Want to convert Speaker cable to Component video cable

[pdhanwada]

I got a 15 ft component video cable a while back from blue jeans cable.com. WHich is working fine. Now my projector has moved away from the dvd player, I need another 15ft of cable.

I had also bought excess of canare 4s11 speaker cable which is working great for my speakers. I have another 50ft excess of speaker cable with me right now. Can solder the connectors of the old component cable to the canare speaker cable and use it as component video cable.

Let me know.

Thanks
Pandu

[markw]

Video cables are different from speaker wires. First off, they are coaxial cable, which means one wire inside a "shield" surrounding it, to prevent noise pickup. Likewise, they are what' called "75 ohm impedance", which assures that the maximum signal reaches it's destination. All video products are designed to work best with 75 ohm cable.

Speaker wire is neither of the above. It's generally two unshielded parallel wires in one jacket of undetermined impedance.

Of course, you could always kludge some RCA connectors on the ends of what's otherwise a fine speaker cable, but it still won't be a good video interconnect.

[pdhanwada]

Thanks for your reply.

Speakers cables ruled out.

Secondly Even if I buy a coaxial cable, it may not work as good because of the interconnect quality.

I guess your suggestion would be to buy another 30ft component video cable and use it.

Can you confirm.

The cables from bluejeans cable are good but they are pretty stiff. Can you suggest anyother place where I can buy from.

Thanks
Pandu

[markw]

Secondly Even if I buy a coaxial cable, it may not work as good because of the interconnect quality.

I guess your suggestion would be to buy another 30ft component video cable and use it.

Can you confirm.

You're on the right track here. Both Blue Jeans and Monoprice have good reps for selling rightious cables for fair prices.

Stiffness, while a preference and no indicator of overall quality, is not mandatory but it seems that the thicher the cable, the stiffer it's likely to be*. And, for a long length, a thicker cable may not be a bad thing.

* Assuming it's got some relationship to the thickness of the conductors.

[E-Stat]

Video cables are different from speaker wires.

Agreed, but Tom Danley (speaker designer) says the opposite, however, can work well. LMR400 transmission cable has similar LCR characteristics to my JPS Labs speaker cable.

rw

[markw]

Agreed, but Tom Danley (speaker designer) says the opposite, however, can work well. LMR400 transmission cable has similar LCR characteristics to my JPS Labs speaker cable.

rw

So, you're saying his audioquest cables will work well for his video run?

[E-Stat]

So, you're saying his audioquest cables will work well for his video run?

By "Agreed, but opposites can work", I meant that some coaxial cable like LMR400 can serve well as speaker wire. Not the other way around.

rw

[FLZapped]

Agreed, but Tom Danley (speaker designer) says the opposite, however, can work well. LMR400 transmission cable has similar LCR characteristics to my JPS Labs speaker cable.

rw

That would be a really poor choice if you based it on those specs alone. The way it is constructed makes it undesirable for that purpose.

-Bruce

[E-Stat]

That would be a really poor choice if you based it on those specs alone.

Why would you choose any audio component based upon specs alone?

rw

edit:

The way it is constructed makes it undesirable for that purpose.

You have finally, well kinda answered a question posed to you back in 2005 - albeit your answer then was content-free. Look here. So, exactly what makes coax undesirable for speaker use independent of the three basics ? (despite the fact that shielding remains important)

[audio amateur]

Why would anyone choose any audio component based upon specs alone?

rw

I was wondering what your reply was going to be

[FLZapped]

Why would you choose any audio component based upon specs alone?

rw

edit:
You have finally, well kinda answered a question posed to you back in 2005 - albeit your answer then was content-free. Look here. So, exactly what makes coax undesirable for speaker use independent of the three basics ? (despite the fact that shielding remains important)

To start with, you missed half of what I mentioned. The CONSTRUCTION. Nice of you to take things out of context.

1) LMR400 has a bonded foil shield and an outer braid.

