In reading the specs for analog audio cables, I see many cables with twisted pair geometry, typically with one of the pair for signal, the other ground and the shield connected to ground at only one end of the cable. However, I've also read that coaxial construction is suitable for analog audio.

Is there any benefit in using one over the other for singled-end RCA audio connections?

That "Quad" cable is used professionally for microphones and some line level audio, where it provides a tighter coupling between conductors, and thus enhances the common mode rejection in a balanced circuit. In unbalanced audio, the main benefit of having the shield connected at only one end is that any interference that is picked up by the shield is shorted to ground on the sending component, and isn't transferred to the receiving one. The quad construction per se is of questionable benefit in an unbalanced circuit. Two conductor shielded cable, especially that with a foil shield and a "drain" wire, which provides 100% shielding is the most commonly used. In this instance, one of the inner conductors is the signal "hot" and the other conductor and the drain wire is "ground". The shield is connected at only one end.

Coaxial cable is actually fine in almost all situations. Obviously, these interconnects should be routed with care, making sure that they do not run parallel with 120VAC power cords for instance.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited April 11, 2003).]

I made my own cables for the majority of my sytem and I've got both combinations in there...

For the connection from the 950 to the 200's (for the front speakers) I'm using 2 strands of silver wrapped around teflon tubing. The strands cross each other every inch so this is kind of like twisted pair.. I have not had any problem with noise here and the cable length is around 8ft

But.. for the connection between the 950 and the 755, the 950 is on a shelf probably 5 inches from the 755 and I used the same type connection as above for the center chanel, but I was picking up AC noise... So, I had to switch that one to shielded (the rest of the connections were shielded anyway).. I didn't use regular coax for the shielded cable, I used IBM Token ring cable, it's a shielded calble with 4 solid conductors insulated by teflon foam...

Electrically speaking, the silver wire is better (so very close to no capacitance and very little resistance)... but I have no idea which one sounds better... I'd like to think the silver sounds better than the token ring cable just because making the cables cost about 100$ more than 25ft of token ring cable..

You could try un-shielded cables for the interconnects, but have some shielded ready because you'll never know if you'll be picking up noise until you try it....

If you're buying these cables, it'd probably be more economical to go ahead and get the shielded ones just because you may pick up noise with the others....

[This message has been edited by Unferth (edited April 11, 2003).]

Thanks for the info guys. I appreciate it.