Talk:RCA connector

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[edit] Synonym

In Holland, we commonly refer to these connectors as 'Tulip connectors' ( http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpstekker ). Might be nice to add this somewhere. --Raboof (talk) 19:41, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What does "RCA" stand for?

what does RCA stand for? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.230.116 (talk • contribs)

It stands for Radio Corporation of America. --Abdull 14:25, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
someone took out the reference to RCA in the article, so I put it in a bit differently, BUT I don't know where to find a refernce to it! I will look in a few books in the next few days, but it has just sort of "been there" all my life..
I do have at least a few "5 Tube" radios with the connector on the back, linked with a capacitor to the grid of the 12SQ7, actually unlabeled on the radio. I recall reding somewhere that some makers even marked the Jack "televison" in the 30s figuring that TV sets would not duplicate the Powerful audio section and 12 inch speaker of a typical console radio.cmacd 13:24, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Standards for audio signals?

Today, RCA jacks and jack plugs are mostly found on audio/video consumer products. Does anyone know the standards for the audio signals it carries (i.e. lowest and highest voltage, dynamic range handling etc.)? - unfortunately i can't find any articles on the internet regarding analogue audio standards. Thanks, --Abdull 14:25, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

Audio signals on "RCA cables" are usually "line level" signals at about 1V (~0dbm) RMS or so. The source impedance is usually low (less than 1 Kohm or so) and the load impedance is usually high (100 Kohms or more).
"Magnetic phono" levels were also seen back in the days of vinyl records. These are usually about a millivolt or so at quite low impedance.
Digital data is also seen (on the connecton between DVD players and home theater multichannel decoders. These are TTL logic levels at a modest impedance.
Video (both composite and component) also travels on RCA cables; this is usually 1 V P-P at 75 ohms.
Generally, for short distances, any RCA cable can be pursuaded to carry any signal fairly well.
Atlant 13:32, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Could it be made a little more obvious that the cable type is the same regardless of whether the composite video or audio signal is sent through it (other that the sleeve colour)? That's what I came here to find out anyway, and didn't get a definate answer, even though I guess it's obvious. Oh, and I've got a few different RCA cables at the moment so I'll try take a better photo for the article. --Pepsi max2k 07:33, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
The cable isn't necessarily the same, especially for 75 ohm video. And it's not uncommon to see, in stereo+video cables, the video portion of the cable made of different cable than the two audio conductors.
Atlant 21:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Better pictures?

Hi, just wondering if anyone could possibly find some better quality pictures to use on this article - the ones there at the moment seem a bit substandard. 144.173.6.77 11:22, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Maximum length?

Anyone know the maximum length for one of these things?!! I have been looking for days....... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.69.63.29 (talk • contribs)

The maximum length for an RCA cable is limited by the cable capacitance, the source impedance, and the amount of induced noise. 12 feet is a common upper boundary for pre-made cables but I've built my own cables in the 20-some foot length.
Atlant 13:32, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How many signals?

It says here that RCA's need two cable to carry one signal. This is, at least in my experiance, untrue. An RCA can handle one signal and one channel so you would need two RCA's for two channels (Right and Left) to get stereo sound . I have never seen an (audio) appliance connected to an amplifier with more than two RCA's. I don't belive that the "four cables" example is accurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reallybadtrip (talk • contribs)

One signal per connector (wire) unless it's digitally-encoded data. So you commonly see 1 conductor RCA cables, two-conductor stereo cables (Red+White), three-conductor stereo+video cables (Red+White+Yellow) or component video cables (Red+Blue+Green), and four conductor stereo "to/"from" cables.
Atlant 13:32, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The article makes the mention of the four cables in the context of Bi-directional stereo connections, maybe a sentence or two requires clarification? — Mobius 10:04, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

The TERM 'RCA' is used in the EMU sound card manual as is Coaxial for the same connector. I presume the CA in RCA is a ref to CoAxil?.. However the most important point is that a single cable is used to carry TWO Audio signals or a stereo signal using digtal format and in this case is used by the S/PDIF interface on the EMU sound card.. S/PDIF offers coaxial and Toslink digital data transfer options —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidjary (talk • contribs) 11:46, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wrong link?

The link to the article "ST" at the end links to a disambig that doesn't link to the intended article. I'm removing the link for now 192.136.22.4 19:30, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Here's a site that has more details & specs on the RCA phono connectors thaty may answers some of your questions about standards. It was the only site that answered mine about what was signal & what was ground. Something that SHOULD have been on this site & most of the others I checked. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci786116,00.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.107.98.12 (talk • contribs)

[edit] Better Photo

The current photo of RCA jacks and plugs is very out of focus and has low contrast. Could it please be replaced with a better image? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Navstar (talk • contribs)

  • Ask the uploader. And please sign your comments! huntersquid 19:57, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RYW vs RGB

is possible to use an RBG(M) cable in an RYW(F)? --61.68.27.183 15:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Connector specification

Could be more precise on cable and connector specification: how many wires, for example. A picture head-on with the connector wires identified (and easy one for RCA...but S-video cables etc will have more complexity) should be made available (This could be a consistent feature across connector entries)

[edit] Balanced vs. Unbalanced

While balanced/unbalanced audio signals should (and do) have their own wiki articles, this article should include a reference to the fact that using RCA connectors for audio implies that the connection will be unbalanced.

Snottywong 18:56, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Impedance

Video is normaly 75 ohms, Sync Positive 1.4 v Peak to Peak, no matter what sort of connector is used. .. In the good old days, it was carried on UHF or BNC connctors. I think the Apple ][ was the first place I saw an RCA used for Video, and the place I worked sold rca-BNC and RCA to F connctors the later as the RF modulator for the apple also put it's signal out on an RCA. If you wanted to mention the video impredence, it should probaly be in the terms of "standard Video". The 1.4 V BTW is 1 volt for the picture, and .4 volts for the sync. The old RCA radios connected the jack to the grid of the 12SQ7 with a 0.5MFD cap, so they were High impedence by default. Normaly low impedence is associated with ballanced circuts. cmacd 18:28, 27 April 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Color coding

If this isn't already in the article, someone should add it. When you have RCA cables that are red, green, and blue instead of red, white, and yellow, the conversion is this:

  • red » red
  • green » white
  • blue » yellow

Meaning, plug a green cord into the white input on your tv or device, plug blue into yellow, and red into red.

Source: [1]

[edit] Wiring

When wiring RCA cables, you typically use the terms "tip" and "sleve" to referr to the inner part, and the outer part. For audio uses, the tip is negative (-) while the sleve is positive/hot (+). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.9.138 (talk • contribs)

Huh? Audio typically means alternating current so the concepts of "+" and "-" aren't very meaningful. In any case, the tip (prong) carries the signal and the sleeve (ring) carries the reference voltage (~ground).
Atlant (talk) 19:26, 28 April 2008 (UTC)