I'm considering moving all my audio/video source equipment to a wall opposite where it is now. The only thing left in the current location would be front speakers and TV>

So, I am trying to figure out how I would connect the video/audio RCA's from, say, the VCR to the TV. My initial thought was just to run 25 or 50 foot RCA cables up through the attic.

I was looking at Niles Audio website for wallplate options, and their plates have F-type to RCA connectors. Does this mean that I can run plain old coax up through the attic instead of long RCA's? So basically I would run RCA's from the TV to the wallplate, then coax beween the two wallplates, then RCA again from wallplate to the TV on the other end.

If this doesn't work, does anyone make wallplates that allow for RCA connections on the inner (inside the wall) side?

Thanks!
Bryan

bryan,

Your ideas will work if you will be running unballanced audio cables longer than 20 feet ( this is not a rule ) but it would be a good idea to run some RG59u and even better RG6 it has a better shield. 59 is a little easer to use. Check our WWW.RUSSOUND.COM I think they make a wall plate that is RCA to RCA. If I was you I would pull the 59. No reason why you can not run audio over 59 or 6. In fact I think 59 audio sounds a little better than some if the mid grade Monster Cable stuff.

Good Luck
Larry

Well to say that its your VCR I would use the RG59 or RG6 coaxial cable. But as for RCA cables(yellow,white,red) its usually a bad idea to have them go long stretches. RCA cables are usually not sheilded. I know they sell thick RCA cables but they can be in price range 100 bucks or higher. I think that for most things they are required but I don't think you want to spend like 500 bucks for about 20 feet of RCA cables. It is usually best to keep your audio/video stuff near your TV.

Jason

I agree with jason. If you run a cheep RCA cable longer than 20 30 feet you will be asking for trouble. Might pick up a TV station, Am station or even some electrical HUM. Also no matter how cheep a RCA cable comes they all have a Shield in them or at best a drain wire, or else they will not work.

I have always had my A/V equipment near the TV, but thought I might try something a little different. I know the equipment can be moved further away, most of the fancy home theaters I see in magazines have equipment racks on opposite walls or near the back of the room. If I moved everything, I think the only things I would need to get wired up with long runs would be:

S-video - from preamp to TV
(2) coax - satellite and cable TV
(3) RCA - red, white, yellow for VCR

Not sure of the exact distance the wires would have to cover, probably about 30 feet.

Bryan

Another way would be to use convertors one of two ways...

1) Convert the Unbalanced signals to Balanced and the unconvert them at the gear. RDL(rdlnet.com)makes these products among others. It can get expensive, but works very well. They also have gain control for any level lost in the run.

2) Convert the signals to run on Cat 5 twisted pair, these convertors are getting very inexpensive these days, some can be found at www.audiocontrol.com and many other places.

Although, running RG-59 this distance is probably just as good too, although it is inherently made for lower impedance 75 ohm termination.

Yea Cat5 is sweet. Isn't that IEEE #6968 something like that.


Jason

Well, not sure....

Maybe your thinking of IEEE 1394, or called Firewire by most. This is totally different, it's a super high speed serial connection.

You must also keep in mind that RAC cable is not rated to go through walls, ceilings etc... You need to run special cable through walls (I believe it is called flume rated but not sure). Depending upon the building codes in your area, use the RG6 quad shield for your RCA. If you can't find a RCA to RCA plug (Leviton makes these I beleive), Radio Shack sells a screw on F-plug to RCA connector adapter that works just fine.

As a side, if the codes in your area require special in wall wiring, and if you ever sell your house, and if the non code wire is discovered in your walls, the inspector can require you to remove all the RCA wiring. Depending on how much of a dick he wanted to be, he coudl then ask to check all your other wiring. Not worth it. Run the proper wire that meets code.

Mark w

RG-59 with a copper sheid and solid copper center conductor will be fine. The only trouble you might run into is a problem with ground loops, as the rca's are an unbalanced connection. You can correct this fairly inexpensively with a balanced line driver, like the ones from AudioControl. Balanced video is a bit more difficult. An isolation transformer will also help. Jensen Transformer makes a fine one. There is a method, btw, for using a pair of coaxial cables in place of a single S-Video run, most s-video is not CL rated for use in wall. Both Synergistic Research and MIT offer an adaptor, I believe IXOS and Tributaries do as well. For specific cable recommendations, try the Belden Wire and Cable website. 30 feet is really not that far.

jcmitch

Use RG6, not RG59. RG6 has a 100% shield, RG59 does not; you can pick up local stations and get nice ghosts, etc. And don't sweat it. My gear is 30' from the spkrs and TV, and I don't have any problems.

For my fathers shore house we ran about 30 foot lengths of canaire RG-59 stranded for all video and audio runs between the TV and equipment. Everything looks and sounds fine. The canaire cable is a high quality and very flexible (easier to work with the RG-6)
We bought the wall plates on smarthome.com, and home depot had them as well. They are snap in connectors of any variety video, audio, speaker connections. The single gangs hold 6 connectors, very cool and easy to use.
Good luck...

Bill,

It sounds like you are describing the Leviton Quickport system. However, I can't seem to find a Quickport jack that has F-type to RCA adaptor. All I can find is F-type to F-type or RCA to RCA.

Also, Leviton now makes a CAT5 to S-video converter that would allow me to run CAT5 through the walls rather than a long S-video cable. So I like the Quickport system if I can find an F-type to RCA jack!!

Thanks to all,
Bryan

The info above is getting more refined.
Do watch for the solid coper center conductor. Lower frequency information such as a VCR ch. 3 actually travel partially below the skin of the copper and the increased resistance of a steel core can have a negative effect.
Do pay attention to not exceeding the length of S-video signals much beyond the manufactures recommendation... you may be better of with strictly composite if you fail here.
If you get 95% copper braid RG-59 you should be very well off. But that would also depend on the amount of noise in your home / area? Is your electric piped? Does you equipment sit atop an elevator motor? etc... The 59 is easier and less costly is you can get away with it... It is also easier to find the solid copper center!

Bryan you are right it was the Leviton Quickport system and as far as I've seen they do not have a f connec to rca but...
First the setup I used with the stranded RG-59 is meant to be soldered with RCA ends, which we bought I think from microtek.com, not positive though, they were like 10 or 15 cents for a connector I think, maybe less. Anyway you wouldn't need that adapter everything is RCA, for any type of cable or sat runs definetly use solid conductor RG-6 quad shield, and F connectors for them.
Evidently you can purchase at radio shack a male F-connector to rca female if you did terminate everything with F connectors with the quickport system. We used this for the FM antenna, we used more of that RG-59 (we had like 500 feet of it) for an FM antenna attic run, ideally we would have used RG-6 but the electrician was running all of the cable tv RG-6 and we didn't have any. So the cable was terminated RCA and we used the rca female to F male to get it to the A/V receivers fm antenna input...
I like the cat 5 to s-video connector, great idea since long runs of s-video are supposedly pretty bad. We ran no s-video. My dad swore he would never get a sat receiver, and we used component input for DVD.