2) The inner conductor is solid aluminum with a flashing of copper, which is great for RF, but not as good for audio.

So, again you're off base again with your deliberately ignorant remarks - you could have looked up the information and known this. But it was easier for you to use ad hominem attacks this way.

-Bruce

[FLZapped]

Why would you choose any audio component based upon specs alone?

rw

edit:
You have finally, well kinda answered a question posed to you back in 2005 - albeit your answer then was content-free. Look here. So, exactly what makes coax undesirable for speaker use independent of the three basics ? (despite the fact that shielding remains important)

There is also a difference between buying something based on specs that was designed for the purpose intended and trying to buy on specs something that is way outside the intended purpose.

Of course, you knew that, but just wanted to make an unnecessary dig.


-Bruce

[E-Stat]

Agreed, but Tom Danley (speaker designer) says the opposite, however, can work well. LMR400 transmission cable has similar LCR characteristics to my JPS Labs speaker cable.

Smart engineer: LMR400? Isn't that network cable that is used for connecting wireless hubs?

E-Stat: Yes, it is. A speaker designer has used that before and says it works better than other speaker cables he has used. Actually, Jon Risch has advocated a similar approach, but using two pair of smaller size coax twisted together.

S.E: What is the advantage to using that over "standard" speaker wire?

E-Stat: If you look at the LCR metrics, they are far better offering a far lower dielectric constant.

S.E. Why is that important? Roger Russell says only resistance makes any audible difference.

E-Stat: Yes, we know of R-R's simplistic view. In the real world of amplifiers driving loudspeakers delivering a complex resistive AND capacitive load, both inductance and capacitance matter. We all know that huge amounts of capacitance can cause amps to oscillate, but even at lower levels, it can cause frequency errors. Also, inductance can also be very important with a number of speakers, especially electrostats.

S.E: Wouldn't constructing speaker cables from coax be difficult?

E-Stat: Well, it is a bit more difficult, but the process is quite straight forward. Fundamentally, there is no difference terminating the ends with banana plugs or spades as opposed to an RCA connector.

S.E. What do I do with the foil shield?

E-Stat: In this application, it serves no use. Just trim it as you would the covering. Only the center conductor and shield are used in this application.

S.E. Hmmm. That's certainly a different use to a product originally designed for something else.

E-Stat: The common term for that is innovation - understanding the fundamental requirements of an application and applying new materials for use. Let me give you an example. How was a lady's perfume sprayer adapted to automobile technology?

S.E. : Automobile technology! Surely, you jest.

E-Stat: Think about an atomizer for a moment. What is the fundamental process going on?

S.E. : Well, it converts liquid to a spray composed of fine particles.

E-Stat: Exactly. What critical part of every internal combustion engine requires just that?

S.E.: A carburetor?

E-Stat: That's it. So, try making some speaker cable with the LMR400 and tell us what you find out.

S.E. Thanks for the tip. I never would have thought of doing that.

rw

[gjpham]

[QUOTE=pdhanwada]... Can solder the connectors of the old component cable to the canare speaker cable and use it as component video cable...[QUOTE]

Hi Pdhanwada,
Your thread was posted 2 weeks ago. I hope you ahve found a solution.

I have spent alot of time working with many diff type of cables so, first, to make this clear, if you have extra length and want to do it, your Canare 411 speaker cables WILL WORK as video component if you terminated them to RCA fittings. (Note: 14awg is a bit bigger for conventional RCA fitting cups)

Now, what's the picture quality would you be expecting? Well, with 30' in length, your picture quality would probably looks like a little worse than Color TV was first invented in 1940-ish. In other word, consider lucky if the picture quality is near our first tape VCR's....

I have not seen any good or best video component cables without being fully shielded. Anyways, that's my theory but if I'm wrong, I'm learning something else new too .

Oh, also, joining cable A to cable B by just a soldering join is a no no too. A big degrading in every perspective.