect a pair of RCA's to the end of your speaker wire that were going to go there anyway.

I'm also a little confused about the subwoofer -- how does it fit into all of this?

[hermanv]

Gee, sure wonder what wire gauge goes from those two RCA jacks to the back of the room? Maybe you should pop the cover plate and take a look?

Speakers on the whole won't like the typical 22 or 24 gauge often used for RCA jacks.

One solutiom would be to buy some whole house sound system transformers, they are typically refered to as a 70.7 Volt system. You step up from the receiver to the wall jacks and then back down at the wall jacks to the speakers. This scheme will cut the in wall wiring current maybe 5 or 10 to 1.

http://www.rane.com/note136.html

Parts express used to sell them cheap, don't know if they still do.

[lildanbassman]

then all you need to do is connect a pair of RCA's to the end of your speaker wire that were going to go there anyway.

Am I correct in thinking that you're saying all I need to do is purchase a banana plug and connect (solder?) the speaker wire onto the plug? Will this cause signal loss?

I'm also a little confused about the subwoofer -- how does it fit into all of this?

It's a subwoofer/receiver combo. The speaker outs come right from the sub unit. I know its not the best of setups, and should have done more research before I purchased it a year or so ago. But it actually will work really nicely for what I have envisioned, provided I can get past this one issue. Here's the diagram for the unit in case you want to see:

http://www.trtheaterresearch.com/own...al/502/502.pdf

Thanks for the suggestion, hermanv. I'm sure that would probably do the trick, but it looks far too complicated for my limited intelligence!

[Dusty Chalk]

Am I correct in thinking that you're saying all I need to do is purchase a banana plug and connect (solder?) the speaker wire onto the plug? Will this cause signal loss?

Well, if I'm understanding you correctly. Here, let me "echo" it back to you and you tell me if I have it right: for rears, you have two in-wall speakers that have been wired (internally to the wall) to a wall jack that has RCA jacks on it? I'm presuming the choice of RCA's on the wall jack was a random one, and that there isn't really an amp between the wall jack and the actual speakers, and that they're just wired together.

According to the manual, the multichannel amplifier is built into the subwoofer, so those speaker outs are actually speaker outs. I.E. you connect speakers to them. On the wall you have speakers, so you need to connect the two (the speakers to the subwoofer/receiver).

So yeah, if I understand everything correctly, you just connect/solder an RCA (not banana -- that's different -- unless you really have banana plugs on the wall) onto the end of speaker wire.

It's not unheard of -- my ex has some old Montgomery Ward speakers or something, and they had RCA jacks on the backs of them, but really, they just wanted speaker wire, so that's what is fashioned up -- a speaker wire with RCAs on the end.

You might be able to find something that doesn't require soldering. I know they sell speaker wire with 1/4" jacks at pro shops like guitar center.

[nascar03]

lildan.......
Remove the RCA wall plates and replace with proper speaker plates with 5-way binding posts or spring loaded terminals.
This will give you an opportunity to take a look at the wiring in the walls. Manufacturers that use RCA conns for speakers are known to use 22ga wire?
replacing the RCA plates will get rid of the issue of adaptors and such.

nascar03

[Resident Loser]

OK here's the scenario. I've got a 5.1 subwoofer/receiver with speaker outs. This is ok for the front & center speakers, but our house has two RCA wall plates installed to connect the rear surround speakers to. So I need some way to convert the speaker wire going out from the sub to RCA so I can plug into the wall plate. Luckily, the surround speakers accept both RCA & speaker connections so I wouldn't have to re-convert the wire back to speaker.

I came across a Hi/Low Impedance adaptor on Ebay, which seems to fit the bill. While it's normally used for car stereos...I don't see why this wouldn't work. Mainly this system will just be used for background music, and not house-thumping home theater. The system is a Theater Research TR-502. What do you all think?

...can be terminated with any sort of connector...spade-tip, bananas, RCA-type, DIN, etc...even bare wires connected to binding posts...Certain things are just more suitable for their purpose...Generally speaking, you don't need impedance matching anything, simply the proper connectors and some tools...

jimHJJ(...this hobby, contrary to the opinion of some, ain't rocket science...always apply the KISS principle...)

[lildanbassman]

Ok well I did some experimenting last night and hooked up the speaker wire to an RCA plug and it seemed to work just fine! Thanks for all your great responses.

Remove the RCA wall plates and replace with proper speaker plates with 5-way binding posts or spring loaded terminals.
This will give you an opportunity to take a look at the wiring in the walls. Manufacturers that use RCA conns for speakers are known to use 22ga wire?
replacing the RCA plates will get rid of the issue of adaptors and such.

If I run into troubles w/ my current setup I'll probably resort to this. I'd rather not though, as the wall plate has a whole gamut of plugs in it (RJ-45, Coaxial, Video Component).