Sound Quality Loss extending Logitech X-540 Cables?

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saif1994

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So long story short, I need to extend the cables on my Logitech X540 speaker system (the 4 satellites and the center to the sub) for ideal audio.

I bought 30ft RCA cables from ebay (5 of them)

And 5 of these Female to Female connecters

When I hooked everything up, the audio quality was very poor. MAX volume was much quieter then it should be.
When I connected everything directly to the sub, it works great, excellent audio.

I really need to extend it though.

After googling this this topic and looking around, I found a forum with a similar question as mine, he/she asked if THIS would do the trick without audio quality loss; someone replied that you will not loose audio quality with it.

My question is, why would this product work any better then the stuff I ordered?
I do understand that stuff I ordered is cheap and low quality. Is that the reason?
I also understand that there will ALWAYS be some audio quality loss when extending cable.

What can I use to completely minimize quality loss? any amplifier i can get on each line?
 

ngoy

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Apr 23, 2009
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Your problem is most likely the conductors in the RCA cables are tiny, causing a large increase in resistance. You are actually "pushing" current through the cable, not just a low voltage signal. My electronics are rusty, but you need to make sure you are using the right impedance cable (you should see some fine or faint writing sometimes on the cable currently hooked up to your speakers, typically you will see either a gauge number (22,20,18,16, etc) and/or an impedance (50 or 75 ohm is typical iirc).

The thing is, your RCA cable on your speakers is mostly like NOT standard rca type cable, it is probably a standard two wire cable in a sheath soldered to an RCA connector. A lot of RCA cable is "coax" cable, with a small inner wire and a outer sheath for ground. So what you have done is "shrunk" the pipe so to speak, the factory cable is probably 2x 18 or 20 gauge wires, and the extensions you bought are mostly 26 gauge if they were cheap, plus if they are coax extensions the wire gauges are different. Not nearly thick enough. Buy dual wire RCA cable with at least 20 gauge wire, if not 18 or 16. That should fix your problem. You may have to make them yourself though. Radio shack has no solder rca connectors (although soldered connectors are better if you know how) and you can probably get 18 gauge speaker wire to fit. Just make sure that you wire them the same on each end.

This is coax cable http://www.allkindscable.com/wespenwpbrco.html
this is what you SHOULD have - http://www.allkindscable.com/wespenha2.html - just an example.

edit: ie, like this http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102959
 

saif1994

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Thank you ngoy!

So your saying the cheap little F/F RCA connecters are not the problem?

I have a lot of high quality shielded 16 gauge speaker wire at home. All I need to do is solder RCA plugs on both sides?

If this is the case I just need to order RCA plugs and use my existing RCA connecters right?

Thanks a lot!

edit:
Will these do?
 

ngoy

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Yes, that should work, although you can put female jacks on one end so you don't have to use the F/F connectors at all. But since you already have the F/F ones it is fine.

Make one and see if it works for you first, you should be able to test any one speaker. Just remember the polarity is VERY important, so make sure the "negative" wire is soldered to the OUTER shell connector (well, that is the standard anyways, the inner connector is positive and the outer is negative/ground. Your speaker wire should have a white stripe or some sort of marking all the way down on one of the wires in the pair. Sometimes they just repeat the manufacturer name on the wire over and over on just one wire. If you accidentally reverse the wires when you make the connector, you will cause that one speaker to move OPPOSITE of what it is supposed to do, which will make it sound distorted since it is cancelling the waves from the other speakers.

good luck, and let me know if it works for you.
 
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